Richmond's Shane Edwards discovers his heritage about 80km from Alice Springs Sam Edmund
From: Herald Sun
February 11, 2013 THE bitumen lasts about 10 minutes as the road sweeps south from Alice Springs.
Then it's a vibrating combination of rocks, gravel and red dirt - interrupted by wild horses - before you get to Santa Teresa 80-odd kilometres down the road.
It takes an hour to get there, but for Shane Edwards it has taken a lot longer.
In fact, it has taken the Richmond forward all of his 24 years to truly arrive at this tiny Aboriginal settlement.
Edwards discovered little more than two weeks ago that his family heritage could be traced back to Santa Teresa, a town with nothing more than a store, school, health building and a sandy footy oval.
For Edwards, whose shyness prevented the Tigers and the AFL from becoming aware of his indigenous heritage for the first 18 months of his career, it is the latest piece in an emotional family puzzle he is piecing together with the help of his grandmother, Monica.
"It's just amazing, I can't believe how far back it goes now," Edwards said.
"Knowing what my grandmother had to do to find out where she came from. She's just done it through years and years of work. She was raised through the Catholic church and has just gone back to everyone she knew."
Edwards was born in Adelaide to parents Tara and Greg.
His grandmother Monica - on his mum's side - is indigenous and his great grandmother Elsie had lived in Santa Teresa before she and her brother were taken from their mum Annie (Edwards' great-great-grandmother).
All hail from the Arrernte tribe, one of the biggest in central Australia.
"They were taken down to Mt Gambier because they were half-caste," Edwards said.
"From there they went across to Adelaide. As long as I've known my grandmother she has lived in Salisbury (a suburb north-east of Adelaide)."
Edwards had been to Santa Teresa once before on a Richmond pre-season camp a few years ago.
But back then he was oblivious to his links to the area as he clowned around with teammates Dustin Martin and Kel Moore and the local kids.
It is why, during his second visit to the town last week, he quietly sneaked away for a precious moment of reflection and to take some photos.
"It was so much different this time," Edwards said.
"In one of the classrooms as soon as I said my great-grandmother's last name (Summerfield) the assistant principal recognised it like it was still around.
"I think that's amazing in any area to have a name still lingering.
"I loved saying, 'This is where I'm from'. If I don't, I've got no chance of finding out any more. I'm just lucky that I've got the opportunity to play for Richmond and to actually go to a place like Santa Teresa.
"My brother Kym, living in Adelaide, is just as curious as I am, but he doesn't get the opportunity to go."
Edwards was bestowed the honour of captaining Richmond against the Indigenous All-Stars in Alice Springs on Friday.
After the game, while his teammates let their hair down at Lasseters Hotel and Ca-sino, Edwards was in a separate room meeting 40 members of the extended family he never knew he had.
There were more than a few tears.
Belinda Duarte, director of Richmond's Korin Gamadji Institute at Punt Rd, was there - and has been there throughout Edwards' journey of discovery.
"The one thing people don't necessarily know about Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander communities is the depth that they want to connect with family given the issues around the stolen generation," Duarte said.
"For Shane, having that in his history and to go back on the weekend and meet his family was really special.
"Seeing him go through that and sharing that with him as an Aboriginal person, we collectively feel that - because it's a part of that connection to home.
"It's the history that we inherit and what I love about our people is seeing the immensity of love and welcome. I'm getting teary just speaking about it.
"Given our history it wasn't a choice for us to experience a disconnect from family, it was a consequence of government policy."
Edwards believes the urge to find out more about his family's past has been fuelled by a developing maturity and his status as Richmond's only indigenous player.
His family tree is growing before his eyes and he is growing with it.
"I just said to my family that I wanted to know the finer details about everything. I was getting really curious," Edwards said.
Edwards has come a long way from his early days in yellow and black, when most of his Richmond teammates did not even know he was indigenous.
He wasn't invited to indigenous training camps and was left off official AFL indigenous lists.
He even played in the Dreamtime game against Essendon without being recognised.
He has always been proud of his heritage, but said he "didn't really speak up".
"Apart from not having such a cultured upbringing and that fact that I was pretty shy coming into the system, I didn't really know how to bring it up," he said.
"I guess that shows how much the AFL has improved over the years since, and that was only seven years ago, when it comes to finding people lost in the system.
"Belinda found out and we just started talking. She was like, 'We've got to get you involved' and I was like, 'I want to be'. She was pretty surprised and a bit upset that it wasn't known.
"But I reckon all this has definitely matured me. Just the fact that I now know more about myself and more about my family.
"One side of my family is so pieced together, but this side, it's not until the last couple of years that I've found out about real places and people."
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