Culture, cocktails and Colo(u)r - I'm grateful...

 

MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN: One of the highlights of my time here in Brisbane since arriving six weeks ago has been attending the opening night of Mother Courage at the QLD Performing Arts Centre. A translation of Brecht’s work by the very deadly Wesley Enoch (with me above) and the lovely Paula Nazarski, the stage took to life with stellar performances by Ursula Yovich, Luke Carroll, Michael Tuahine, Roxanne McDonald, Eliah Watego, George Bostock, Chenoa Deemal, Robert Preston, David Page, Dave Dow and musical background provided by Mark Atkins. In a week when sporting headlines were about racism, the arts sector in Brisbane at least, was celebrating our finest wordsmiths and actors. And so was I! Thank you all.

PANIYIRI: Once a year Musgrave Park in the month of May, South Brisbane is turned into one big fat Greek festival - Panyiri All you have to know is that you will eat a lot of honey puffs (see above), calamari, haloumi, lamb and other fabulous foods. And you will get the chance to dance, meet new people, accidentally bump into old friends, and even go on rides. My throat is still sore from screaming like a crazy woman on one ride, but I was generously helped from the ride by this lovely fella below!

EL TORITO: Yes, I’m still talking about food! Drove past ElTorito on Boundary Street, West End one night and saw men in sombreros and thought, ‘Yep, that’s my kind of place!’  Unfortunately, the night I went there the fellas were not to be seen, and the space has the personality of a brick, but the food, oh the food, that’s all you need to worry about. Try the burrito de chorizo (soft flour tortilla filled with chorizo, beans, rice, sour cream, salsa fresca, cheese and guacamole). It looks huge and it is, but you will devour the lot because it is sensational. Take a bottle of something with you and some awesome company and you’ll have a ball even without the sombreros!

SLING LOUNGE: There’s nothing like a cocktail or two to start your night out in West End, so head to Sling Lounge  sit out the back amidst the fairy lights and indulge in a martini or margarita or whatever takes your fancy. The service is friendly too!

VAPIANO: I won’t lie to you. I’m not a fan of standing in a queue to order food when I get dressed up to go out on Friday night. But this is one place I must make an exception, because watching the chef prepare your fresh pasta in front of you is part of the dining experience at Vapiano, off Queen Street Mall in the city. And the pizza! Wow, go the calzone just because you can, and if you can fit in the dessert, then the lovely barman will probably influence you to try the tasting plate of tiramisu, panna cotta and crema di fragola. Take a gorgeous date like I did – that’s Davey above – and it will the perfect night out!

THE JETTY: A friendly ferryboat fella recommended I try The Jetty at Bulimba. So I did. The view was fab, as you can see above, and the service was friendly, but the portions were a little small for my belly – in which case they were probably the right size for most people. 

 

 

COLOR RUN: – yes I know that’s not how we spell ‘colour’ but it’s the name of the international run and when you’re raising money for cancer AND having a fabulous time getting fit with friends, then I’m okay with going with the US spelling. I had a ball in the Swisse Color Run on the Gold Coast with sista Louisa – before above, after below – as we were sprayed with orange, blue, green, yellow and pink dust, running a soggy circuit raising funds for the Ponting Foundation. 

Author P.M.Newton is grateful for Indigenous writers, Twitter plus more this NRW!

Pam Newton is my friend. She is a writing tidda of mine, a staunch supporter of issues often considered to be 'Indigenous' when in fact they are 'Australian issues'. I asked her - in the spirit of Reconciliation as it were - if she would write some words for my blog this week about gratefulness and National Reconciliation Week. She didn't err at all, until the events around Adam Goodes unfolded, and I understood immediately her trouble in staying positive. And yet, Pam - a deadly crime writer (check out her work here!), has come up with some wonderful positive things to be grateful  this week (and I don't mean her mentions of me - but thanks P!). As we reach the end of NRW it'd be great to hear what YOU the reader here are grateful for also.

In Pam's words...

So, National Reconciliation Week, been a bit of a bumpy old ride, hasn’t it?

When my friend Anita Heiss invited me to be a guest blogger during this period, I really, really, REALLY, didn’t think that the week was going to throw up (and never has a metaphor been more apt) the sad, mad and bad of racist taunts coupled with wilful and spiteful misconstruction. It didn’t just take my breath away; it kind of took my voice as well. 

What to say? What to write that wasn’t going to come out as a howl of (probably profane) rage?

Fortunately the wonderful Brooke Boney has written on this very blog a perfect summation of what was said and why it matters. So I’m going to revert to Plan A and follow in my lovely host’s footsteps by writing about the things I’m grateful for in National Reconciliation Week.

1. Melissa Lucashenko’s Mullumbimby

Last week at the Sydney Writers’ Festival I had the pleasure and the privilege of speaking to and listening to Melissa Lucashenko talking about her latest novel, Mullumbimby. 

I’d heard about Mullumbimby before it came out and I was eagerly awaiting it. In fact, when I was asked to chair a panel at the SWF that featured Melissa I had already bought it and read it.

Mullumbimby! 

What a warm, big-hearted, heart-breaking and confronting ride it is. And it brought back such memories of a similar time in my life, involving love, land, horses, pain, joy, disappointment, acceptance.

So, I’m grateful for the world Melissa Lucashenko creates and for the invitation to share in it that she extends through the pages of Mullumbimby.

2. Guwanyi  - 3rd National Aboriginal Writers’ Festival at NSW Writers' Centre

OK maybe it’s cheating to be grateful for something that happened back in March 2011, but Guwanyi is where I met Dr Heiss in the flesh, for the very first time. Prior to that we’d been twitterati pals … but more on that later. 

This festival was also where I first heard the poetry of Ali Cobby Eckermann. Hearing her read, her poems speaking with a voice of such tenderness, truth and resilience was a spine tingling experience. 

It also meant I was 100% not at all surprised – and 1000% delighted – to read that Ali Cobby Eckermann won the Kenneth Slessor prize for Poetry AND Book of the Year at this year’s New South Wales, Premier’s Award.

Now everyone can be grateful for Ali Cobby Eckerman.

3. Berry Island

I’m grateful for the place at the end of the street where I grew up. I’ve written about it before, a small bush-covered peninsula on Sydney Harbour that has had me in thrall since childhood. Sandstone and Sydney Red Gums, shell middens and a huge rock carving. Every walk around there a reminder of the history of the place I was born and grew up in and love.

National Reconciliation Week is all about history, absorbing it, learning from it. Berry Island is like a snapshot of practical reconciliation. The bush covered headland of my childhood, wild with lantana and other introduced weeds, a burial ground for old ferry hulks dragged into the bay and left to rot, and a park bench cemented right into the belly of the ancient carved sea-creature.

Now?

Image of Gadyan track sign

Well, now, it’s beautiful. Respected. Loved.

4. Twitter

A much-maligned beast, but I’m here to tell you I’m grateful for twitter.

Through twitter I’ve connected with so many acquaintances who’ve become friends. I’m not very good at networking; I’ll go to a party and be paralysed with shyness. But on twitter I can chat, join in on conversations, follow links and be exposed to news, information and ideas I may never have found. 

So yes, I’m grateful to twitter, and to twitter aggregators like @AnitaHeiss, who led me to the wonderful work of the likes of @LukeLPearson, @IndigenousX, and @Ebswearspink. There are many, many more tweeters out there, but if you follow any of these people you’ll discover that for yourself – and you’ll be grateful too!

In fact, why don’t you make a start by going and making a twitter account (it’s easy) and following Adam Goodes - @adamroy37 (it’s totally non-stalkery – you won’t get arrested).

5. The Concrete Koori with the Westfield Dreaming

Not just this week but most weeks and often with the addition of a sparkling beverage, I’m grateful for having met and come to know Dr Anita Heiss, the self-described concrete Koori with the Westfield dreaming. 

Now, she’s by no means perfect. Her work ethic is daunting, and shows up those of us who apparently require sleep as being rather slothful creatures. 

But in this week it is especially worth remembering Anita’s courage in facing up to the same mean-spirited pack on the lunatic fringe who have been disgracing themselves over the last few days. 

As much as Anita has been fighting the good fight with intelligence, wit, grace – I’d be really, really, REALLY grateful if next National Reconciliation Week no one had to. 

[You can follow Pam on Twitter too for more of her personal and professional reflections!]

Journalist Brooke Boney: racism - especially during NRW - causes hurt

This week I’m grateful I have people around me who truly care about Indigenous Australians and the issues we face. So many have been considerate and kind, but then there were the others.

We’ve seen the best and the worst come out in the public arena this week after, firstly, a young girl called Adam Goodes an ape. Then, to make things even worse, Eddie McGuire comes out and says Adam Goodes could be used to promote King Kong the musical in Melbourne. Yep. This week. National Reconciliation Week.

Having one of our national sporting heroes called an ape is hurtful, but it’s not the worst part. It isn’t for me, anyway. I can’t speak for everyone. It’s the discourse that followed; people telling me what I should and shouldn’t be offended by. People trying to tell me what racism is, and insisting that, even though they think it’s OK to call someone an ape, that they themselves are not racist.  

This morning my Mum called me, very upset, saying they were talking about it on her local FM radio station, Power FM. They were laughing and making jokes and no one, not a single caller, had phoned in to support Adam Goodes or support Indigenous people who might also have been hurt.

And that made me think. Racism causes so much hurt. Not only for the three people involved in this particular situation, but for the entire country.

It hurt every one of my friends who got into a cab/bus/train this morning and had to defend their identity and culture because someone said Goodes should “suck it up”. It hurt every single person who tried to explain via Facebook or Twitter how offensive being called an ape is, and for my poor Mum who has to listen to people laughing about it on the radio.

I’m sure Eddie McGuire doesn’t feel too good today either.

I can’t help but to think about the energy, emotion and time that is spent when we engage in this sort of unhealthy discourse, and how that energy, emotion and time could have otherwise been spent. Imagine if all those negative Facebook comments, retweets, statuses, likes and favourites were about something positive, like reconciling our past. I’m sure we’d be a lot further along that path than what we are now, if that were the case.

It’s a real shame this had to happen this week but I somehow think it must happen this week so we can begin to change the way behave and think about each other.  

Brooke Boney is a journalist, broadcaster and mentor. You can follow her on Twitter and watch her on NITV!

WIIMPITJA PERSPECTIVE ON NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

 I have followed Paul Dutton on Twitter for some time now and have long appreciated his wisdom. With respect I asked him to write a few words on Reconciliation for my blog to inspire my readers here during National Reconciliation Week. I feel his generosity of spirit is infectious. Feel free to share your thoughts on his post down below.

 I was born in Broken Hill, far western NSW, we refer to ourselves as ‘wiimpitja’ of Barkindji country. ‘Baaka’ referring to the river, the Darling River.

 

I was part of the Stolen Generation,  adopted into a non-Indigenous family whilst two other siblings were also removed and placed in two separate foster care placements. We were all 1400 kilometres away from our family.

I grew up in Liverpool, NSW and met my birth family when I returned to Wilcannia in 1988. I am now a traditional owner and board member of Mutawtinji National Park, http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/Mutawintji-National-Park  which is located between Wilcannia and Broken Hill.

I have previously worked for Department of Immigration for 10 years, NSW Department of Housing 1 ½ years, NSW Link-Up http://www.linkupnsw.org.au/  (Aboriginal Corporation) 1 ½ years, NSW Family & Community Services 10 years.

My partner Michelle and I have 6 children, Merinda (22 yrs) attends UNSW studying 5th year Law, Manduway (20 yrs) attends Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts (ACPA) in Brisbane, Keeden (19 yrs) is commencing Physical Education at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Alinta (17 yrs) is completing her HSC Year and Talara (15 yrs) is in Year 9, whilst Jara’na (8yrs) is in Year 3, and was recently a part of an ABC documentary called “Life At Series”.

My views on Reconciliation:

First of all, what is ‘wiimpitja’? This is the Barkindji word for Indigenous people.

What is my connection to ‘reconciliation’?

I was adopted not long after birth and spent the next 21 years living with a non-indigenous family as an adopted son. I loved my life, my upbringing and wanted for nothing.

I returned home as a 21 year old and met many relatives, where for the following 25 years up to this day, I continue to gain knowledge, understanding, strength of culture, and identity. This has allowed me to be able to openly talk about my adoption, upbringing, my birth family and reunion and how this relates to my current living environment and career.

To be able to speak at schools, universities to agencies or at functions about my dual culture as a ‘wiimpitja’ and as a member of a non-indigenous family and part of the ‘stolen generation’ allows me a unique perspective.

What are my views on Reconciliation?  I believe it provides a significant step in bringing the numerous ‘cultures’ of Australia together so that we can truly claim ‘reconciliation’ as part of our nations united theme therefore a unique perspective of Australian culture.

Why believe in Reconciliation?   It is Australia’s opportunity to allow Indigenous culture to be linked further and concrete it within Australia’s developing identity.

Who could Reconciliation leaders be? Anyone with the passion and courage for expressing their identity and willingness to write the story of Australia. We are all capable and have our collective voices heard and be those individuals. To walk alongside one another, people with differing cultural histories, and share in the uniqueness of multicultural Australia.

What will Reconciliation achieve? It allows for a greater share, for social inclusion specifically for Indigenous Australian’s. It permits for the many Indigenous stories to gain legitimate ownership within Australia. It provides the opportunity for those willing to open the discourse of their stories to be shared with other people and cultures within our communities.

For all Australian’s to be encouraged to engage in communication with other cultures, especially indigenous Australian’s is how we as one nation will be able to participate in our shared cultures within this country.

It will encourage understanding, respect, knowledge, and acceptance of the truth of the living that is the humanity of Australia, to which would be the ultimate creationism of reconciliation.

Why is Reconciliation important? Because there continues to be the subconscious belief still in Australia that Indigenous cultural history should not be discussed in its entirety, from cultural interaction to clashes, death and violence.

There continues the subconscious beliefs of individuals that racism doesn’t happen in Australia and openly deny it, in the face of racism. Reconciliation accepts the entire story, embraces that existence and cultural connection between peoples means we march together, as one voice, reconciled in knowing what was, what is, and what will be, can be done by anyone, for everyone and it’s ok.

6th National Indigenous Arts Awards = Recognition!

The 2013 Red Ochre Award, David Gulpilil

Last night I was honoured to MC the 6^th National Indigenous Arts Awards at the Sydney Opera House. The annual ceremony is a very special occasion which brings together people creating and working in Indigenous arts and culture to celebrate our achievements.

Hosted by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council, the awards highlight remarkable career achievements of several recipients and draws attention to artists who may be at earlier stages but already having attracted significant acclaim.

Last night, as we all gathered in the Utzon Room of the SOH, the recognition of our artists occurred on the first day of National Reconciliation Week which has as its key theme ‘Recognition’. So it was fitting.

I’d just like to take this opportunity here to say congratulations to all the award recipients.

The Red Ochre Award  is the most prestigious Indigenous art award in Australia. The Red Ochre was established in 1993 to honour an eminent Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artist who has made an outstanding lifelong contribution to the recognition of Indigenous arts in Australia, and around the world.

This award is made to artists whose contribution to their respective art form deserves public recognition. It also assists such artists to achieve the highest potential in their particular art form and to showcase a life and work that acts an inspiration to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

In honour of his outstanding contribution to Indigenous arts, this year’s Red Ochre Award goes to David Gulpilil for his work as a performing artist spanning more than 40 years.

David Gulpilil  was first cast in the 1971 film Walkabout because of his extraordinary talents as a dancer. He was just 15 and had never acted before. Since then he has appeared in films that have been milestones in Australian cinema, and which have helped define Australian culture.

These include Storm Boy, Mad Dog Morgan, The Last Wave, Crocodile Dundee, Two Hands, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Tracker, Ten Canoes and Australia. He has also acted in a wealth of television roles. His work has defined David as an icon of the Australian film, television and theatre industries.

Richard Frankland (above),  a Gunditjmara man raised in south-western Victoria, is a passionate advocate of social justice in writing, film and music. Richard was awarded a two-year fellowship in Literature, and he will fuse three art forms to tell the story of ‘Indigenous Australians from invasion to today’ in a stage musical to be offered to theatre companies in 2014.

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello is a Southern Arrernte woman (Kemarre skin) and has long blazed trails as a visual artist, writer, community leader and teacher. Jenni was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship to deepen her research and travel to American centres of glass excellence over the next two years.

Jenni Martiniello with Jeanette James

 

Rhonda Dick with Monica Stevens

The Dreaming Award allows for young and emerging artists to develop their artistic practice as well as benefit from the opportunity to create work. This year’s Dreaming Award went to Rhonda Dick who is a Pitjantjatjara photographic artist from the community of Amata in South Australia. In her first year of practise, she was selected as the overall winner of the inaugural Desart Annual Aboriginal Worker Prize 2012, for her series entitled My great grandmother’s country.

The National Indigenous Arts Awards will be broadcast on NITV!

Just had to get my photo with the man of the hour :)