G’day friends and countrymen,
A passing tourist pointed at a notice on our shop wall announcing the impending “Country Visits” held (annually) by Yuendumu School. “What are Country Visits?” she asked.
As a long time resident of Yuendumu, it did not occur to me that such a question needed asking. That there are, once I thought about it, a very large number of people who don’t have the concept of “Country” that the denizens of remote Aboriginal communities have, or anything even approaching it.
A common question asked in Warlpiri about a newcomer, stranger, passer-by or visitor is “Nyaparra wardingki?” (loosely translated as “Where does he/she belong to or emanate from?”)
I love that device whereby writers sometimes start each chapter with a relevant quote (usually in italics). In a geology book I once enjoyed, a chapter’s precursor read “Rocks. They is a beautiful part of God’s creation- not to be taken for granite” This little gem is now pasted on the minerals/rocks display shelves in my office.
I’m currently reading ‘Love of Country’ (A Hebridean Journey) by Madeleine Bunting. At the time this book was recommended to me by like minded friends it didn’t even occur to me that the author’s ‘Country’ could be anything but the ‘Country’ in Yuendumu School’s ‘Country Visits’. So I wasn’t surprised to find that the precursor to the chapter on Jura reads: “Aborigine and Torres Strait islanders used the word ‘country’ to describe their profound connection to place. Country embodies the spirit ancestors who made the land, sea and all living creatures as well as the knowledge, stories and responsibilities tied to those places.- INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA, BRITISH MUSEUM EXHIBITION, 2015 “
The only bit in this quote I take issue with is “used the word”. They still do, and I hope they always will.
Kerrianne Cox (from her album- ‘Return to Country’ – Ngarlan is our Home…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3EU2gcbuLs
Neither did it surprise me to learn- in the book- that Eric Blair (George Orwell)’s seminal novel ‘1984’ was written whilst he spent the final years of his all too brief life whilst being consumed by an at the time terminal disease on Jura.
When my father was a Dutch child in pre-Nazi Germany he spied a little wooden plaque on which was written:
Der Mensch braucht ein Plätzschen, und wär’s noch so klein
Vondem er kann sagen siehier das ist mein
Hier leb ich- hier lieb ich- hier ruh ich mich aus
Hier ist meine Heimat, hier bin ich zuhaus
When I translated this into English I stumbled on the word ‘Heimat’. Such concepts differ in each language/culture and cannot be adequately translated
Man needs a place, all be it so small
For which he can say: look here this is mine
Here I live, here I love, here I rest
This is my fatherland, here I’m at home
My dad developed a sense of irony at a very early age. The plaque was attached to a wall in the landlord’s toilet.
Yesterday was the French National Day (my mother’s birthday fell on 14th July- she would have been 99 years old)…
The French national anthem (la Marseillaise) starts with:
Allons enfants de la patrie …. (Let’s go children of the fatherland)
There it is again, that word ‘Patrie’ ‘Patria’ ‘Heimat’ ‘Homeland’ ‘Fatherland’ ‘Country’ ‘Ngurra’
Sometime ago I had occasion to reminisce about my childhood in Argentina with a volunteer at Yuendumu’s Art Centre. This young Argentine lady subsequently sent me a letter which to my shame I never answered (si estás leyendo esto- mil perdones) She included a travelogue she had written in which I made a cameo appearance- I was chuffed at being labelled a ‘casi compatriota’ This occurred after more than half a century’s absence from mi segunda patria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8HJj7aFF6c Un Siglo de Ausencia (Trio Los Panchos)
Heaven forbid I should be so presumptuous as to attempt to adequately discuss the full meaning (with all its nuances) of the Warlpiri word “Ngurra”, suffice it to say that I discern a far greater and deeper bond with ‘Country’ and ‘place’ in Warlpiri culture than any other culture I’ve come in contact with.
Such makes a complete nonsense of such assimilationist neo-colonial imperatives as “remote Aborigines should move to where the jobs are”
The Indigenous sense of place, of ‘Country’, is something we ‘Western Civilized’ Australians would do well to learn from.
Saltwater people song- Shellie Morris & the Borroloola Songwomen… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySb5mGBfOuM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmLVxRS_Sxs Wildflower-Galiwingku
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QdcjTEnPZQ My Home Lajamanu (Ngurra Lajamanu)- Lajamanu Teenage Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlmV0caSf8o Arrernte Welcome to Country
Ooroo,
Frank