Visit and fellowship in Arnhemland

Thanks to good fortune I am currently employed in great job that occasionally requires me to travel to Aboriginal Communities in Arnhem Land. Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Island community of Milingimbi in North Eastern Arnhem Land. This was a special place for me to visit since it was the home of a man who had made a big impression on me before he passed away last year. He was a special person who had an enormous capacity for love and forgiveness he did a lot to create channels of communication and understanding between Yolngu and Balanda.


This has been my longest stay in an Arnhem Land community and the best chance I've had so far to experience the atmosphere in this unique part of the world.

Although my schedule was extremely busy and there were all kinds of logistical problems that I just hadn't counted on, I still managed to find plenty of opportunities to get about and meet up with some rather inspirational people as well as attend some local activities.

There's a lot going on over at Milingimbi at the moment and from my perspective I'd say much of it is very good.


(Stained window, Milingimbi Church)

Milingimbi is an old Mission settlement and there are several Clan groups living in the township. As with most other Aboriginal Communities Milingimbi is affected by the Federal Intervention and all it's restrictions and impositions, however unlike many other Communities Milingimbi had already been dry for some time before the Intervention and functioned fairly well without the new laws that were brought down upon them 2 years or so ago. (Of course Milingimbi has seen some benefits from renewed interest from Government agencies)


(Sitting in comfort on a rug on the sand)

While I was there I was fortunate to see just how well things can come together at the initiative of local people. Although my experience of Christianity is quite limited (actually prior to 5 years ago I'd had no meaningful contact with the religion outside of attending weddings or funerals) I'd have to say that the activities at Milingimbi are quite a phenomenon! There is a strong Christian Fellowship in Milingimbi that meets every night and I found the gatherings quite amazing! On my second night there I went along to the beach expecting maybe half a dozen loyal followers of the tradition handed to them by missionaries in the early 20th Century... What I found was a crowd of maybe 200 people, gathered together in fellowship, families, young and old people together. Singing, Dancing, Sharing stories. I saw a group of up to 30 young children performing a carefully choreographed dance, perfectly synchronized, later a group of about 8 young men performing their own dance, then more beautiful singing from the older ladies and on it went until late at night. People sitting happily with their family and friends, on rugs and mats as a gentle northerly sea breeze kept the sand-flies at bay and cooled the brows of some very enthusiastic performers.
What a BUZ!

Unlike many outback townships there were no sounds of drunken brawls, no screeching tires, smashing glass, abusive language or any of the behavior that might prevent families from venturing down Mitchel Street on any night... Just the sound of singing, happy chatter and the bark of an occasional dog as people wandered home after a night of warmth and fellowship.

It happened to be school sports week while I was there so lunch times were spent cheering the young athletes as they raced each other down the mains street. I'd heard about low attendance rates at Community schools but what I saw on Milingimbi seemed to contradict this story completely. In fact I saw kids turning up more than an hour early for school full of enthusiasm and ready to get stuck into the learning before their teachers had even arrived. The kids there really seemed to be engaged and interested in learning... The school seemed to have just the right ingredients. Music, Sport, some really involved teachers and a library full of Yolngu stories. The library even had a traditional hand carved canoe and one of the bark canoes from the film 10 Canoes. The Milingimbi School is COOL!

(Image if person now deceased has been removed out of respect for the family)


(Rev. Larry B------ with some home grown watermelons)

All these things were great but there was one aspect to this trip that really impressed me. While I was talking to Rev. Larry we got talking about gardening and all the benefits that come from growing vegetables in particular. Before I knew it he was imparting a whole philosophy on me that absolutely fit perfectly the concepts I'd been thinking about over the past few years. A program for providing young people with an environment where they can develop a sense of, community self worth and become confident independent thinkers. The Patch down in Leanyer is a great example of the enormous benefit this kind of education can improve the outcomes for students who are struggling with the regular curriculum.
Nature is a great teacher, by engaging with the natural processes of planting, nurturing and growing vegetables we can learn a lot about the skills we need in other aspects of life. Patience, care, observation, a little bit of sweat and the reward of reaping what we have sown... If for some reason the crop fails we learn how to deal with disappointment as we proceed to try again.
Larry has teamed up with a teacher at the school and they've been working with a couple of boys who have benefited greatly from the activities. The idea of a larger project has taken on and they've produced a short documentary in which Larry explains the philosophy behind the project which has an excellent name that I will publish when I know it's OK to do so.

It seems the school may even come on board and dedicate some land especially for the purpose of developing a larger training program around this philosophy! Since all the fresh fruit and vegetables on Milingimbi are imported, this project could have many flow on benefits for the community.

There's so much more I could rant on about but basically I have come home feeling recharged and optimistic about all the potential of this small community.

Linguisticaly Barren

Last night 4 Corners (The ABC's real current affairs program) did a feature story on the threat to dismantle the bilingual education program in NT Schools.
Once again this is an issue of extreme importance and relevance to the future of several Australian cultures and languages that most Australians don't seem to be remotely aware of or even care very much about.
The 4 corners website has posted the whole story including additional interviews and a whole bunch of associated articles on the web page for this story that is well worth looking at.
"Going back to Lagamanu"

Although I am not an educator and as my friends and the education departments of Victoria and NT will attest... Barely Educated. I am interested in the concept of Bilingual Education and also in it's perceived failures.

From what I can tell after having to research it for a school report a few years ago and speaking to some people who'd hoped their kids could be taught the basics of language in their mother tongue; not to mention a couple of teachers whose skills are no longer relevant to the NT education department. There are some obvious failings in the System!

Yes it seems quite obvious that there are some extremely serious problems that can't be resolved and therefor the dominant culture has determined that total assimilation or annihilation is the only course of action! Someone's gotta take the blame for the fact that children in Aboriginal communities aren't achieving academically so it makes perfect sense that the Government and the Education department are choosing to hold Aboriginal Culture as the only culprit!

Is the bilingual approach really the failure? Or could the failures really lie in the lack of meaningful support from the education department? lack of real commitment and understanding from Government? What if appropriately trained teachers were available? If educators sent to communities had even an inkling of the culture they were about to enter prior to arriving? If senior administrators and principals worked in partnership with local communities? If the multitude of social problems faced by the communities were addressed successfully? If basic health and nutritional needs were adequate? If Australians didn't just want to relegate Aboriginal language and culture to the corner of some cute anthropological stage show for tourists!

I recall the discussion I had with my teacher back at TAFE when I discussed the program with her. I was surprised by her own hostility toward the bilingual program. What I sensed was a lack of appreciation for Aboriginal Language and the importance of culture. But most noticeable was her apparent resentment that the bilingual program required more funding than other schools. As a teacher I expect she had witnessed the whittling away of resources for education. Unfortunately rather than fighting the common enemy when times are tough, desperation seems to lead people to turn on their neigbour. Resentment and bitterness well up if there are perceived inequities and the State or education department are too big to fight so wham blame those who might receive more funding. Since teachers, according to my observations, are highly political animals, I'd say bilingual schools received more than their share of unsympathetic staff. There would have been opponenets on the payroll all the way back to it's inception.

I think I know why the Government finger is pointed at Bilingual Education. It is because bilingual education can be easily used as a smoke screen for quite great injustices before the eyes of the generally ignorant voting masses. The smoke screen would be something like this:
"They're not even speaking English! No wonder those kiddies aren't making the grade! Bilingual Education stands in the way of our benevolent education system and government from educating the poor little black kids. It hasn't succeeded in turning around the multitude of problems faced by people in remote communities and therefore must be responsible for them!"

Personally I think the Government is just trying to eliminate the program because it is a clear indication of their own failure! The real question should not be 'has bilingual education failed?' But rather "Why did out Government and Education department Fail the bilingual program by not fully supporting and engaging with Aboriginal communities in a mutually respectful way?"


Dear Mr Henderson. Please don't say hello to me again in the street, or at the local market. Don't attempt to shake my hand at the next Multicultural day or kiss my babies if I see you on election day. You've blown it.