Filed under: Uncategorized
I came across the transcription below whilst researching. It was transcribed from a series of interviews with Wurundjeri Elder, Ian Hunter, recorded in 2004 – 2005. I found it really interesting to read the thoughts on reconciliation from an Aboriginal person’s point of view, quite different to what is normally perceived regarding reconciliation. Perhaps as a society we need to re-think our approach on this issue in order for everyone to move forward and achieve a solitary goal…
My mother [Jessie Hunter] was the one who said that Reconciliation initially is about Aboriginal people coming to terms with where they are and who they are. [...] Non-indigenous Aboriginal people living on other Aboriginal people’s country have to reconcile themselves with that and appreciate that fact.
The next stage comes into that humility thing again. If non-Aboriginal people are willing to put their hand out and talk about the wrongs that were done, we will never have Reconciliation until the Aboriginal people are accepting that hand putting out, instead of condemning and not working with the white people.
Reconciliation is where both parties are giving equal and we won’t have Reconciliation until Aboriginal people agree with that.
The other part of Reconciliation is education [...] How can non-Aboriginal people reconcile what happened or reconcile the past if they don’t know it?
When you can actually educate them and show them that the Aboriginal people were virtually professors in their own rights, of anatomy, biology, astronomy, theology, geometry, flight…all of those things. And it was one old man who would’ve had to know about all these things to survive in this country.
When you can make people aware of that, that’s when they would appreciate [and say] hang on, what we have lost, or what we are still loosing is extremely valuable.
There’s already the converted non-Aboriginal people, so you have to get to the non-converted, the ones that go, “I don’t want to know about that. If it weren’t for us you’d still be living in the trees”.
They’re the people that need to be converted and that’s part of Reconciliation, where we have to work with those people. But you’re not going to get the changing of those people’s minds with confrontation. You’re going to get that with humility and cap in hand, “Can I tell you about it?”
If people have got something in common, that’s what we’ve got to look for I suppose – the thing that’s common, not to look at the differences of people. To look at people as what has one person got to enhance another person’s ideals.
And one of the best ways to do that is by educating people, I’ve found is through art, both visual and performing art. Because people have all got that in common [...] and learning more about where we live and where we fit in.
When you have kids yourself, that’s one of the things that you want to look at – what are you going to leave for your kids? Not leave aggressive ideals and animosities to other people. When your kids grow up, you want something better for your kids, so that they don’t have to put up with the crap that you put up with as a kid.
[...] So that’s another of the great summing ups – move on. Move on. Remember those things, but go ahead, move on, don’t dwell on them.
My mum had plenty to dwell on – about [...] having to write to see her grandma and her mother [Martha Nevin], she wasn’t allowed to live with her mother [Jemima Wandin], but she didn’t have any animosities to whites – she married them, they married the whites.
[...] Too many people wanted radical change, instead of just the old traditional way. [...] When I talk to kids about our language, we talk about [how there are] no swear words, no [words to describe] frustration. There must’ve been frustration, but the frustration was “It’ll sort itself out”.
Why be frustrated? Because you’re not going to change the way things are at that precise moment. You’re not going to stop your thumb hurting, if you’ve hit it, so why be frustrated over it?
We think that we can control everything, being of European decent. Control and command instead of working with [...] and that’s coming back to the radical people – they want to command and control and that’s not the Aboriginal way.
Transcription found at:
http://www.freshwater.net.au/wurundjeri/melbourne_aboriginal_reconciliation.htm.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I made a second trip myself to the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum in Carlton to take some reference images for our team poster and to gather some further information.
Below are some notes taken at the exhibition…
- Shaping Identity: “With Aboriginal People, and I believe all human beings, where they were born is the source of their being through their culture, spirituality and customs.” Iris Lovett-Gardner, 1999
- Identity is shaped by land and affirmed through ways of life
- Designs of Land
- Colours: dark red, blue, orange, grey
- “Whole generations of kids are growing up… without access to and knowing about fundamental aspects of their birthright” Henrietta Fourmile, 1990
- “The Yana is my Father’s country” William Barak, 1876
Encounters around Port Phillip Bay:
For 1,000’s of years, what is now Victoria belonged to a number of Aboriginal nations. The Port Phillip Bay regions belonged to East Kulin Groups: the Watha wurrung, Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung. As invading British settlers encountered Aboriginal peoples, their ability to co-exist with these communities was tested. Some came to respect Aboriginal people and culture. Others wanted only wealth and property for themselves. - Melbourne’s settlement was located on the rich, fertile lands of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung peoples; including MCG site, hill where Government House now stands, Burnley, and Clifton Hill
- Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation gathered every year near the Yarra River for ceremonies, celebrations and trade. These were important social gatherings where political and family alliances were reinforced and grievances addressed
- The Melbourne Meeting Place:
On an early Winter’s day in 1835, alongside a beautiful stream, a group of Aboriginal men gathered around a bearded stranger. His name was John Batman. He hoped to become fabulously rich – by buying 500,000 acres of the Aboriginal land in exchange for a few household goods. This transaction – meaningless to the aboriginal people that day and immediately rejected by the government – marked the beginnings of Melbourne.
Filed under: Uncategorized
“In the Aboriginal Dreamtime, the moon was a man, fishing on the West Australian waters that the whitefella centuries later was to dub the Panton River. The moon-man was supposed to marry a star but he was in love with his cousin, the snake, and the stars became angry. “If you look at the snake again you will die,” they warned. Now the moon got angry and said to them: “When you mob die, you will be gone for good. When I die, I’ll come back as a young man every time.” And thus it is that, each month, the moon rises anew in the night sky.”
As told in:
Keeper of the Kija – In the spotlight: Ricky Drill
Interview by Lawrence Money, Royal Auto, April 2008-04-02
There are further notes taken from this article on the Indigenous research page.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Back in 2006 I worked on a group project which involved answering the question: What is Design? As part of our research we posed this question to a number of professional designers within the industry, as well as source some previously documented discussions on the topic, and collected their responses.
I have held on to this research, as it always seems to spark a new train of thought after I re-read the responses. I have listed some below which I believe hold particular relevance to our Design Research Project direction…
“Designers carry profound influence in their power to shape and communicate cultural concepts” – Philippe Apeloig, France
“Design is important because it plays a real role in making the world what it is. It’s important to make things easier to understand, to make it easier for work to get done and progress to be made.” – Anon
“I see design as being important as an interpreter in between two people who don’t speak the same language.” – Anon
“The future and past make the present inspiring.” – Form, UK
“It is almost by virtue of a logical development in the history of art that we have been called today to work in the field of design.” – M/M (Paris), France
“Context + Concept + Collaboration >> Communication.” – Christian Kusters, CHK Design, London
“Why is it important? It creates differentiation, fulfils its purpose and ensures resonance.” – Brad Smith (Creative Director), Square Circle Triangle, Melbourne
And a little less related, but a little more amusing…
“Graphic design: see forms and meanings/ Forms: see sign (cf. signification) and de-sign/ Design: see graphic eg. ‘I was walking in the forest when suddenly this graphic design totally modified my life’.” – Pierre di Sciullo, France
