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Search Results: Balgo

  • AUSTRALIA

    Listen – just listen!

    • Brian McCoy
    • 30 August 2023
    16 Comments

    The Kimberley region stands as a testament to both the enduring spirit of Australia's Aboriginal communities and the shadows of colonisation. As the Referendum looms, the potential for a united Voice beckons, inviting Australia towards a harmonious future.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    COVID and remote First Nations communities: Why are vaccination levels so varied?

    • Brian McCoy
    • 22 November 2021
    5 Comments

    We are now watching the entry of the Delta variant into the Northern Territory and with increasing concern about its possible spread across First Nations communities who vary greatly with their vaccination rates. This question was posed last Friday (19/11) on the ABC’s Coronacast: ‘Why is Indigenous vaccination so patchy?’

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  • FAITH DOING JUSTICE

    ‘You just don’t get it’: listening and responding to First Nations peoples

    • Brian McCoy
    • 07 July 2021
    3 Comments

    But it is possible the members of the Plenary could begin to hear a deeper voice speaking in their hearts. There may arise a new courage to start a process of truth and reconciliation, reporting the process of this journey to the second Plenary Council planned for Sydney, July 2022. We can only begin that journey if members of the Plenary Council come and are open to listening to that deep inner voice.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Countering Graham Richardson's Balgo claims

    • Brian McCoy
    • 28 August 2017
    20 Comments

    Richardson said that during a visit to Balgo, 'The real shock was that the women could not leave the children at home with the men because sexual assault was so common.' Community members find it very difficult to discuss publicly issues of shame involving others with whom they closely live. It takes time to build up trust.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    On Aboriginal land: seeking a place at the table

    • Frank Brennan
    • 31 May 2017
    6 Comments

    Indigenous leaders this last week have called for the creation of two new legal entities. They want a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution, and a Makarrata Commission set up by legislation. The Makarrata Commission would supervise agreement making between governments and First Nations and engage in truth telling about history. The envisaged destination is a national Makarrata (or treaty). So the immediate constitutional issue is the creation of the First Nations Voice. There is no point in proceeding with a referendum on a question which fails to win the approval of Indigenous Australia. Neither is there any point in proceeding with a referendum which is unlikely to win the approval of the voting public.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Don Dale and the failure of arntarnte-areme

    • Mike Bowden
    • 10 August 2016
    11 Comments

    MK rang me after the 4 Corners program on the treatment of children at Don Dale. In western lingo we talk about a 'duty of care', but for my friend MK and the Arrernte people it is more fundamental than that. They talk abou arntanrte-aremele, which means looking after, holding, nurturing or caring for. Altyerre teaches that we must care for everybody, even the people who do wrong. And 'looking after' the children is the primary role of life. This is not about western, whitefella law, it just how it is.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Remote 'lifestyle choices' need careful consideration

    • Myrna Tonkinson
    • 13 March 2015
    13 Comments

    The PM's cavalier use of the term 'lifestyle choice' is totally inappropriate when referring to the people who will be affected by the proposed closures of remote Aboriginal communities. Undeniably it is expensive to sustain remote living, and effective schooling and health services are unfeasible. But we must avoid arbitrary decision-making, and implicit disparagement of people in remote communities.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Bumpy road trip to a remote community

    • John Adams
    • 29 May 2013
    7 Comments

    Patrick tells me where the road is bad and where the water holes and outstations are. If I miss one of his subtle finger movements and we hit a hole in the road too hard he grumbles. I feel Patrick and I have the start of a relationship. Sixteen hours in a Hilux will do that to two grumpy old buggers.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    After apology, it's back to the future

    • Brian McCoy
    • 27 February 2008
    17 Comments

    The missionaries thought the removal of children 'for education' was both the good and only thing to do. Modern attitudes reflect old ones, especially when people enter Aboriginal communities with a set of ready-made answers around employment, health and education.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Truth about Aboriginal missions requires study

    • Robin Koning
    • 24 January 2008
    14 Comments

    Too often, generic statements about missionaries colluding with colonialism and destroying indigenous cultures are presumed to say all that needs to be said. Detailed study of mission history is essential if we are to move beyond the clichés.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Aboriginal art before it became an industry

    • Rosemary Crumlin
    • 22 January 2008

    At Turkey Creek, George Mung had carved a statue out of a piece of tree, a work of extraordinary beauty. Here it was, sitting on top of a hot-water system. 'You take it,' he said, 'I'll do another one.' (Eureka Street March 1991)

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  • CONTRIBUTORS

    Robin Koning SJ

    • Robin Koning
    • 16 January 2008

    Robin Koning SJ lectures in Systematic Theology and Philosophy at Jesuit Theological College. He worked for five years in the Kutjungka Catholic Parish based at Wirrumanu (Balgo).

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