image courtesy of Get Up Australia.
Today is a special day. Right now hundreds of people including Aboriginal Elders have gathered from across that beautiful big island in the southern hemisphere and are listening to the Australian Prime Minister saying sorry. What for? Read about it all here.
But before I continue on my post to celebrate this day, I have a song I would like you to listen to while reading this post. If I could be so bold as to ask you to click here to listen to The Stiff Gins ‘In Paradise’ while you read this post (don’t forget to come back here to read!)…
Photo by Gerald Jenkins for The Dreaming.
So where was I… Oh yes, I love Aboriginal Australia: original Australia. My favourite books in Primary School were the dreamtime ones, filled with Aboriginal paintings and drawings of serpents, watering holes and naked black figures with boomerangs. I loved when an Aboriginal Dance group would come to perform at our school, my heart was filled with inspiration and anytime I heard the didgeridoo I would feel ‘home’.
Photograph by Rotten Cotton. Purchase awesome didges online here.
As you can imagine there is so much I could share with you about Aboriginal Culture but in this post I have picked just a few of my favourites in celebration of this momentus day. Let’s start with these two chicks you are listening to now…
The first time I heard these girls sing was a decade ago. I was in a friend’s exhibition opening, sipping champagne and enjoying the wild and wacky work of my fellow students. While the room was filled with loud chattering all of a sudden these harmonic voices broke the chattering. It was that of these girls, Aboriginal singers The Stiff Gins. They had no instrument but their voices, and they stopped my mind’s chattering dead, my skin was covered in goosebumps and my heart was pumping loud and became a hidden beat to their song. There latest album called Kingia Australis is breathtaking.
All three stills from Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence.
Then there is this brilliant movie that depicts today’s reason for saying sorry. An incredible cast. Also in my DVD collection is Noyce’s remarkable Ten Canoes…
Still courtesy of Ten Canoes.
It goes a little something like this: “It is longtime ago. It is our time, before you other mob came from cross the ocean…longtime before then. The rains been good and ten of the men go on the swamp, to hunt the eggs of gumang, the magpie goose. One of the men, the young fella, has a wrong love, so the old man tell him a story…a story of the ancient ones, them wild and crazy ancestors who come after the spirit time, after the flood that covered the whole land…” Check out the website, it is beautiful.
And last but not least there is the incredible Bangarra Dance Theatre, one of Australia’s most innovative dance companies that blend traditional Aboriginal culture with contemporary dance. I have loved every single performance I have seen, each performance is stunning. They are heading overseas for their North American tour later this year…
Image courtesy of the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
And so my heart is inspired today – inspired with hope that today’s apology is representative of a new kind of people in this world. A people that finally recognise that the colour of one’s skin does not determine one’s value in society. A people that have spiritually evolved and know full well that their spirit comes from their ancestry and indigenous neighbours. And today’s post is to tell you that I am one of those people.
de-lurking to say how much I enjoy your blog and the content. today truly was a beautiful and inspiring post. thank you for sharing and being so open.
February 13th, 2008 | #
Thank you so much for this post! It is beautiful! I came across it by an accidental click and it is right where I needed to be! The universe provides! And thank you for the music from the Stiff Gins. Wonderful.
Thank you!! Cat
February 13th, 2008 | #
I love your posts about Australia…you put things so beautifully 🙂
February 13th, 2008 | #
This is such a momentous thing. I think every culture has some serious apologies due to another culture, and I’m in awe of Australia’s willingness to say those two simple little words.
February 13th, 2008 | #
change is so often very slow but it DOES happen. this brought tears to my eyes. yes, i am one of those people too.
February 13th, 2008 | #
Beautiful post Pia 🙂
Loved the voices of Stiff Gins and I’ve been a fan of aboriginal art since I discovered it years ago. Finally first steps towards persecuted people are being done, it is always better late than never but it’s so revolting when we think about all the bad things that have been done by the humains to humains.
February 13th, 2008 | #
Pia, this is a beautiful post. I am so happy for our country, I am so glad for our people. I feel like this is the first step towards something truly momentous and significant, towards a positive future for all Australians.
February 13th, 2008 | #
Thanks for this beautiful post Pia! Ever since my first trip to Australia years ago I have been admiring and interested in Aboriginal culture. Also to me, as non-Australian, this is a happy day. This must be a proud day for Australians!
February 13th, 2008 | #
so many beautiful comments, thank you so very much for contributing to this post with your thoughts, you have each added something special and i really appreciate it.
February 13th, 2008 | #
Rabbit Proof Fence is an excellent documentary. I highly recommend watching the extras on the cd – the making of the movie, which was even more heartbreaking to me.
February 13th, 2008 | #
this is such a beautiful post and a beautiful event. – for australia and the world. for one government to acknowledge the sins of its predecessors is a beautiful thing! it makes me proud to live in this time!
February 13th, 2008 | #
Thank you, dear Pia, for this super interesting (yet beautiful) post. It’s a great thing (and rather brave, compared to other governments around the world with blood on their hands) that the Australian government is doing.
I’m going to look into the Stiff Gins – what a fun name!
Thank you, dear Pia, for being not only an artist, but also someone who is in tune with our world.
February 14th, 2008 | #
great post
happy heart day
February 14th, 2008 | #
i never would’ve known about this beautiful gesture if i hadn’t read about it on your blog. thanks, pia! i saw rabbit proof fence at a film festival in 2002 and remember being deeply moved by the story. i’m very drawn to the aboriginal culture and look forward to more posts about their beliefs & traditions. (i think the wisdom of indigenous cultures will prove very important as humans shift into a different relationship with our planet.) btw, i share your deep love for the didgeridoo! i’m feeling inspired to share my own didgeridoo experience on cherry.
February 18th, 2008 | #
pia…your blog is so full of inspiration. your posts seem to touch all the senses…your excitement is contagious.
rabbit proof fence…loved the film, and the visuals.
March 6th, 2008 | #
Thank you so much for this post…I have yet to watch Rabbit Proof Fence, although it was recommended to me a few years back. Now I’m definitely going to watch it.
June 12th, 2008 | #