Aunty Irene first remembers coming to Mookai when the accommodation was situated at Balaclava Rd in Earlville, now Mookai Family Health. She speaks fondly of spending time with founders Aunty Rosie, Aunty June, Aunty Min and her husband Uncle Ken. She recalls helping the pregnant women up and down the stairs, and reminding them to take their water bottles when walking down the road to the shops (now Stocklands Earlville).

Whilst Aunty can’t remember the first time she came to Mookai or how many times she’s been, she knows she’s been coming for over 20 years now, often acting as an escort.

In Kowanyama, as with many other Cape and Torres communities, residents have limited access to health care. Kowanyama has a small health centre supported by Queensland Health and Apunipima, with visiting doctors via the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). However, anything serious requires travel, and often an extensive stay in Cairns.

Patients coming from Cape and Torres communities to Cairns for medical treatment under the Patient Travel Scheme (PTS) can commonly apply for an escort (partner, family member, friend) to travel with them. However, who will act as the escort can be a harder decision than it seems. Often one’s partner needs to stay home with other children or for work. If staying at Mookai Accommodation, the escort needs to be a female as it is a women and child only facility. Another consideration is time; patients and their escorts are often required to stay in Cairns for treatment for extended periods of time, weeks if not months.

For example, Aunty Irene is currently acting as an escort for her niece, Ivy, who is in Cairns to deliver her baby. They arrived 4 weeks before the birth and will stay 2 weeks following, assuming Ivy and the baby are well. This is a long time away from home and family for patients, at a time when they need support most. It can also be a big commitment and ask for an escort.

Aunty Irene was born and raised in Kowanyama. She says “Kowanyama is her first home, Mookai is her second.”

As the oldest of four girls, she’s been an escort for her sisters and countless cousins, and now comes to support their children. Knowing her experience, she’s also acted as an escort to extended family from Pormpuraaw and Lockhart River, flying separately and meeting them in Cairns. She says it’s an honour when family and friends ask her to be their escort. They trust her, and want her to be part of their journey. She lights up when sharing that she has been asked to cut one’s umbilical cord 3 times now. What a privilege!

Aunty Irene takes her role as escort very seriously. She attends all the appointments to help make sure they understand what’s happening, and makes sure they get all their health checks before returning home. She reminds all Mookai clients to take the Mookai business card everywhere with them, and their ID. “It’s hard being off-country,” she says, “especially when you’re not well.”

When she gets the opportunity to be an escort she looks forward to catching up with the Mookai staff, as well as getting to know new staff. She also sees it as an opportunity to meet families from other communities like Aurukun and Pormpuraaw. “You never know who you’ll meet,” she says, “and what connections you might find”.

Sometimes, she gets a bit nervous to fly. The connection from Kowanyama is usually through Pormpuraaw, which makes for a long day. She’s also experienced incidents of having a bird get stuck in the propeller and a snake being on the plane!

She proudly explains how she encourages her community to stay at Mookai if they need to go to Cairns for medical treatment. She tells them how she always feels happy here and how nice the staff are. No matter the issue, she says, “childbirth, cancer treatment, other health stuff, I tell them to ask for Mookai.”

She’s also proud to have witnessed Mookai’s development. From accommodation at Balaclava Rd, to being present at the 2010 opening of the new accommodation facility at Edmonton. She jokes about how she remembers being excited to see there were no stairs at Edmonton! She’s also thrilled to hear about the possibility of family accommodation in Mookai’s future having seen firsthand how hard it can be for families to stay without their partners and children.

Before travelling to Cairns for medical treatment became more commonplace, she remembers having to go to Thursday Island (TI). She recalls going with her mother in the 1970s. It was a two day trip; they’d travel to Mapoon and stay overnight, then onwards to TI the following day. She loved going through Mapoon as her mother and her would collect plant cuttings and seeds, and bring them back to Kowanyama to grow. She specifically recalls bringing single hibiscus, frangipani, coconut and bougainvillea to Kowanyama. “Now they’re everywhere,” she says! Aunty Irene gets mad when she sees people cutting them as they don’t know the story.

She’s proud to be from Kowanyama, the ‘place of many waters’. She points out how there is a pandanas tree (commonly known as cabbage tree) at the back of Mookai accommodation, the same trees that line the river in Kowanyama. It helps her feel connected to home while she’s here.

“Not many people come to Kowanyama, but when they do, I always say hello and welcome them. I tell the younger generations they need to welcome all strangers to our home; it teaches respect.”

Her first time in Cairns was in 1968, just to visit. She stayed at Alluna Hostel where other people ‘from the bush’ stayed. She ended up staying and working at Alluna as a laundry maid through to 1975. She liked meeting people from other Cape and Torres communities, just as she does when staying at Mookai. She laughs as she recalls the fountain under the clock on Lake St being filled with washing powder every Christmas, then overflowing with bubbles. Her time in Cairns from 1968 to 1975 has been the only time she’s lived off-country.

At 73 years old, she enjoys staying active. “You have to!” she proclaims. When she’s not being an escort in Cairns or spending time with family, she’s up at Kowanyama State School volunteering, also where her sister and cousin work. She says, “school is the best place to help share the language, language is the most important cultural practice we need to keep.” She explains how there are 9 local languages in Kowanyama, the 3 most commonly practiced being Kokomenjena (or Yir Yoront), Koboberra and Kunjen, aligning with the 3 main clan groups. Whilst her mother is from the Kokomenjena clan, Aunty Irene claims Kokoberra in clan and language. It saddens her that not many people speak the local language anymore, with the exception of Elders. “Unless you need to ask for a smoke and lighter, then you ask in language, and everyone knows those phrases,” she laughs.

When she comes to Cairns now as an escort, she doesn’t like going into the city anymore. “It’s gotten too big” she says. She prefers to stay at Mookai and help tend to the ladies, also catching up on some rest herself.

Aunty Irene’s niece, Ivy, had a healthy bub named Javier, and they’re excited to return home to Ivy’s partner and one year old, Nate.

Aunty Irene isn’t sure when she’ll be back at Mookai, but she knows she’ll be back.