The Gap Revisited
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A recent Dispatch featured one of those Government “we want to hear from you” initiatives … the new Aboriginal Contracting Framework.
In a previous Dispatch I alerted you all to yet another such, the Closing the Gap Refresh https://closingthegaprefresh.pmc.gov.au/.
Both remind me of Eva Cox’ repeated assertion that the Intervention infantilized Aboriginal Society. The colloquial phrase “pissing in the wind” also sprung to mind
Badly Drawn Boy- Pissing in the Wind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgDzCDSLxOg
In my experience the “we want to hear from you” is walka-nyayini (a big lie). Countless times I’ve seen Warlpiri people get sucked in by “We want to hear from you” only to find that when they pour their hearts out they’re met with langa-pati (langa is Warlpiri for ears, pati is hard impenetrable soil)
Thompson Twins- Lies….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6aHo8yy_jc
Goes without saying that the biggest “we want to hear from you” resulted in the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’. And boy oh boy did they listen! Walka-nyayini!
Poirot put it quite succinctly “I hear what you say, I listen to what you mean” (all in that delightful French/Belgian accent)- Ah, if only!
I’ve already mentioned that the Warlpiri verb ‘purda-nyanyi’ means all of hearing, listening and understanding. Any Russian speakers out there might tell me if my suspicion that the Russian verb ‘Panemayo’ (spelling?) works the same way, is correct or not.
Anyway back to the Gap.
On the southern edge of Alice Springs are the MacDonnell Ranges. At the base of the Amadeus Basin there is the Heavitree Quartzite. Alice Springs lies immediately north of Heavitree Gap, the latter having much influenced the very location of the Township of Stuart (since renamed Alice Springs).
Heavitree Quartzite thin section
I am told Heavitree Gap is a sacred site formerly forbidden to and avoided by many Aborigines. No such qualms deterred the colonists from passing through the Gap when erecting the telegraph line.
Under the microscope, quartzite’s derivation from sandstone (in turn derived from sand) is evident. The original granular fabric is obviously discernible as are the quartz crystal overgrowths on the grains. The result is a very hard rock with virtually no porosity.
Quartzite will withstand erosion far better than other sedimentary rocks. Thus was created the cake layer crowning the MacDonnell Ranges.
Just south of Yuendumu there is the admittedly far less spectacular Vaughan Springs Quartzite which is the same age and has the same composition as Heavitree Quartzite. The Vaughan Springs Quartzite is the basal sedimentary formation of the Ngalia Basin. The quartzite scree-slope was screened by Yuendumu Mining Company to produce concrete aggregate which inter alia was used in the construction of the processing plant at the Granites Gold Mine.
As much as I enjoy imparting some geology to you all, I must now turn to that other Gap. What I call the “ethnocentrically defined Gap”. A straw man of Herculean proportions.
Not long ago our Prime Minister presented to the Australian Parliament, the 10th annual Closing the Gap Report. Jon Altman wrote a well researched Report on the Report
https://newmatilda.com/2018/03/26/gap-widened-refresh-policy-approach-remote-indigenous-australia/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=chris-graham-and-his-dispatches-from-bluesfest-_someonecallthepolice_-john-p-_-2018-04-01-_-09-17-12
Jon Altman observes that each annual report is glossier and larger than the preceding one. He also observes that what was initially aimed at holding the Government accountable to the failed national endeavour to Close the Gap has metamorphosed into an incumbent Government propaganda tool, complete with tweaked statistical data and aspects of Australia’s favourite political sport: The Blame Game.
If you believe that old English idiom “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then look at the attached picture and read no further.
It is easy to imagine the Heavitree Quartzite and its scree slope in Rod Moss’ painting.
I’ve always thought of the Government’s Closing the Gap deficit model based initiative as being a very expensive monstrous missing of the point. No amount of Refreshing, nor “we want to hear from you” will alter its doomed assimilationist trajectory.
To my mind, it would be far better for the authorities to put their resources and efforts in tackling Bruce Pascoe’s Gulf of Incomprehension, Kim Mahood’s Faultlines and Songlines and yours truly’s Grand Canyon of weltanschauung (world views).
This would require a sincere, intelligent and meaningful “we want to hear from you”, which I fear our leaders are incapable of.
And now a nice song snared whilst trawling Youtube…..
Sona Jorbateh’s Gambia…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtmmlOQnTXM
μέχρι να συναντηθούμε ξανά
Frank
