‘Like a knitting circle’ – but with fighting

Article by: Deborah Gough
Reporter for The Age

Shantelle Thompson is a mother to three young children and a graduate teacher, but six days a week she becomes Barkindji Warrior, Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter.

It is a name with which to market herself, but it also bolsters her psychologically. In battle, her armour is her gi, or fighting kimono, with its indigenous design cloth patches from her community in Mildura.

Photo: Justin McManus

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