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#frocktober day 12: jetlagged and propping up the bar! We came in 3rd at pub trivia. I’m wearing my @made590 Immy dress in Lazy Daisy. 👗❤️

#frocktober day 11: after a week of work travels, it’s nice to be home! ❤️ This is a comfy knit wrap dress from Amazon Basics, just right for passing out for a jetlagged nap… 👗

#frocktober day 10. This is an old favourite, a self-made @seamwork Laurel in thrifted fabric. Did you know ovarian cancer ranks 5th in cancer deaths for women? Donate to the @ocrf to help find a cure. Link in bio… 👗❤️

Seventeen years ago, I was on a break from tech and working in the knitting shop, and I decided the time had come to get my Australian citizenship. When I told one of the older women in the shop, her eyes sparkled. “Thank you,” she said. “I really mean that. Thank you. I think it’s wonderful when people decide to join us.” I felt so welcomed and so proud, and, like, filled with the spirit of mateship and the ANZACs and all of it. I am, you are, we are Australian, right?

Eighteen months later, Kevin Rudd was about to issue the first national apology to Australia’s Aboriginal peoples for the Stolen Generations. I found myself speaking to that same woman, and happily remarking what a momentous and long overdue day it was. “Don’t even get me started on THEM,” she spat, to my utter shock. She launched into racist invective about the many crimes of Aboriginal people, as she saw it. “You don’t really believe that,” I said, trying to rescue the situation and my opinion of her. The scornful look she gave me… I remember being utterly floored by it. It was clear then that while she was happy to grant me – a white, affluent Westerner who had been in the country for just over 6 years at that point – the status of Australian, other people who had been here a whole hell of a lot longer had not earned it. Our friendship ended that day.

So I’ll be voting YES in the referendum this Saturday. Because I want to live in a country that recognises 65,000 years of Indigenous culture in our constitution. Because enshrining the Voice will make me proud to be an Australian.

And yeah, sticking it to a racist asshole will feel pretty good too. #yes23

#frocktober day 9 – after an overnight flight from Pune, I’m back in the AWS office in Singapore! It’s hot and stormy here, so I’m in a floaty double-gauze sundress. Thanks to everyone who has donated to the @ocrf so far, and to @cathycrimson for taking the photo! 👗❤️

#frocktober day 8: a day of rest and rejuvenation! The frock was bought in a little shop in Regensburg last year. Thanks to all who’ve donated to fund ovarian cancer research! I’m at 33% of my fundraising goal. 👗❤️

Highlights from today’s AWS Community Day Pune. My keynote was well received by the 800+ attendees, and I posed for hundreds of photos afterwards. Thanks to the amazing @awspune organisers and volunteers who made it all possible. Now it’s time to relax and recover… 😴

Exploring new foods! Tonight’s post-event dinner was “misal pav,” spicy vegetarian curry eaten with hot buttered bread rolls. It’s a very traditional dish here in the Pune region. For dessert I had kulfi, which is like a dense ice cream. Everything was so good! I’m stuffed.

#frocktober day 7 – the AWS dress v2! Today I gave the keynote at the AWS Community Day in Pune, India. So fun! Thank you to the @awspune organisers for inviting me. ❤️👗

#frocktober day 6 – sunset in Pune, India. Today I flew from Singapore to Pune to speak at the AWS Community Day conference. I’m wearing a sleeveless Liberty shirtdress. Looking forward to meeting everyone tomorrow! 👗🇮🇳