Elder focuses on positives

Don't feel sorry about Sorry Day - that is the message from Medina elder Theresa Walley.

Taken from her mother when she was seven, Mrs Walley said the story of her childhood at the Christian mission in 1940s New Norcia was the same as countless stories told to date - the frightening Spanish-speaking nuns, the lonely children used as labourers, the lack of education.

But, she said, her memories of picnics on Thursdays with the other children and rare chances to reconnect with her roots and go walkabout were what stuck in her mind these days.

"Our freedom was in the bush - that was our happiness," she said.

"I had lots of good friends, but the children were lonely."

Mrs Walley said she had reconnected with her mother years later, after she had left the mission, married Leslie Walley and settled in Medina.

She said she tracked her mother Mary Theresa Indich down and brought her to live at the family home.

She later found her father Louis Winmar as well.

"When we first went to the mission, we were supposed to go and see my aunties, but they opened the doors and the nuns told mum to sign some papers," she said.

"I didn't see mum again until I got married when I was 20."

Mrs Walley, who was named Elder of the Year in 2007, said she learned to read in her 40s while raising her seven children.

Mrs Walley said she had dedicated her life since to researching and sharing her culture.

"I was very embarrassed that I couldn't read - one of my sons asked me for files when he was a little boy," she said. "I bought him tools - I didn't know he wanted something to keep papers in."

"Learning to read was life changing."

On the lead-up to Sorry Day, Mrs Walley said she would attend a number of events and promote a positive message of moving forward together.

"The only thing I feel sorry for is mum - when they took her kids away she had nothing," she said.

"But we are here and we've had a lot of help and Medina has been good to us.