The Angel of Bang Kwang Prison by Susan Aldous, Nicola Pierce Page A

cough that engulfed me during my stay there. In 1867 the government surveyor, Mr E.A. Delisser, was surveying the land between southern and western Australia and named the place ‘Nullus Arbor,’ which is Latin for ‘No trees’. It’s a lovely name but I believe quite irrelevant as there are more than a few trees around now. Those cliffs have to be seen to be believed; they are meant to be the longest cliffs in the world and have a sheer drop of 100 metres. There are no safety railings whatsoever and therefore absolutely nothing to prevent you from falling to your death on the rocks below should you accidentally trip up or lose your footing on a windy day.
    The honeymoon didn’t end in a proper marriage. I thrived during those years of travelling around Australia under the guidance and care of Peter but I knew in my heart that he and his desires weren’t enough for me. Spending the rest of my life with him wasn’t an option and gently we went our separate ways. I needed to keep moving, to help people. I’m glad to say that we’re still friends today and regularly keep in touch. After the uranium mine I headed back home to Melbourne. I had kept in touch with my family by phone and was looking forward to seeing them again. If the truth be known, I had also missed Melbourne, which will always be, I think, my favourite place in Australia. I was 19 years old and ready to settle down in one place for a bit. I moved in with my friend Rose and her toddler son.
    Rose is ten years older than me and remains one of my closest friends. She’s slim and attractive with long brown hair. I literally don’t remember not knowing her. She is one of those friends who will support you with everything they have, but if you’re going off the rails they are the first ones to level with you right between the eyes. She was always great fun and I admired her constant creativity in the different forms it took, from writing to photography. We studied pottery, drank lots of cheap red wine, ate pounds of chocolate cake and spent hours upon hours in deep conversation about men and such like. I fell for her little son and was like a surrogate mother to him. I even loved her mother, a retired teacher and widow who still sends me money today.
    Rose and I also worked hard together doing things from putting on puppet shows for kids, to visiting the elderly and helping out the disabled. Helping people was my drug of choice now. I had buckets of energy and good cheer and I loved using it to improve, however briefly, the lives of those I came into contact with.

    Fast forward to me standing on a crowded busy main street at lunch-hour. I was in downtown Melbourne, which was full of offices and busy people dressed in suits, handing out Christian pamphlets to the mostly male passers-by. Normally they wouldn’t have given someone in my position a second glance but I took advantage of my looks. I was a slim, attractive blonde who was dressed reasonably sexily, so I got more attention than most. The men were curious to see what I was handing out and many of them offered some chit-chat. I wasn’t shy either and was bouncing up to them saying, ‘Hi, how are you? Here’s something you might find interesting.’
    I became slowly aware that I was being watched by a man. He was gorgeous, and very, very cool. He was leaning in the doorway of a men’s clothing store and evenly met my glance. ‘Hmm,’ I thought and made my way over to him. I handed him a pamphlet and we started to talk. He could have been a model, he was that good-looking. He was also lost and looking for direction, just like I had been. We held an intense discussion in the doorway, I summarised my life to date for him, and we kicked over this need to search for meaning and purpose. Suddenly he had an idea.
    ‘You’ve got to come with me!’
    So I did.
    ‘My friend is opening a high class nightclub and you would be great for the customers.’
    ‘Ok, cool,’ I said as I toddled after him