|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Warriors lie down and die Book Reviews
by David Bennett, Quadrant, June 2001 page 10 Evelyn Scott, Chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, caught the impact of the book, and its importance, when she launched it on 26th October 2000: It would be an understatement to say that reading the book left me with mixed emotions. As you work your way through it, you find yourself swept around in tides of feelings. They range from deep sorrow-even anger-to hope and optimism that it’s not too late, that the Warriors can rise and stand tall as they have for many thousands of years. For that to happen it will certainly help if as many non-Indigenous Australians as possible read this book. And I am not just talking about the doctors, the educators and other professionals who might go on to Yol`u land to work with the people there. It’s certainly ‘must read’ material for them, but I believe this book will help many other Australians to break through some of the barriers that block our path to cross-cultural understanding in a much broader sense. Scott makes a strong point. Much of the discussion of Aboriginal affairs is about matters of importance, for one reason or another, to urbanised Aborigines. Given the scale of the problems of Aborigines in depressed remote communities, relatively little discussion, or even attention, is directed to issues that are acute for them. Many Australians, wishing to make their call and contribution, have walked bridges and signed books. The issues raised so vividly in this book remain sadly untouched by those efforts. There is much more to do. The author, Richard Trudgen, based this timely work on his experiences and education while working with Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. Much of the thrust of the book concerns the need for Yolngu education by communication methods having meaning for Yolngu people. Plainly, Trudgen is a naturally gifted educator. He was led to this vocation, however, by an unlikely training. RICHARD TRUDGEN was born at Orange, New South Wales, in 1050. After he left school, he trained as a fitter and turner. In 1973, feeling uneasy about the relationships between the early settlers in his area and the local Aboriginal people, Trudgen volunteered to work for a year with the Yolngu people as a fitter/mechanic. Trudgen spent the first three months at Milingimbi Mission off the north-central Arnhem Land coast. He then moved to help in the development of the new township of Ramingining in central Arnhem Land. He remained there for over a decade. In 1975, after two years with the Yolngu, Trudgen left his position as fitter/mechanic and became a community worker training in community development and education. Trudgen’s work was ground-breaking but his health suffered. In 1983, sickness forced him to leave Arnhem Land and to return to New South Wales. In 1992, faced with crisis, the Yolngu clan elders and, in particular, Rev. Dr Djiniyini Gondarra, the Chief Executive Officer of Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS), persuaded Trudgen to return to work with the Yolngu people. This time, however, he was to work regionally, with a wider group. In his foreword to the book, Gondarra provides a sensitive and disturbing insight into the issues for the Yolngu people and the task for Trudgen at the time of his return in early 1993. The period of eleven years that Trudgen previously had worked in Arnhem Land had been one of deep Yolngu confusion about the Balanda (the Yolngu term for non-Aboriginal) world. No matter how hard the Yolngu applied themselves, they were unable to compete with advanced Balanda technologies and Balanda ways that, to the Yolngu, were strange and lawless. Yolngu attempted to ascertain the source of Balanda power through Balanda high school education. They obtained certificates, but neither responsible work nor the secret they were seeking came with the paper. Gondarra writes that the confusion, which still exists, was literally killing the Yolngu people. Trudgen’s introduction supports this claim. It tells that in 1948 an American-Australian scientific expedition carried out medical research into health in three major Arnhem Land communities. Their findings described what Trudgen observed when he arrived in Milingimbi in 1973:(sic) Their general build is athletic. Shoulders, thighs, and muscles of the vertebral column are well developed and strong. Carriage, posture and gait are excellent…In no instance was an obese adult encountered. By the 1900s, there was a radical deterioration. The Yolngu people were dying in their early to mid-forties, or younger, from the ravages of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, cancer, renal failure and obesity. Scabies was endemic where, in 1948, the researchers found only two cases. The Yolngu elders asked Trudgen to work with them again because of what he had learned during his earlier time with the Yolngu. Essentially, that lesson was that the Yolngu people could learn quickly and be very productive when communication with them enabled them to establish its context with the Yolngu law, knowledge and social structure. When Trudgen returned to work with ARDS he adopted a methodology of education aimed at overcoming Yolngu confusion by being based on Yolngu language and cultural framework. Using these methods, ARDS was able to find ways to educate and train Yolngu to be a le to understand the ‘strange world of Balanda and participate as equals.’ Gondarra asked Trudgen to write the book. ARDS is its publisher, having supported the project over the three years the book was in preparation. The purpose of the book is to inform Balanda of the success of the methods by which Trudgen had approached Yolngu understanding and education about the Balanda world. The book’s sad and enigmatic title appears under an arresting cover photograph of a Yolngu warrior, Witiyana Marika, playing the traditional clapsticks. Under the title is a succinct statement of the book’s purpose: Towards an understanding of why the Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land face the greatest crisis in health and education since European contact. The book has 250 pages of text. The detailed table of contents reveals the care the author and publisher took to achieve the book’s objective. Maps, the foreword and introduction precede a glossary with notes and information about the translation form. There is a carefully considered pronunciation guide for wards of Yolngu Matha, the Yolngu language. The extensive bibliography refers to books, periodicals and theses, government and media materials, and websites. As well as these resources, there is a reference section with extensive notes. Part One of the book concerns the history of the Yolngu of Arnhem Land from ancient times until the present. There are thirty or forty different Yolngu clan groups. Their individual histories are so deep and complex that this book attempts only a condensed overview. All clans agree that life started in Arnhem Land when the great Creator Spirit sent women from the spirit land, and island to the east of Arnhem Land, across mainland Arnhem land. They were the creators of fresh water holes, the features of the land and the Yolngu themselves. It was they who gave the people the gift of language and madayin, the way to live. Madayin encompasses a whole system of law and living, assented to by all Yolngu clans, and it establishes the boundaries for clan estates and the power of the clans and Yolngu nation to teach and maintain the rule of law. Madayin also speaks at the personal and spiritual levels, teaching the discipline of mind, body and soul. Yolngu see the Madayin system as holy and demanding great respect. Its comprehensiveness and authority for Yolngu leave no room for dominant-culture arrogance that, without the advent of its law, there was no developed Yolngu system of community organisation and personal discipline. Over centuries, Yolngu were economically strong and self-sufficient as a result of their active bilateral trading relationship with Macassan traders covering a wide range of goods. Yolngu historical and instructional ‘song cycles’ record this trading history. There are more recent South Australian records from 1882 until Federation of collected import duties levied on Macassan rice and tobacco. Yolngu received from Macassar large quantities of knives, axes, nails, fish hooks, fishing lines, bottle glass, cloth, steel scraps, alcohol, swards and muskets. In return, Yolngu traded turtle shells, which they harvested in the dry season. Pearls, including those seeded by Yolngu, went to Macassar and, according to Trudgen, probably reached Europe. Yolngu and Macassans together harvested trepang from the shallow waters of the Yolngu coastal estates and then dried and processed it for shipping back to Macassar. Certainly, trepang from this trade reached China. Later, Yolngu began to trade in crocodile skins. This international trade founded inland commerce between Yolngu and other Aboriginal people. For example, Yolngu obtained boomerangs from Central Australia in return for items such as Macassan steel products, some of which found their way as far south as the Great Australian Bight. Balanda activity caused the loss of this trading economy; it seems largely through ignorance and thoughtlessness. In 1906, government intervention refused Macassans trepang fishing licences. Balanda companies came to control the pearling industry. In 1972, legislation prevented the crocodile skin trade. The loss of the trading economy equivalently damaged Yolngu independence and self-control that formerly the economy had enabled. Trudgen writes: Virtually the only economic activity that Yolngu have left is welfare. Welfare is no longer an auxiliary to the ongoing economic life of the people but has become almost their total economic existence. Even their contemporary calendar they have named (in Yolngu Matha) around welfare payments. They have become hopelessly dependent on the dominant culture and its welfare system. SOME OF THE MOST affecting chapters of the book tell a horrific history, according to the Yolngu, of four wars against invaders of their land and waters. The first war began in about 1885 when pastoralists began to take up eleven pastoral leases into which, unknown to the Yolngu, Balanda had divided Arnhem Land. There was a bloody struggle until 1893 when the pastoralists were driven to pack up and leave. After a period of peace for ten years, pastoralists returned with large herds of cattle. Five years of bitter fighting followed, with the Yolngu sustaining huge losses. Finally, in the dry season of 1908, the Balanda pastoralists rounded up their remaining livestock and drove them south. It was a hollow victory for the Yolngu; some clans were extinguished, others nearly vanished. Yolngu identify a third war, this time against Asian-crewed boats appearing on the Yolngu coast. These mariners were very different from the Macassans. There was no question of trade; these were raids to take trepang, pearls and turtles, by force if necessary. As well, crocodile and buffalo shooters began to come to Arnhem Land, respecting no law or Yolngu clan territory. At the same time, Yolngu families began to be ravaged by new diseases such as smallpox, measles, scarlet fever and tuberculosis. In 1917 malaria swept through Arnhem Land. In Yolngu history, the fourth war began in the dry season of 1927 or 1928 with a Balanda horse-mounted attack on a Yolngu family group in south-east Arnhem Land. Thus began a campaign by Balanda moving against the clans of north-east Arnhem Land who, until that time, had been less affected by Balanda intrusion. Yolngu stories tell of savage punitive raids, rapes, attacks and counter-attacks. The Yolngu were pressed on two fronts; they also found their coast besieged by Japanese trepangers. The Yolngu were emotionally distraught and devastated by their losses. In 1935 a new influence entered this troubled scene when the Milingimbi Mission opened a mission at Yirrkala. The Yirrkala Mission became a haven and trading post for the north-east Arnhem Land clans. Trudgen writes that its establishment brought an end to the warring between foreigners and Yolngu. The sad history of increasing confusion and decreasing hope continued through and after the Second World War. During this period Yolngu recognised the indisputable; they were hopelessly inadequate to counter Balanda influence and wholly confused about the source of Balanda power. The 1960s was a period of comparative peace and stability, largely based on support from mission stations that, by now, were receiving increased levels of government funding. Mission stations began to establish industries, including saw milling, cattle, farming, hatcheries and crafts. Yolngu began to learn trades. They were trained for other jobs on the mission, such as nursing, teaching, clerical and administrative work. This period of hope for brighter prospects for independence, growth and stability came to a rapid end during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the most significant parts of the book is Trudgen’s description and analysis, based on his own observations, of how those prospects diminished into confusion and disillusionment and, ultimately, the disastrous loss of Yolngu control of their own lives. Well-intentioned policies such as ‘self-determination’ and ‘land rights’ failed. Trudgen substantially ascribes their failure to a lack of dominant-culture understanding of the Yolngu need to own their future and be able to prepare themselves appropriately, according to Yolngu culture, for the implementation of the new Balanda policies. Trudgen points out that, in implementing policies based on its view of Yolngu needs, Balanda imposed entities from Balanda legal structures. Balanda did not see Yolngu as having any real legal system defining the rights of separate clans, their estates and resources. Balanda structures simply ignored them. For example, the new structures did not recognise the owners of the traditional estates. They imposed a ‘community’ ownership of assets that was a totally foreign concept to the Yolngu; they had no idea how those imposed structures, incompatible with their Madayin law, were to work. Trudgen describes the consequent Yolngu confusion about ‘community’ as opposed to ‘private clan’ enterprises and the problems it caused for future Yolngu development. Many industries and projects failed because Yolngu simply could not recognise the new lines of ownership and authority that were now imposed upon them. Trudgen gives an example of how a Yolngu clan lost its healthy fishing industry after ‘expert’ re-direction by outside consultants sent by the Aboriginal Development Commission. To ensure that the Yolngu implemented the consultants’ recommendations, in the dead of night, presumably well-intentioned Balanda burned the small fishing boats of the Yolngu on the beach. The idea was to ‘convince’ Yolngu of the need to move up to the consultant’s conception that they should abandon their beloved craft because what was required was one big boat under he commend of a Balanda boss. Within six months the whole fishing enterprise of the clan had collapsed and the clan had become an importer, rather than an exporter, of fish products Balanda decision-makers, with Canberra-imposed targets and Aboriginal Development Commission funding, came to take control of Yolngu activities. Many of these resource staffers had wholly inadequate orientation and little idea of the history of Arnhem Land or its people. They were not required to learn Yolngu language and were without resources should they wish to do so. They established Community Councils that operated in ways that were inconsistent with Yolngu village council structures. It was easy for younger Yolngu to be elected to power in the new Community councils and undermine the authority and influence of tribal elders. Trudgen concludes that the essence of why Yolngu lost control of their lives is that, in the name of self-determination, outsiders and self-appointed leaders came to determine the future of the Yolngu people instead of the traditional leadership through traditional Yolngu democratic processes. Part One ends with a description of the consequences of the 1970s dream of self-determination having turned into a 1980s and 1990s nightmare. Yolngu who once enjoyed full employment and an interest in contemporary education disintegrated. They became a community with poor health, chronic unemployment and disillusionment manifested by high rates of domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide. PART TWO contains the book’s essential theme. In a detailed exposition supported by many examples, obviously drawn from deep experience and knowledge of the subject, it focuses on Trudgen’s belief that poor communication with Balanda is a central factor in the current crisis for Yolngu people. He considers that, in effect, Yolngu have been forced to fight another war-of words. This is due to the inability of Yolngu to comprehend, in terms meaningful to them, the significance of what is spoken to them in English. He describes the wholly different methods of communication traditional to Yolngu which caused Balanda and Yolngu to operate according to vastly different communication mores. A speaker of Yolngu Matha, Trudgen sees it as a means to empower Yolngu with its rich thinking and learning power. He recognises that English must become the language for communication with Yolngu but he argues that Yolngu Matha should be used until it is possible for Yolngu to learn English in a truly effective way. Trudgen writes that this involves the linguistic research necessary to analyse the presently uncharted Yolngu Matha language. This would enable Yolngu, with the benefit of English-Yolngu Matha dictionaries and language tools, to work from concepts in their own language over to English concepts. Trudgen rejects the conception that Yolngu Matha is too simple to convey complicated concepts. In 1980, the linguist RMW Dixon, in The Languages of Australia, wrote that Yolngu languages have ‘an intricate structure so that the description of the main points of grammar requires several hundred pages.’ Other linguists support this conclusion. The task is made more complicated because both English and Yolngu Matha have semantic concepts for which the other language has no equivalent. Part Two describes the adverse effect upon communication between Balanda and Yolngu caused by the enormous differences in their cultural worldviews and traditional knowledge. Trudgen’s view is that time is well past for the romantic notion that Yolngu should be left alone to live in isolation because contemporary knowledge would only destroy their traditional ways. Clearly Yolngu need contemporary knowledge if they are going to be able to compete and regain some control over their lands and lives. Traditional knowledge versus contemporary knowledge is no longer an issue. He points out that there now are almost as many Balanda living in Arnhem Land as there are Yolngu. A large number of Balanda work for mining companies and other related industries. Balanda conduct businesses and trade in Yolngu land where, sadly, the traders once were the Yolngu. Part Three. ‘The Cost of Being Different’, examines the heavy cost to Yolngu of the differences between Yolngu culture and the dominant culture. It argues that, if both groups do not understand that difference, the result is stultifying Yolngu confusion. Trudgen focuses on three areas of cultural difference. First, he discusses the impact of the conflicts between traditional health and healing systems and those of the dominant culture. Second, he addresses ‘one of the most destructive influences on Yolngu; the dominant-culture welfare mentality.’ Third, he describes psycho-social phenomena weighing heavily on Yolngu arising from ‘culture shock, future shock and the multigenerational legacy of past trauma.’ On welfare dependency, his conclusion (one shared, it seems, by Noel Pearson) is that ‘welfare has created a living hell, where the people live with a constant sense of hopelessness.’ He recounts a Yolngu story, intricate and poetic, of the Fish and the Shadow. It makes the author’s message on welfare dependency unforgettable. It tells of fish lured from their hunting existence by a shadow that began to appear, against the afternoon sun, across their billabong. Day after day, week after week, the shadow left bread and easy contentment, eventually waning the fish from their self-sufficient and independent existence. That is, until the shadow began to change… IT IS THE CONSTRUCTIVE proposals in part Four, ‘Warriors They Were and Warriors They Can Be Again’ that give grounds for hope. Trudgen proposes policies and programs to equip Yolngu for the future. The proposals are directed to Trudgen’s cardinal principle: ‘to motivate and equip the people to take control of their own lives and their contemporary living environment.’ They involve almost a reversal of the current trends. Trudgen identifies and elaborates five principal areas that, if addressed, can have the greatest impact to return control of their lives to the Yolngu. Foremost, Balanda should take Yolngu language seriously. Second, dominant-culture personnel should be trained adequately to enable them to work in cross-cultural, cross-language environments. Third, Yolngu education and training should be approached so as to allow Yolngu to have a basic conceptual understating of how the dominant culture works. By way of illustration, the author asks that Balanda imagine the difficulty of going to a course constructed to meet Yolngu needs and delivered in Yolngu language. Fourth, existing programs that do not return responsibility to Yolngu and their communities should be replaced with programs that do. One of the most telling examples under this head concerns the loss of Yolngu-held jobs, particularly in the construction of Yolngu housing, to Balanda. Trudgen’s fifth proposal is the recognition of Yolngu law, the Madayin. Trudgen’s emphasis seems to be directed to land and resource tenure. He does not deal specifically with other difficult areas such as the conflict between punishment systems in the law of the dominant culture and traditional law. Trudgen argues that Yolngu ways will not be destroyed by the dominant culture in itself but by dominant-culture education that is ineffective and merely results in ‘confusion, not cognition.’ He calls for the dominant culture and Yolngu to work together to achieve effective cross-cultural language education. It is essential that dominant-culture teachers or trainers be experts in communication, prepared first to listen to Yolngu, and learn their language and worldview. They should start the education process from the Yolngu point of view. Trudgen fears that without this, ‘ineffective education will continue to waste human potential and resources…leaving the Yolngu, through no fault of their own, straggling far behind-convinced that the age of knowledge and thinking is at an end.’ It is a great pity that this book is not widely available in bookstores. For information about Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, Trudgen, the book, and where to buy it, see the ARDS website.
|
$29.95 AUD |
||||||||
| | |||||||||
