1998 School Magazine

Girls Grammar ^, chuot ;!artsbane 1998

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Trapped between byo World, s

e was seated beneath portraits of English Kings and Queens, trapped between two worlds - a victim of white man's superiority. 11 is taking him a long time to repair his s inI and mind; this may even take a life time. Now as an adult he finds it hard to accept that anybody loves him and that's because some part of him has been broken. He was stolen from his family and life at six years of age. CulturalIy shaken - no more Dreamtime, no more art, music and corroboree. He was bewildered and lost. His father was an English man, his mothe an Aboriginal, and he was neither black nor white. He was taken to live on a church mission which "rescued" him from rite camplifewhich of course was dirty and de ladin . He was given a "better" life where he learnt to obey and become the white man's seivant by polishing silver. Stripped of his Aboriginal name, his new Biblical name "civilized" hini. Nor permitted to speak his language, he began to lose his sense of Aboriginality. He learnt to suppress his pained emotions. The whites knew what they were doing; besides They knew best. Taking children away from a life that offended the white man's ideas of family care gave these children the chance of success in the superior world of the white man Adjustment was difficult for him. He had to live white and to think white. He began to feel ashamed of his Abori in al heritage and he began to think that he was really while. He wa fourteen when he left the mission with a WITite man's education and he was lucky to get a job on a cattle station. The pa was less than a white man's and here he began to feel different. He was called black fella and abo, excluded from the white man's world and desperately wanting to blend in, ITe began to or inside. it has been a difficult journey between the two CLIltui'es and to be coine I'ecognised as an AListi'allan. He celebrated when the Australian people changed the constitLi!ion 10 allow Abori trial people to be counted in the population census in Ills own land. He felt even more Iecognised when lie was given the noht to vote. However, his journey is at a cross 1'0ad. He is ovei'- whelmed and confused at how AListralians reinembei' and mourn the tragedy at Port Arthur but can silliply foiget and brLish aside the hunting, the shooting and rape of Abori Inal people that went on into this centLiry. in his sadness lie is ask!n tile white 111an to I'ecognise and to acknowledge the pain of the Aboriginal people and 11Te injustice that 11as been done to them. WITen 11/15 is done, the journey towards reconciliatioiT will be on Its way

have a better understanding of Aboriginal heritage and culture. Aboriginal people need to have a say about how the live now and in the future. They need to maintain and teach their culture His journey will come to an end when white Australians and language to Aboriginal children and to white Australians By doing this Aboriginal culture and history will be di nined and he hopes that this will help to diminish racist attitudes and negative stereotyping. When Allstralian society has a better understanding about land rights issues and when there are Improvements in housing, health, edtication and employment, he will know that reconciliation is on its way. He knows the barriers that have produced the gulf between black and white and he hopes that these barriers will be broken b educatio and public awareness programs. He hopes that black and white can share their life styles and culture in a way that is consistent with their own traditions. He now works as a Welfare Officer with the Abori in al Affairs Department, reuniting Aboriginal families. Their stolen children are sometimes returned. Others are nor so luck . Some ino11Ters never saw their children again and some are still looking, like he is. Here he sits beneath portraits of English Kings and Queens, waiting to address a conference on reconciliation. He has been asked 10 speak to many different gioups and he has noticed that people are slowly changing, even as he is. By looking at asr wrongs, by wanting to be a part of rather than apart from, he is finding solace and healing. He knows that there will alwa s be challenges and complex is sties to be resolved but he is finding that people ale wanting to talk, to learn, to move towards a better flitLii'e and to woi'k together to resolve issues. He is working towards a Linited Allstralia where tilere will be justice and equity to!' all

by SARAH HACK f O Htrscl!Ield

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