Is Graceys character inspired by Cathy Freeman?
No, not in the way you might expect. When writing Dougy, I needed a way to make his older sister special. It was 1990 and the Commonwealth Games were on TV. I saw a sixteen year-old aboriginal girl win a gold medal as part of the relay team. I didn’t even pay any attention to her name but used the idea that Gracey could be a champion athlete. Of course, four years later, at the next Commonwealth game, that young aboriginal girl won the 200 and 400 metres and was photographed with both the Australian and Aboriginal flags. Cathy Freeman has been a household name ever since. But that was 1994. Dougy was written in 1990 and published in 1993. Gracey was written in 1991 and 1992 and published in March, 1994, five months before the Games. Gracey is not modelled on Cathy in any real sense.
