WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images of people who have died. This story also contains content that some readers may find distressing. Sonja Kurtzer was a trailblazing First Nations woman but in 2018 she sadly took her own life. Her daughter is speaking out about the teachings of the religion, amid her quest for justice.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Birthdays are one of those difficult days when you've lost somebody you're really close
00:07to. I usually take down some flowers and just put them in the water and it's kind of a way
00:15to just be still and think of her.
00:21It's been six years since Ellen Bertani's mum, Sonia Kurtzer, died. The 29-year-old
00:27is still coming to terms with the final years of her mum's life.
00:32I remember my mum as someone who was incredibly kind. I think everybody who knew her knew
00:36her generosity. She featured amongst a community of trailblazers at that time. She had high
00:43merit for her academic accomplishments being the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from
00:48this university with a first class honours.
00:52And Ellen says her mum also had mental health struggles.
00:57She was the eldest child of her siblings, born to a mother, an Aboriginal woman who
01:02was removed as part of the Stolen Generations. So there's a lot of the intergenerational
01:07trauma associated with that.
01:10When she was 11, Ellen's family joined the Hosanna Excelsis Church in Adelaide. There
01:15are congregations in South Australia, Queensland and overseas. Ellen says her family's life
01:21changed drastically after joining.
01:24I obviously stopped going to school. I stopped playing sports outside of the church. Stopped
01:30listening to worldly music, watching particular TV shows or movies. Had to stop wearing particular
01:35types of clothes associating with people who weren't within the church.
01:41When Ellen's older brother died of a heart attack, she says her mum's mental health worsened.
01:47Ellen says Sonia had previously sought professional support, but Hosanna's constitution states
01:52that counselling is not an order of the church.
01:55Mum had to have trust in God for her healing. In August of 2018, my mum took her own life.
02:06Hosanna Excelsis didn't respond to the ABC's multiple requests for comment, but the church's
02:11constitution is publicly available and states that the sick should be prayed for and that
02:16members recognise the Holy Spirit as their counsellor.
02:19The leader of the church passed away at the end of last year and I did feel some disappointment
02:25that they didn't get to publicly face some of the accusations.
02:29Now a mum herself, Ellen hopes for a better future.
02:33It's very important for me to make sure that my daughter grows up knowing who her grandmother
02:37was.