Week 2 is over and Week 3 has begun!
Time to do a walkabout in Brisbane….
Did you know that Australian Aboriginal culture can be considered to be the oldest continuous living culture on the planet?
It’s true, recent dating of the earliest known archaeological sites on the Australian continent have pushed back the date for Aboriginal presence in Australia to at least 40,000 years with some evidence pointing to dates over 60,000 years old. On Saturday I was privileged to take a stroll around Brisbane with local aboriginal people who shared a personal perspective on their culture and history both ancient and recent. It was eye opening.
Before I proceed however, I would like to make a sincere acknowledgement, one that precedes many functions and events in Australia.
I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners and the Elders past and present of the land upon which this project was run and recognize their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
In all honesty this acknowledgement felt a bit awkward the first time that I heard it. But, as I’ve learned more about the history here, I have come to understand and respect it. You see the above acknowledgement is in recognition of the terrible things that have been done to the indigenous population in this region.
WARNING: The following commentary is my own independent and personal opinion. It in no way, shape or form is meant to reflect that of IBM. In addition I mean no respect to my host organization or host country. What I write is on me and me alone!
So, back to my experience. It started out on a Saturday morning. We had signed up for an Aboriginal Cultural tour with Blackcard Cultural Tours. We showed up a bit early to find the meeting point setting up for an Indonesian Cultural Festival. So we were able to entertain ourselves prior to the tour.
After our fun and games we saw our guides, Yarraka and Cassy and a Dean who was dressed in traditional clothing carrying his didgeridoo. We introduced our selves began our learning. It turns out the in people’s roles are pretty well defined in Aboriginal culture with some things divided by gender and others by skills. This young man’s didgeridoo was created by a maker. It turns out that termites here tend to eat the dead insides of trees leaving the outer living portion alive. This means that in order to make a didgeridoo you need to first find a tree in the right condition. Then you clean it out, remove the bark, polish it and make it playable. Once this is done the Player will decorate and perform with it. Players tend to have multiple instruments each decorated and used for different occasions…..some of which cannot be shared outside of specific groups. It takes years to learn how to play the instrument well. This gentleman is a master of his instrument. He is also a very patient man willing to listen to what I assume are the same questions over and over again. I did put my foot in my mouth once when I asked him how long he had studied his instrument. He looked at me kind of funny and stated that they don’t “study” instruments but rather consider them a part of themselves and use them to express themselves. A lesson learned on my part….and an invaluable perspective for me and my instruments.
Once the posing was done we went into the City Hall for our first session on their culture and a short performance. I wish that he could have played longer. He truly was a master of his trade.
We then went to a museum to start learning about their history. We were shown a map of the Brisbane river with the traditional aboriginal names of the areas. The gentlemen portrayed was a respected warrior, elder and leader of his people. He was also accused of crimes against the settlers. He avoided capture for 14 years and during that time was accused of many crimes although it’s difficult to separate fact from rumor. When he was caught, according to the law of the time he participated in a trial where he wasn’t afforded the opportunity to speak in his defense, was found guilty and hung.
The different cultural perspective is simply this; was he a murderer or was he defending his people? Debate is still ongoing.
The Lost Generation, depicted above refers to children of mixed race who were removed from their families and placed into foster homes with the thought that they would have more advantages that way. It was traumatic to the children and a social tragedy. Our guides spoke about the impact upon them and their families. It is considered one of the driving factors for many of the social issues that they continue to face.
Our tour continued with a walk around town to see some of the aboriginal artwork around town. The following are some examples.
There are many other political and social issues going on that I’m not going to comment on because I lack the insight, knowledge and context to generate an informed opionion. However, what is clear is that the Aboriginal people were treated unfairly in the past and that positive changes have been made. The question is are the changes going far enough and fast enough. That doesn’t seem to be the case.
In addition to socially conscious art, there were also examples of other means of expression that were also really good.
Albert Namatjira was a born natural painter. He became friends with a local painter and one day asked to use his water colors. It’s said that the first time he painted his work was exquisite. He was untrained but had an incredible talent.
Some of the other work shown here created by other artists were also quite good.
At this point the tour had run out of time due to our many questions but our guides graciously offered to continue. Two of us took them up on their offer. It was the highlight of the trip as we not only got to see some masterpiece level artwork but we also were able to meet our guide’s family and see a traditional dance.
While our tour finished here the adventure did not. We were informed of a poetry reading on another evening and participated. It was my first time at a reading like this. When we arrived we were invited to sit in front and got to hear some very powerful poets. However, before the session started they too did the traditional acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land….however they referred to it as the stolen lands. What was really nice was that the young lady in white who performed for us was the first poet to speak. She had a really powerful voice and message. I learned alot from them all. This experience was the highlight of the cultural part of my trip.
We used BlackCard to do this tour which I highly recommend. They were outstanding.
