Auntie Delta and Uncle Pete

Today was a fantastic experience for me. Year 7 had an Aboriginal Excursion that I was fortunate enough to participate in. Auntie Delta and Uncle Pete are elders of the Arakwal peoples within the Byron Shire. They brought the students out behind the school into the Arakwal National Park where they set up blankets in shady bush just off the main trail. Auntie Delta did Welcome to Country, a practice done at any event, welcoming new people and acknowledging and respecting aboriginal people's original ownership of land. This has been performed at every school assembly, staff meetings, and other events in the community as a way to restore relations with the aboriginal peoples. It is also a tradition practiced by aboriginals when welcoming neighboring mobs (clans) to their land.

Auntie Delta then went on to talk about the history of the Byron Shire. What is now called Byron Bay used to be called Cavanbah and part of the Arakwal peoples country which extends from Seven Mile Beach, south from Broken Head, to the Brunswick River. She explained that the Arakwal people used to live in the cape of Byron Bay until white settlers came in by ship and captain James Cook names Cape Byron. The Arakwal people were used as guides by settlers to navigate the thick bush to the cedar trees in exchange for tobacco and alcohol. Cedar was a major industry in Cape Byron as well as whaling. Then came the sand miners. Auntie Delta told us that the place where were sitting used to be her grandmother's home until sand miners burned it down to force them off the dunes. She also explained how the mining of trees, sand, and sea life drastically altered the ecosystem including Tallow Creek, which used to be massive and winding, and is now short and straight as sand miners washed the sand in the water.

Uncle Pete then shared his story as an aboriginal who was stolen from his mother by white settlers. He traveled searching for them until he was adopted by Auntie Delta's family. He eventually did find his family. He showed a painting of his home land and described the massacre of 1927, when the men were executed and burned and the women were forced off a cliff with their babies. He said his grandmother had fled and waited at the bottom of the cliff to collect and hide babies who survived by mothers clutching them and falling on their backs.

The stories they shared were terrible and put a wrench in my stomach, but I didn't sense anger or like they were trying to guilt. I felt as if they were just sharing their stories as their side of history as not been heard. They explained it was important for the students to know the history of the land they live on because they have just as much responsibility to the country as aboriginals do.

I think Australia is very progressive in acknowledging aboriginal land and the history that accompanies them. It is a very sensitive topic as slavery and colonization would be to Americans. It was interesting because I talked with one of the other teachers on the way back expressing how great an opportunity it was to listen to them and she replied, "Well I just wish they wouldn't rant on and on." I said I didn't feel like they were ranting, but rather sharing their stories and history as it is important to learn from the past, and she said, "I just don't know what's true or not because you talk to one aboriginal and they'll have a completely different story from the other." I can totally understand that in oral tradition, stories exaggerate or hyperbolize events to get a greater meaning or point across. For example, in an oral story passed down the storyteller might say, "Joseph lived to be 180 years old and had 36 children." Obviously, none of that is possible, but to say those things about Joseph means that he had a very long-lived and prosperous life. But, I don't think it is our place to question that. This teacher went on to explain that since she just moved to this area a year ago, she doesn't know the history as well, but she questions where all the aboriginals are in the area. She said she came from a school in the west were 50% of the school were aboriginals and if there was a fight or an issue with aboriginal students, the elders would come and deal with it, not the principle. I found it interesting that if she's had so much experience with aboriginal peoples why she would be so annoyed by Auntie Delta and Uncle Pete's presentation.

What was interesting for me was comparing Aboriginals to Native Americans and how US education is just beginning to break through textbooks and point out the evils of colonization and slavery, but not aggressively whereas Australia is making a real effort to incorporate it into schools and communities. Maybe because Native Americans don't still live in the lands they once owned or go to school with Americans. I don't know. And maybe I didn't feel that sense of guilt or feel defensive like the teacher did because I'm not from Australia so I don't belong to that history. But I do belong to a history of colonization and slavery which I do get defensive about and hate being guilt ridden by. So I think it is kind of the equivalent.

Really interesting experience for me!