A RECONCILIATION STORY

Billy Simon's Ministry to the Poor, the Hungry and the Thirsty

"The police kicked in ten doors in Everleigh Street looking for drugs seventeen years ago, but they never kicked in mine. They knew who I was - Billy Simon!"

The Police knew he was a changed man. He lived in 65 Everleigh Street. They only came around to interview him, and he said to them, "it felt like a fiery furnace", referring to three Old Testament characters who were stuck in the furnace until the fourth man who looked like the Son of God was seen. The media went sensational with a misquote: that Redfern is good for nothing but to be burnt! Bill was furious and wanted the paper to retract the article.

Life for Pastor Bill Simon, the first Aboriginal Minister to be ordained in Redfern, has such an uncanny twist. He was a member of the Stolen Generation from Kinchela Boys Home, a metho drinker, and a drug pusher, until the crunch came: "I gave my life to Jesus Christ!"

"Who else could I turn to? I was on an acid trip one day at 3am when my skin turned yellow. I was hot and cold, sweating, freezing the next, teeth chattering. The music, Santana, which I turned off was playing even louder, couldn't turn it off from my mind. I was surrounded by hundreds of beings with cold black beady eyes and silly little grins while the music was turning louder and louder. I knew I needed help."

"My mother was next door but I couldn't turn to her for help. I hated her. I wanted to kill her because when me and my three little brothers were taken away, she just turned her back and went inside the house. I was 9 then and my brothers were aged 7, 5 and 2. I thought she turned her back on us. I didn't realize that it was too overwhelming for an Aboriginal mother to see her children taken away from her. She didn't want to see that. It hurt too much."

"At Kinchela, the staff (mostly ex-army employees) told the children their parents didn't love them. They weren't told that their Mums and Dads were not allowed to visit us. I had to be mother and father to my brothers. If my little brothers wet their beds, I had to wash their sheets, and then I would be sent outside with no breakfast and no shoes. As punishment a boy could be sent up the line (of boys) from the littlest to the biggest, to beat us up. Or, we could be locked up for three days in what looked like an outside toilet, fed only with bread and water. The setup at the Boys Home was run like the Army. Up at 4am, we milked the cows, collected the eggs (there were 300 chickens) and shine the door knobs before we could have breakfast."

Pastor Bill Simon of Koori Lighthouse Ministries reflecting on his experience said, "If only Prime Minister Howard could apologize to us on behalf of the Government and acknowledge that they have wronged us, then healing would begin."

Pastor Bill started off in the Black Theatre as helper to Pastor Richard Phillips (known as Pastor Dick Blair). Pastor Richard used to run an Aboriginal Youth ministry and Bill was a youth leader at the Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ. They would try to get the children out of Minda court and give them fares to go back home. Some came from as far as Melbourne, Brisbane, and Western Australia; others from the South Coast. They all came to Redfern.

Today Pastor Bill is a changed man. After he committed his life to Jesus Christ, he said he was able to rid himself of three vices that wreaked havoc in his life: drinking, gambling and smoking.His ministry takes him to St John's Street at King Cross where he organizes a soup kitchen, once a month, at Matthew Talbot where he takes the fellows fishing aboard the Tribal Warrior vessel, giving blankets and bed linens courtesy of St Canice's Catholic Church and at the Wayside Chapel. He also assists Pastor Ray Welsh who ministers in Newtown. In Redfern, he organizes a soup kitchen every Tuesday, a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, and holds a healing service on Sundays at 1.30 pm. His vision for 'the Block'? What the community needs, he said, is housing, toilet facilities, a community hall, a church for marriage, funeral and other services for Aboriginal people, a Recreation Centre for kids, a swimming pool, big buildings like a Hostel as a place for people to stay temporarily during football 'knockouts' .

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