In the last year of his decorated AFL career, Adam Goodes wore a Guernsey designed by his mother Lisa-May Sansbury for the game's Indigenous round.
Sansbury was forcibly removed from her family as a child and dedicated her life to raising her own children to be the best they could be. Goodes, in return, has said how much that dedication shaped him into the person he is today: a football legend and former Australian of the Year.
It's that poignant relationship which has been sung to life by Dan Sultan and Paul Kelly in 'Every Day My Mother's Voice'.
Every day my mother's voice
Talks to me
Every day I make my choice
What to do and how to be
The song is set to be the final track on a new documentary called The Final Quarter, which will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival next month.
Talks to me
Every day I make my choice
What to do and how to be
Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes unveils the Indigenous Round guernsey designed by his mum Lisa Sansbury. Source: AAP
Filmmaker Ian Darling uses archival vision to tell the story behind the dramatic finals years of Goodes' career: the accusations of being a 'free-kick milker', and the more extreme incessant booing and being labelled an ape, which he defiantly called out as racism.
When Adam Goodes celebrated a goal with a proud war dance, throwing an imaginary spear into the crowd, he was demonised. When he lectured a young girl for using centuries-old racist language to heckle him, he was ostracised. Yet Goodes never stopped, and indeed continues today, to call-out racism wherever he sees it.
Like the documentary, the music video for 'Every Day My Mother's Voice' is a meditation on this period of time, and an ode to the strong relationship Goodes has with his mother.
She taught me to be strong
I guess I got lucky
Now I’ve got a dance and I’ve got a song
They can’t take that way away from me
I guess I got lucky
Now I’ve got a dance and I’ve got a song
They can’t take that way away from me
