The Australian’s Australian of the Year: Grieving mother comforted – and calmed – the nation

In her grief, Mechelle Turvey turned Australia’s attention to ­racism.

Mechelle Turvey. Picture: Getty Images

In her grief, Mechelle Turvey turned Australia’s attention to ­racism.

Mrs Turvey’s remarkable strength and focus after the bashing death of her 15-year-old Aboriginal son Cassius last October made her – ironically – a comfort to a shocked and angry nation.

Her leadership in a time of deep personal pain has seen her nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year.

Mrs Turvey knew her son’s death was a flashpoint and became a guide for communities in pain.

Cassius, his 14-year-old best friend and two 13-year-old cousins were wearing their Swan View High School uniforms near their homes in Perth’s northeast after school. The surviving boys told their parents white adults in a moving car accused them of smashing a car window the day ­before, shouted racial abuse, pulled up in front of them and chased them with weapons.

There was no known link between Cassius and Jack Steven James Brearley, the 21-year-old man who is one of four charged with his murder. This is possibly what WA’s then new police commissioner, Col Blanch, was trying to convey in an awkward talkback radio interview in which he said: “It may be a case of mistaken identity, it may be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. The public, already alarmed by such a vicious crime, was quickly angry that the state’s top police officer would suggest a child walking home from school in broad daylight was in the wrong place.

The situation worsened when Mr Blanch said: “We’re not operating on any principles of racism or motivation at this point.”

Mrs Turvey dealt with this decisively. She invited Mr Blanch to a neutral location – her sister’s home on the outskirts of Perth – for a talk. It was, by all accounts, a candid and conciliatory meeting.

At a candlelight vigil for Cassius that evening, Indigenous leaders told thousands gathered it was Mrs Turvey’s wish that police be allowed to carry out their investigation. She wanted no one taking matters into their own hands. In her public statements, Mrs Turvey called for calm and asked people to focus on child safety.

Mrs Turvey has since been ­appointed as a special adviser to police.

“I’m not just here for the Aboriginal community,” she said. “I’m here for the community as a whole.”

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the form above, or sending an email to [e-mail]. Nominations close on Friday, January 20.