Indigenous interest group

In 1965, a group of students from the University of Sydney undertook a bus trip to a number of country towns under the leadership of Dr Charles (Kumantjayi) Perkins. They sought to expose the extreme racial segregation experienced by Aboriginal people in towns like Walgett, Bourke and Moree.

In 2005 a group of young people and members of the volunteer youth network ReconciliACTION hired a bus to re-trace the historic Australian Freedom Ride through regional NSW. The 2005 Freedom Ride was initiated by students from the University of Sydney, volunteers and activists.

The 2005 Freedom Riders organised a series of community events and conducted interviews in the 13 towns visited by the original Australian Freedom Ride, to find out how people felt race relations had changed in the past 40 years.

The new film, titled Freedom Rides - 40 years on, produced as a result of the second ride has just been released. It was shown and discussed at the Indigenous interests group.

Also, we are planning a cross-cultural workshop with an Indigenous facilitator in late 2011

Liyarn Ngarn, in the Yawuru language of the West Kimberly region around Broome in Australia’s far north-west, means “Coming Together of the Spirit”. It epitomizes a 30-year long mission of Indigenous leader and Yawura man, Patrick Dodson, to bring about a lasting and true reconciliation between the original owners and the immigrants. This compelling documentary tells of the devastation and inhumanity bought upon Indigenous people in every aspect of their daily lives. Personal stories of injustice are recounted by renowned English actor Pete Postlethwaite, as told to him by Patrick Dodson and Bill Johnson, an old English school friend, whose Indigenous son Louis died tragically. Respected songman, Archie Roach, adds his powerful lyrics and voice to this often painful, yet inspiring, journey of strength. Liyarn Ngarn aims to change peoples' perception and attitude to Indigenous people and to assist with the process of true and lasting reconciliation. It is also offers some kind of meaningful epitaph to the Indigenous lives lost through sheer inhumanity.

Also, we are planning a cross-cultural workshop with an Indigenous facilitator in late 2011

Melanie Hogan, one of the directors of the film, showed the film and discussed various aspects in the film tent. Yajilarra is about a group of Aboriginal women from Fitzroy Crossing in remote northern Western Australia. They are determined to save the town and their children from the scourge of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and foetal alcohol syndrome. The women in Yajilarra decided that enough was enough as their community had experienced 13 suicides in 13 months. Reports of family violence and child abuse were commonplace and alcohol consumption was rising at an alarming rate. Many of the Aboriginal women from across Fitzroy Valley came together and with the support of some men, they lobbied the West Australian government to impose a ban on the sale of anything but low alcohol beer in the town. The results are inspiring and have set the community on a path of healing. Halls Creek has followed suit. Melanie and her crew are now making a second film.

Marni Lachrymia is an Indigenous man from Katherine NT, who currently teaches science at Epping Boys’ High School. He took a small group to several sacred sites in the Brooklyn area and explained to them about the dreaming. It was a spiritual journey and involved short periods of meditation. We hope to repeat this experience next year for those who missed out.

Dr Myf Turpin researches the relationship between language and music, Aboriginal songs and the Arandic languages of Central Australia. She has worked for many years on language and music maintenance projects. Myf’s talk focused on the contemporary role of traditional Aboriginal music. It gave us all a very good insight into how important music continues to be for members of aboriginal communities. We also discussed how to organise a workshop on cross-cultural awareness and communication (to be held in 2011) with an Aboriginal elder, MK Turner, from Alice Springs.

Dr Jennifer Barr, who was Indigenous Research Officer for the Australian Anglican Schools in 2008-09, talked about her now-completed project on how Independent schools might try to narrow the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational achievement. Jenny gave us a very interesting follow-up talk to her talk last year and explained some of the major findings and recommendations in four key areas:

1. Raising awareness of Indigenous issues in schools.
2. Developing “sister school” type arrangements.
3. Scholarship programs.
4. The development of Indigenous-specific educational programs/schools.

All have plus and minuses but there is plenty of scope for schools to get involved.

One of our members, Carol Floyd, organized for people to bring toys and books to Catherine Park Park as part of a Macquarie University Indigenous Studies project. Thanks to all the people who so generously contributed to this — the response was overwhelming.

Ian Jacobs taught history for 30 years at Killarney Heights High School. Ian is the author of a number of books and his talk provided us with fascinating insights. It was very interesting for all of us to learn about the local Indigenous and early European history of our region.

Rodger Barnes, a geologist who has been working for over 16 years with the Central Land Council in Alice Springs, spoke to this meeting. He is their chief negotiator on mining leases — forging agreements between traditional landowners and mining companies. He has been writing this work up as a Masters Thesis at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, part of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland.

Dr Jennifer Barr, who was Indigenous Research Officer in Australian Anglican Schools at the time, gave a very interesting talk about how schools are working to try and narrow the gap in Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational achievement. She was on a 12-month project and was traveling all over Australia to conduct her research. She presented four main areas in which they were working: Indigenous scholarships; internal changes in schools; visits to Aboriginal areas and visits to the schools by selected speakers, and separate Indigenous school arrangements. There was a great deal of intense debate and we acknowledged that Jenny faced a significant challenge in developing her recommendations. We hope to get a follow up talk from her on completion of the project.

Michael Edols, Elvina Bay resident, has spent over 30 years as a cinematographer and filmmaker, covering human rights struggles in Africa, India, South America, and notably, among Australian Indigenous peoples. At this meeting we heard about his life work and viewed the first of his three Australian films, the award-winning “Lalai Dreamtime”. Described by Dr Andrew Hurley (2008), in his article “Three takes on intercultural film: Michael Edols’ trilogy of Aboriginal films: Lalai Dreamtime; Floating, Like Wind Blow ’em About — This Time; and When the Snake Bites the Sun” (article in Studies In Australasian Cinema, Vol 3) as “a film of loving, patient description” with “breathtaking camerawork”, it is a powerful portrayal of a lost way of life in the tribal Worrorra lands in Western Australia. Unlike many documentaries, it avoids “narrative, detailed context, or interpretation” (Hurley) and the images are allowed “to speak for themselves”. We were privileged to see this beautiful film, and for those who missed it, Michael Edols’ acclaimed films can be purchased at: http://www.edols.com.au/sixdegrees/