Australia: My Daughter's Country

“From the I awoke to the sounds of magpies and laughter of kookaburras, the fragrance of wattle and sea breeze, the welcoming embrace of my new Aussie family, I loved this Australia as I loved my own country. That was the warm morning of September 3, 1999. And from the daughter was born into this life from the sacred womb of her Aussie mother the follow year, even though I was a foreigner, I had a responsibility to, and vested interest in, the wellbeing of my daughter’s country – for her, for my generations from her, for the Australian community in which they will interact and grow through the years and eras ahead long after I’m gone from life. Thus, toward that resolve, from the darkest cell or from 10,000 miles away in my home country, I will use my ever talent and skill, wisdom and experience to peacefully but sternly defend my daughter’s country from the encroaching tyranny, injustice and oppression that has taken her father and countless men, women and children under the guise of a ‘civilized system of law’. After what the Australian government did to me neither my rights nor my voice will ever be suppressed again. – John Victor Ramses, Acacia Prison, Western Australia.” (My closing words in a letter to Julia Bishop, then Australian Foreign Minister, February 15, 2015).