This post was first published on 3 October 2011. “. . .Boiling Frog cultural genocide. . . ” The boiling continues with our shameful acquiescence.
Ngurrju mayi-nkili?
This Dispatch is dedicated to Saraswathi the Hindu goddess of learning, music and wisdom.
I also dedicate it to my Warlpiri friends and neighbours that are the ‘clients’ of ‘service delivery’. They are being ‘serviced’ with the delivery of a boiling frog cultural genocide.
Death by a thousand cuts…..
http://youtu.be/JpXwpzHWBHM
Saraswathi, the goddess of music, was very much in evidence when we drove across to Papunya to see the Black Arm Band. I saw them perform for the second time in as many months.
Without being overtly political or confrontational, their message is very much about Aboriginal suffering, rights and dignity and a celebration of Aboriginal resilience and survival. Their message is also about hope. The children came back…..
http://youtu.be/rpNSrqsU1eI
Worthy disciples of Saraswathi, the Black Arm Band are.
The Papunya concert was concluded by two Papunya Bands. At the end nearly everyone got up and danced, even old codgers like me. Worthy disciples of Saraswathi are we.
Saraswathi, the goddess of wisdom, was very much in evidence at Yuendumu half a century ago, when then Superintendent Ted Egan turned back a couple of large truck bringing with them kit houses. Ted was in the process of organising local people to erect buildings using local materials.
A quarter of a century ago the Yuendumu Housing Association with its modest budget and a 4:1 ratio of Warlpiri to European workforce, was the first Yuendumu organisation to have a Warlpiri person take long service leave (for non-Australians: to earn LSL In Australia you have to be employed by the same employer continuously for ten years). The Yuendumu Housing Association ceased to exist many years ago.
Saraswathi, the goddess of learning, briefly came to Yuendumu last week. Minister for Aboriginal Health Warren Snowdon, flew in (and out) to officially open a residence for visiting medical students. The residence is one of five (so far) erected on Aboriginal communities as part of a joint teaching initiative between ANU (Australian National University) and the Commonwealth (Federal Government).
The residence was delivered on the back of trucks.
I found out about the opening when I was asked to fill an LP-gas cylinder “for the barbeque”, so I went.
Thirty-three people, including one Warlpiri adult, listened to Warren’s speech about the “importance of training future doctors on these places” so they may be inspired to come back to ‘service’ their Warlpiri ‘clients’. Pina-yarntani Yurntumu-kurra …come back to Yuendumu.
Saraswathi, the goddess of wisdom, has forsaken Yuendumu.
Five large trucks travelled all the way from Bendigo in Victoria to deliver Yuendumu’s new Centrelink building. Just what Yuendumu needed …Just when I needed you most….
http://youtu.be/XeeMDGq1FMI
The Centrelink building will house, inter alia, ITEC Employment, which recently issued a ‘Visitation Notification Flyer’ (their words not mine).
The flyer includes: “….you must attend this appointment and enter/review your Employment Pathway Plan as necessary…..”. ‘Employment Pathway Plans’ for non-existent jobs.
I now suspect the Yuendumu Housing Association’s demise may have been accelerated by their dearth of ‘Employment Pathway Plans’.
The Centrelink building is one of over twenty such buildings being erected on Aboriginal communities that have been canonised by being declared ‘Growth Towns’.
The Yuendumu building is nearing completion and Centrelink and other ‘Service Delivery Agencies’ that will occupy the premises, will soon be able to ‘service’ their Warlpiri ‘clients’ with renewed vigour.
http://youtu.be/2-4cXdLxRQ0 ….Deliverance with a vengeance…
Saraswathi, the goddess of music, was very much in evidence when Midnight Oil performed in Yuendumu, a quarter of a century ago.
We’re expecting a ‘Visitation’ from Peter Garrett, the former lead singer of Midnight Oil, and now the Minister of Education. We fear Saraswathi, the goddess of learning, music and wisdom, will not be travelling with Minister Garrett, she has forsaken him.
Peter is coming to Yuendumu to discuss (‘engage with the community’) one of several secondary school residential boarding facilities the Commonwealth intends to erect on Aboriginal communities.
These boarding facilities will undoubtedly be delivered on large trucks. Once installed this will enable the creation of ‘Employment Pathway Plans’ to ‘service’ Warlpiri ‘clients’ attending the non-existent high schools. Or can we look forward to trucks delivering a high school?
Also slated for erection at Yuendumu, a Family Centre (for cradle to grave ‘service delivery’ to Warlpiri ‘clients’). Further scope for ‘Employment Pathway Plans’.
So far SIHIP has not erected a single residence for a Warlpiri person. Yuendumu is yet to sign the long term leases sought by the Commonwealth.
We are last man standing….
http://youtu.be/bkwoo3nDA2Q
Saraswathi why have you forsaken us?
Why have you left us heartbroken, forsaken and alone…
http://youtu.be/GF82302s90U
You may recall the Dispatch that featured añoransa, that hard to translate Spanish word that describes a yearning for a past almost impossible to be regained.
http://youtu.be/q1VBjKFw3Ik
Another beautiful Spanish word is esperanza … hope.
Hope can set you free…. It can make you dance and sing and make music.
http://youtu.be/wY5-9-quGBw
Saraswathi, goddess of learning, music and wisdom pina-yarntarni Yurntumu-kura, bring back once flourishing bilingual education, bring back the once flourishing housing association, bring back the once flourishing outstation resource centre, bring back our own local council. Let Warlpiri people once again make decisions about, take part in and determine their own future
Bring back empowerment, hope and dignity, so we may once again have reason to dance and sing and make music.
Saraswathi, goddess of learning, music and wisdom make your presence very much evident again.
http://youtu.be/7_ZCLban32Q
Ngaka-rna-nyarra nyanyi
Jungarrayi