Kuku Yalanji bama - The Land of the Yalanji people

Above: Cameron, our Yalanji guide shows us the use of the Karrandal (Latin Alphitonia philippinensis; English - Soap Tree) - by crushing it a lather is produced. The soap also has antiseptic qualities. It smells of linament - nature's Dencorub!)

Before Captain Cook foundered on a reef off Cooktown, before the cane-growers and dairymen, and tourists arrived in the land from Mossman to Cooktown, there lived the Yalanji bama (Yalanji people), taking care of the land and having the land take care of them.

At Mossman Gorge you can take a guided walk through the rainforest with the traditional owners and custodians of this land. The wonderful Cameron taught and showed us things we never would have learned or seen otherwise. It was fabulous to have someone so enthusiastically share aspects of his traditional culture with us.

Below: Ochres mixed with water were used for body decoration. The dots represent raindrops, the stripes the rivers.

Sorry

Photo above from the Sydney Morning Herald

Montage above (left to right, top to bottom):

Welcome ceremony, Parliament House Canberra Tue 12 Feb 2008 (Sydney Morning Herald); The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, delivers the apology and faces around the country (SMH); My artist trading card "Reconciliation"; detail from poster; detail from poster; woman wearing "Thanks T-shirt, Parliament House crowd (ABC TV); detail from poster; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags; Kevin Rudd with Matilda House, who delivered a Welcome to Country at Parliament House 12 Feb 2008; art work; 'Sorry' in skywriting, over Sydney Harbour; Midnight Oil perform at Sydney Olympics wearing "sorry" clothes; march; didgeridoos; Redfern Park - an important venue in the history of "Sorry"; cleansing ceremony, Australia Day 2008.

An amazingly emotional, and unprecedented day in Australian history. The new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, presented the first motion of the new Parliament. It was to say "Sorry" on behalf of Government and Parliament to the Stolen Generations, their families and communities. The Stolen Generations were those Indigenous people taken as children from their families because of government policy between 1910 and 1970. Their "sin" was to be born Aboriginal. Official policy of the time was to "breed out" Aboriginality. The forcible removal of children was meant to effect this over time.

You can hear the Prime Minister's speech, which includes much of the history of these institutionally racist policies, and see a lovely multimedia presentation here.

In 1997 a report titled "Bringing Them Home" documented the harrowing accounts of many who were stolen. Amongst other things, it recommended that as a first step towards Reconciliation an apology be made to the people for the wrongs and traumas that had been endured. The previous Prime Minister refused to utter that most simple and eloquent of words - "Sorry" .

On May 28 2000, 250,000 people walked over Sydney Harbour Bridge to express their support for Reconciliation between Australia's Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Read about that moment here.

On 10 Dec, 1992 then Prime Minister, Paul Keating, who commissioned the Bringing Them Home report, had gone to Redfern Park and made a speech which set the tone for Reconciliation. Read the speech here. Keating, along with other former Prime Ministers, Gough Whitlam (1972-75), Malcolm Fraser (1975-83), Bob Hawke (1983-1991), Paul Keating (Dec 1991-1996) were present to support the apology. The only living ex-PM who didn't attend was the immediate past one, John Howard. His party, however, supported it today.

le quatorze juillet

"How to mark Bastille Day on Sydney Daily Photo, with an Aussie flavour? " I wondered.

Well, I think there's only one place in the world* you might come across these three flags flying together: La Perouse, on the northern shore of Botany Bay. The Australian flag, the French flag, and the Aboriginal flag (La Perouse is home to a large Aboriginal community)

French Captain Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de Laperouse, arrived here just six days after the British First Fleet in 1788. Laperouse stayed in Botany Bay for six weeks, building an observatory, stockade and garden. This monument marks the site of his camp.

Today when I arrived there was a group of French speaking young people just packing up musical instruments; I had missed celebrations featuring the Orchestre Polyphonique from Île de la Réunion. Which just proves how even-handed I am, because I also missed the 29 April celebrations on the opposite side of Botany Bay, commemorating the arrival of Captain Cook! (see this blog)


* Hmmmm- perhaps at the Musée Branly in Paris, which has a modern Aboriginal art collection?