Journey to Gunbalanya

My family and I are embarking on the long drive from Canberra to Arnhem Land towing my little caravan. We will be visiting many places in the desert areas along the way such as Lake Mungo, Lake Eyre, Coober Pedy, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Karlu Karlu, Mataranka springs, and Nitmiluk. The vast Hay plains in Wiradjuri country were in the midst of a locust plague. Crossing invisible state borders resulted in all our fruit and veg supplies being wasted due to fruit fly exclusion laws. One of our first stops once in South Australia was the beautiful town of Renmark. I preferred it to nearby Mildura in NSW and overall found SA to be really impressive.

The scene on the Murray was so South Australia as in a postcard. Little did I know how arid and spectacular South Australia would become.

Rosella print

The resulting decomposition print appears clean as though the body protected the canvas from the elements and dried out rather than melting. I did not brush the canvas down or dye it in eucalyptus, only pulling it through the vinegar bath as the creamy colour of the canvas appealed and there was no smell evident. The drops of sap from the eucalyptus tree provide the reference to place.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Bill Harney jnr and snr

I recommend Born under the Paperbark Tree 1996 and Grief Gaiety, and Aborigines 1961 for an accurate picture of NT early last century from multiple racial perspectives.
Bill Harney jnr is a phenomenal man born into unbelievable circumstances like many others at the time. His performance of a mosquito at the ‘Barks, Birds and Billabongs’ symposium was the most remarkable and intense indigenous performance I’ve ever seen.
I hope to see him again in April on his Jankangyina tour of Wardaman country and the Lightening Brothers Rock Art.

Animal Ethics

In reading ‘In Defense of Animals’ edited by Peter Singer, a collection of essays by various authors and activists, it becomes overwhelming as to the extent of the war human animals continue to wage against the innocent. Our twisted laws that view animals as property without rights and their subsequent torture and massacre through factory farming, scientific testing, and mass killings. Although the examples supplied in the text were all unbelievably horrific, and extinction rates due solely to humans alarming, the Monkeys discovered in 1981 who were kept in small uncleaned putrid metal boxes without vet care for scientific experiments in a basement provided the worst image in my mind. Their limbs had been deliberately been disabled through surgical interference to record how they managed, they were strapped to chairs and given electric shocks or burnt with lighters to record their reaction and in another denied food to record their levels of frustration. The monkeys were neurotic and were resorting to self mutilation, biting or tearing their fingers off, the worst being a monkey that had torn open its own chest cavity as a result of the torture and even in that state was still subjected to further experiments. Human society is very sick and has been for a very long time.

Anyone interested in animal rights should explore Animal Liberation and organisations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, formed by Alex Pacheco and others who notified the world about the monkeys mentioned above, and particular to Australia Voiceless.

Booderee National Park and the Wreck Bay Community

Booderee National Park is owned by the Wreck Bay Indigenous Community. This is the country where my mother and I were raised and my mother’s family established themselves. The Shoalhaven High School I attended taught children from my village Vincentia and Wreck Bay Village in addition to surrounding villages on Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin waterways. Indigenous storytellers in the area important to my education concerning the country in my soul are Wadi Wadi man Barry Moore and Bidgigal man Laddie Timbery.
Now there are a primary and High School in Vincentia and I am very happy to see a local indigenous language program developed at the High School.