Chapter 28

I went to my first meeting of Intro with an open mind. I got into trouble, nonetheless. The question was the state of affairs of the Aboriginal Australian and its cause. I quoted Prime Minister Keating's 1992 speech, that "European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: 'We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice, ' he said."

"Do you believe that?" I was asked.

"Yes, ma'am, I do. And we've done no better over the past 20 years."

"Don't you believe that Australian society has worked to do better, to compensate?"

"Not at all. Despite the political statements, nothing has come of the combined Noongar claim, the big mining companies are still pillaging tribal sites in the Northern Territory and in Western Australia."

"Would you have everyone in Perth give up their homes?"

"As I'm from Perth, I think my parents would be unhappy about that. [there was a laugh] But, perhaps 50% of all the taxes could go to the bands. It was their land; it is still their land."

"Well, let's talk about this another time. I'd like to introduce the class to the Dreamtime."

It wasn't a very large class and all of the students were native or part native, except me. There was a slight murmur.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I don't think the Dreamtime needs to be introduced, miss," said a woman towards the front.

"What do you mean?"

"For nearly all of us, maybe all of us, the Dreamtime doesn't lie in the past, the Dreamtime is the eternal Now."

"Aren't there many stories?"

"Of course. Don't Europeans have many stories? I heard very different ones in school and in church."

"And you have a different truth," said a young man. "You get truth from books, or from the Internet. My people get truth from stories."

"Like Kipling," I said.

"Kipling?"

"Yes, ma'am. The Just-so-Stories tell us why things are. How the leopard got his spots; the birth of armadillos; why the elephant has a trunk. The stories of the Dreamtime tell us where people and animals came from; why the desert is dry; why birds fly in different directions in different seasons; why some animals have many young and some only one."

"Oh my! This isn't what I expected. Why don't I go down the list and you can tell me who you are and what you're interested in."

So we started going through the class and one young woman said that she came from north of Sturt National Park.

"Is Jimmy your chief?" I asked.

"Yes," she responded. "You know him?"

"Not very well, but my mum and dad know him."

"You're not from Queensland nor New South."

"No. My dad's from Mitchell. And my mum healed Jimmy once when he was crook."

"Oh, my! You're the son of Weena nungungi!"

"Yes. Give me your hand." She did. "You must not worry. You are far, but we can help. I am here and you are here now. Where I am the band is. When you talk with home, tell them that Patrick the Carpet Python will help you." She stared at me.

"What's that?"

"He is nungungi. He honours us here. He speaks truth and knows of the stones, the trees, the waters."