JourneyOnline
MY JOURNEY into politics was marked out for me even as a child: it was in my blood so to speak.
My father is a great story teller and I was brought up with stories of the Irish Struggles and of his mother, Claire Harding.
A strong Catholic and Labor Party activist in the 1930s, Claire shared the bounty of her vegetable garden, considerable musical talents and practical skills for living with other families struggling to raise children at that time.
When I was 12, God and I bumped into each other through the lens of creation. I grew up in Innisfail, North Queensland, and was surrounded by a multi-cultural community, cane fields, rainforests, rivers, beaches, torrential downpours and the odd cyclone.
When my darling mother developed rheumatoid arthritis I began to be interested in Jesus the man: the God of compassion, who promised healing, peace and justice.
Two years later my family moved to a coal mining community in central Queensland and I learned about social justice in a community setting and the overwhelming rationale for non-violence as part of social change.
When I was 42, my children and I moved to Townsville where I studied to become a social worker, joined the Greens, and became a chaplain with Blue Care.
Finally I was able to weave together the threads of social justice, environmental conservation, grass-roots democracy and non-violence into a life-fulfilling work and identity.
Jenny Stirling is convenor of the Queensland Greens, a chaplain for Blue Care and a social worker with Blue Care Community Care in Townsville.
