8 Kalumburu mask

photo by Peter Lucich


This image, on the cover of a book by the Berndts "Aborigines of the West", is from Kalumburu and the mask came from Pt Keats. The dancer is probably Alec (Ooroomalloo) The dancer went unacknowledged by the authors who wrote elsewhere that masks

" are atypical for Aboriginal Australia. They are reported from only two areas: around Cape York, which has had contact from New Guinea via the Torres Strait islands; and Pindan, near Port Headland, also presumably as a result of outside contact. Instead of masks, then, the Aborigines have paid much attention to facial designs" (Berndt and Berndt 1965:427).

Kalumburu often goes unrecognised in the east of Australia. Recently the community was struck by cyclone Ingrid which they are recovering from while they have the much larger task of getting over 100 years of systemic problems to do with the structure of a missionary fabricated community. Whatever you think of the missionaries and their past activities Kalumburu is now in urgent need of resources and basic assistance. This week Australia's national press highlighted the federal government targeting Pt Keats or Wadeye. This designated community is considered the most disadvantaged in Australia. The problems are similar throughout a number of northern communities and Kalumburu is not atypical.

One problem in Kalumburu that constantly holds up harmonious development is that families who traditionally don't get on are all bundled together. For this reason alone it is far from an ideal community, a predicament that all missionary based towns have manufactured. All the while the strength of cultural heritages shines through and the people hold their languages and traditions dearly.

The glaring failure we must acknowledge as Australians in Pt Keats, Kalumburu and many communities in the north of Australia is that they have become places where the elderly are in peril. The media catch cry for assistance is always to do with the degradation that children often experience. They too do need attention. Both young and old deserve an attention that is sorely lacking from all quarters. By that I mean concerning health, welfare and safety. One example of this is something we rarely hear about with elderly men who worked as stockmen and gave their lives to the cattle industry who suffer from injuries caused while working on cattle stations and are neglected by everybody... and they slip painfully away.

My personal opinion:
All the traditional owners both men and women throughout the Kimberley, and for that matter the whole of Australia, who are more than 50 years of age ought to be recognised as Australia's national treasures immediately and attended to with the appropriate respect to help them live comfortable and secure lives and to enable them to maintain and pass on the knowledges they hold. That doesn't dismiss that there are also younger national treasures. It is simply to say that the older people are the ones who in any just society ought to have their basic needs fulfilled. This is fundamental not to mention that in 50 years time it will be too late for our institutions to awaken and catch up to the fact that right now traditional owners hold knowledges that are beyond the grasp of our libraries, laboratories, hospitals and lecture rooms.

My editing progress
I have been laid up for two weeks unable to edit with the death of my grandma and my ongoing bad back.
Now.
How can I edit without spending hours sitting in front of my computer? Stand up? Take regular breaks? Sure.
... and when I find the answer, which I must do to complete this task, I'll have something important to contribute to the world. In the generation of the declining back we are not spineless - just losing the support of our spines, with underdeveloped and shrinking muscles.
Oh hail 'salute to the sun', McKenzie and pilates.