Marion Scrymgour talks about her mixed sense of identity, 2008

Transcript of interview

In recent times, I've started making a lot of connections back with my father's people in central Australia. But I have all my life, and I still regard myself as a Tiwi Islander, although I've come to accept that, you know, I've got this other different side, and this bigger extended family down in the centre, which, you know, my family and I are now establishing those contacts and relearning and reintegrating into a, you know, a culture that we didn't ... we knew very little about.

So, I always say to people I've got the best of both worlds. I've got the saltwater and I've got the desert, and it's about valuing what is true to me and, you know, certainly the Tiwi culture has been a strong one because my mother was certainly a strong Tiwi cultural woman. But, you know, I ... you know, whether it's Tiwi or whether ... or whatever ... I like to see myself as a representative for everybody.