Isabella Teh on a family learning expedition

By Jordan Gerrans

First Nations hoop Isabella Teh and her relatives have been on a fact-finding mission in recent years to rediscover treasured family history that was lost during the Stolen Generations.

The 28-year-old is a proud Bundjalung woman and has called North Queensland home in recent years as she aims to establish herself as a jockey on the provincial circuit.

The Bundjalung nation covers a vast area of country around Australia, spanning the north east coast of NSW and the south east coast of Queensland. 

It extends from Grafton on the Clarence River in the south to the Logan River in the north and inland as far as the Great Dividing Range at Tenterfield and Warwick.

Teh’s family hails from Rivertree, which is not far from Stanthorpe.

She explains that some of her family history had been lost or not spoken about as her great-grandmother Hazel Williams, along with many other relatives, were part of the Stolen Generations.

Some parts of her family’s history was not passed down due to the hurt surrounding those circumstances.

Over the years Teh’s relatives have discovered new family and their tribal history has been revived so they can now celebrate together as one mob, which doesn’t have to be only immediate family.

“It is quite distressing to lose that family history because times are completely different from when our grandmothers were living through it all,” the lightweight jockey said.

“You have the feeling of ‘we have everything now, but why do we still feel awful?’

“A couple of my cousins have done the hard work and looked into the family history and understand it more so now.

“We are learning more about things that have been forgotten or not talked about.

“We kind of talk about it more compared to our aunties, mothers and grandmothers.

“We now have a better understanding of where we come from and why some of our Elders all behaved the way they did and it was no fault on them – it was just their environment.”

Teh recently recoded her 100^th victory in the saddle after debuting back in 2020. 

Teh also has the achievement of riding the entire five-race card at Stamford last year. 

While attending high school, Teh found time to study her Certificate III in Trackwork Rider before following a career path as an apprentice jockey and she is currently studying her Certificate IV in Jockey with Racing Queensland’s Education Department.

Previously under the care of the respected Pat Duff and Group 1-winning trainer Danny Bougoure in South East Queensland, Teh transferred her apprenticeship in the middle of 2022 to the Sarah Acornley stable out of Townsville's Cluden Park.

Acornley trains alongside her husband and jockey Carl Spry.

It has been a fruitful move for Teh, registering 51 winners in the 2022-23 campaign.

Speaking not long after trackwork at Cluden Park as part of Racing Queensland’s Racing For Reconciliation series, the emerging jockey says she has never experienced any racism or discrimination within the industry.

“I do not believe I have faced any challenges being a First Nations participant in racing,” she said.

“I feel like if you work hard and you blend in – in that sense – then you are not singled out.

“I have not faced any negatives in racing.”

Asked how she would make racing more accessible for First Nations people, Teh believes a working group for Indigenous Australians could be established to help their chances of employment in the code.

She thinks young people could learn general skills within the industry – which could lead to becoming a jockey or trainer – before being sent out to individual trainers, to gain more knowledge within the sport.

The proud Bundjalung woman describes her family’s land as ‘beautiful country’.

“Bundjalung is quite broad and we are the Githabul mob of the Bundjalung nation,” she says.

“There is a big number of tribes in the nation, ranging from the Gold Coast all the way to Grafton and inland to Stanthorpe and Warwick.

“Our family was from Rivertree, which is south of the border there, around the Stanthorpe area.

“It is beautiful country around there.”

Being based in Townsville these days, it makes it tough for Teh to regularly return to Bundjalung land.

But, she says her connection to country remains strong through her extended family.

“I have relatives that are more involved in our country and the family – that is my connection to it, the people,” she said.

“My cousins, aunties and nanna – as well as other members of the family – it is about people and family for my connection to the Bundjalung land.”

Teh shared the story of her grandmother who was one of nine children growing up on a small property at Rivertree; still hunting and gathering in the traditional ways of her Elders.

With her great grandmother Williams and many other relatives a part of the Stolen Generations, Teh says family members are still feeling the impacts of their suffering to this day.

”Everybody has generational trauma and it is a matter of recognising it,” she said.

“I feel like some of my cousins and I – in my opinion – we are more of the ‘woke’ side of the family to see and recognise and dig deep into why we feel the way we do.

“It is generational and it is about recognising and fixing those generational curses to end it to move forward.”