Chapter 55

"What's the book?" I asked Henry two days later.

"Barrow's The Art of Tahiti and the Neighbouring Society, Austral and Cook Islands. I've been thinking about dissertation topics."

"Austral Islands?"

"The southernmost group in French Polynesia. But I've been realizing that I need to travel more. I should go to see Uluru and some of the things in the Pilbara. In fact, I should look at some of the nearer sites. Have you ever been to Cuddie Springs or Lake Mungo?"

"Yes. Rachel and I visited both. Do you have any travel money?"

"A little. But not much."

"If you want to travel, we could lend you equipment. But you shouldn't travel alone. Once you're away from the coastal cities, Australia is different."

"Yes. I can imagine. This box is very light for its size."

"Where's it from?"

"Mornington Island, 1958."

We opened it and found that it was full of rolled bark. I tried to unroll one, but it resisted and I was afraid I'd crack it. "I know there's still an arts community on Mornington Island," I remarked. "I'm not at all certain where the facilities to make this flexible are."

"I know it's done in a sealed case with water vapor. Most likely there's a facility at the Gallery."

"Of course!" I took my mobile and called Rachel. "Hi! We have a facilities problem ... We've got a box of sixty-year-old bark paintings that need to be made flexible. They've been rolled up. OK. We'll bring the box over. About twenty minutes? OK."

"Can we just remove them from the Museum?" Henry asked.

"We'll go past my dad's office and tell him."

While we walked from the Museum to the Gallery, Henry asked me about my studies. I told him "Law."

"Just 'law'?"

"No. I want to do things that will help the original Australians. I want to help the people who've been hurt most by the European invasion."

"I thought that Rudd and now Abbott were active?"

"Rudd was at least partly responsible for the formal apology. But I don't believe or trust Tony Abbott." I sighed. "Despite a 1991 Royal Commission into the issue, there has been little reform in the justice sector, nor any bipartisan agreement on tackling it. Another of Abbott's election-eve promises was a pledge to slash $42 million from Aboriginal legal aid. There's a skewed view of Australian history that continues to shape indigenous policy.

"Take schooling. Nobody is really asking why indigenous kids don't want to go to school. I know it's because of the assimilationist nature of the education system, and because of the historic denialism that is taught by our schools that deters Aboriginal parents and students. It's not because parents prefer getting drunk."

We were at the Gallery. Rachel waved from the door.

"Hey! Hi, Henry. Can you just bring the box in here?"

We followed her in and downstairs to a suite marked "Technical Staff Only." She opened the door and said "Put the box here," gesturing at a table.

"Whatcha got?" a fellow in a lab coat asked.

"Bark paintings, Alf. They've been rolled up for 50 or 60 years. Any hope of softening them up and flattening them?"

"Sure. Better'n a Buckley's."

"Could you try one and let me know tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Rachel."

"Great. Thanks."

"No problemo."

We left and when back upstairs. "So, Henry," Rachel said, "Messing with Patrick's sister, eh?"

"Not hardly," he laughed. "I haven't even seen her, just talked on the phone twice."

"Oh, but she tells me. Last night it was for over an hour."

"You didn't tell me, Henry!" I put my oar in.

"No. Now, what's a 'buckley's'?"

I laughed. "William Buckley was an early convict. He escaped and was assumed dead. 32 years later he was found, living with a group of aborigines. A Buckley's chance is little or no chance. Better than a buckley's means there's a decent chance. And what's this about my sister?"

"Hey! You gave me her number!"

"So I did. And she's over 18 so she's a free woman."