Linda Burney is a survivor and clearly a fighter for hope.
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In the terrible loss of her son, Binni, she felt the devastation of any mother.
And when combined with all the hardships she's encountered in her life, his death might have made hope exceedingly difficult to find.
But allowing herself enough time to grieve for her son has cleared her to take flight with a story for others, in keeping with her personal totem of the "messenger bird", the white cockatoo.
It was a time of raw grief when Binni died in October of 2017.
But now she has found the emotional room to talk about it, holding as she does great store in relaying something of who he was in order to understand and gain new strength in the wake of his death.
The federal Parliamentarian, who almost five years ago became the first Aboriginal woman elected to the House, will be guest speaker at the Border's Winter Solstice.
It's a great honour for her, both at a personal level and for the loss suffered in the wider community from suicide.
That generosity of spirit, imbued with great tenacity, certainly has been the mark of Burney's public face.
She has shown that in so many ways, in everything from Indigenous rights to the spectre of family violence.
And informing that has been her life experience: as a child abandoned by her mother, in later discovering her large Wiradjuri family to the upheaval and trauma of having to flee, with her children, from a violent relationship.
Burney has not though allowed herself to be weighed down by those achingly difficult times.
Binni's death, at just 33 after a mental health battle, is counterbalanced for her now by memories of his "loving, kind and loyal" nature.
He had long struggled with his illness, but this does not in any way diminish the uplifting experience - albeit tinged with sadness - of celebrating his life.
It's a message that tells clearly of finding ways to give hope, to not - as Burnley says - looking to prevent suicide by trying to "stop them falling off the cliff" but by stopping them from "getting to the edge".
