Mutual Acceptance

There was instantaneous and mutual accepttance when Aborigine and Maori met. All meetings together had the same spirit as our meetings at home because of the empathy and warmth between us—racial differences did not exist. The first evening together, Mana Rangi gave the traditional Maori welcome which was watched with awe and applauded with vigour.

After this we talked of our play centres, showed pictures of play centre activities, our New Zealand way of life, and demonstrated some of the arts and crafts practised by our people. The end of the evening came with the

Maori action songs to which the Aboriginal people became almost addicted—at every opportunity they asked for a repeat of the performance.

Racial Pride Lost

The Aborigine has not retained the pride of race and identity with his ancestors as the Maori has—many of the younger people are growing up without any knowledge of their tribal traditions and in many cases without even a smattering of their own language. This, to our eyes, was a tragedy, for they had nothing of their own with which to identify themselves. Strengthening this pride of race became one of our aims.

In helping start their pre-school groups, we suggested that grandfathers and grandmothers become members of the team, and spend time in telling the children the many fascinating legends of the past. We also suggested that they

begin to help the children understand their own language. One of the satisfactions I gained later at Woodenbong, was to hear mothers repeating to their children the names of familiar objects in their own language.

Eager for Information

The weekend at Evan's Head was spent in discussing the methods of setting up pre-school groups, the nature and purposes of the different kinds of play and the absolute importance of mothers developing insight through a knowledge of the stages of development and through observation and interpretation of their children's behaviour. The Aborigines were eager for the information we gave. They were naturally observant, and as the stages of development were introduced they saw that their children had grown in the same way.

From the discussions we had, many things became clearer. These people desperately wanted to help themselves, to make their own decisions. Ours became the supporting role. We would tell of what we had done and from this would come the desire to do the same thing, but in terms of their conditions and needs. Another was that because of their own poverty and lack of Government support, improvisation and the use of local materials were the only means of meeting the need for equipment.

Memorable People

In the group we met many whom we will never forget.

There was Jim Morgan, a leader of his people, who was the first full blooded Aborigine appointed to the Aboriginal Welfare Board. Largely self taught, Jim had an ability that would have taken him anywhere. He was a remarkable man, combining the traditions of his past with the progressions of the modern world.

There was Nellie, a WIDOW with six children, whose eldest child was in a good job in Queensland and whose second child had just been awarded a scholarship that would enable her to continue at High School. Nellie's character was all strength and determination and some bitterness because of the white man's treatment of her race. Her strength was centred on her children in an effort to improve their chances of success in a world that had not dealt kindly with her and her generation.

In the A.F.E.C. she saw an opportunity to learn more about her children, and in the few days we were with her, we saw her attitude to her youngest child changing as she realised that guidance was just as effective as coercion.

Margaret was the mother of five children and one of the most vital and alive people ever met. She loved children and they loved her. When it became clear that we were just ordinary mothers with no formal professional training, who had learned to manage a preschool and in turn help other mothers, there was a dramatic change in her. She appeared to find reassurance and a new identity. We hope that this will be strong enough to carry her through the trials that lie ahead.

There was Lena, who described her life as ‘a long black tunnel’ and who saw our coming as ‘a light at the end’. She is a potential leader of her people. She was determined to educate herself and her children. In the A.F.E.C. she saw a practical way of doing this.

Aboriginal Songs

Saturday night developed into one of fun and gaiety. It started slowly with some action songs by the New Zealand party. Then gradually one or two of the Aborigines joined in. The climax came when some of the older Aborigines sang their songs for us. The songs lacked our kind of melody, but fascinated us. One of them did a corroboree dance. The dance consists of very vigorous leg movements accompanied by a chant and two sticks beaten rhythmically together.

A sad commentary is that many of the younger men had no experience of the dance. I like to think that our obvious pleasure and pride in our own music communicated itself to them that night.

TV Documentary

A TV team from the ‘Four Corners’ documentary series of the ABC covered the activities of the weekend. They became enthusiastic about our aims and methods and their only complaint was that they could not capture on film the warmth and harmony between the two races.

Pre-School Groups Established

Sunday night we left the camp and travelled in pairs to the Aborigine Stations where we were to help establish pre-school groups. Pearl Allen and Hine Campbell stayed at Box Ridge where the TV team remained to film the start of an A.F.E.C. As there was no meeting place, the group's first task was to clear an area of scrub and weeds. The young TV men used axe and spade along with the aborigines.

Hana Tukukino and Hiria Parata travelled further to Tabulum while Mana Rangi and I continued on to Woodenbong, arriving after 11 p.m. in a very heavy frost. Next morning we visited the station and saw the conditions under which our new friends existed.

The Woodenbong Aboriginal Station is a tract of land administered by the Aboriginal Welfare Board for the Aborigine to live on, but which he does own. The men work away wherever they can find jobs, for the land does not support them. The Station is controlled by a manager, appointed by the Board. He is responsible for the Aborigines' welfare.

Because of the Australian policy of assimilation (to shift the Aborigine away from the settlements and scatter him throughout the community) nothing has been done to the houses in Woodenbong. These houses are wooden; small, unpainted and unlined, with a wood stove and no electricity, no water laid on—one cold tap outside, in some cases no glass in the Windows, very little furniture and no home comforts. But this was their land, their dead were buried on the hill and they did not want to leave.

We spent the morning visiting with those who had not been at the weekend, and at a well-attended meeting that afternoon the Woodenbong Aborigine Family Education Centre was born. When it was suggested that

officers be elected, the feeling of the meeting was that they would prefer to work as a group and allow the natural leader to emerge as needed. This was an advanced theory of emergent leadership from a supposedly inferior group.

That evening was also an historic event. Our hostess, Mrs Crane, invited both Aborigines and the local Europeans to an informal party to meet the Maoris—the first time that both groups had mixed socially. The Headmaster of Woodenbong Central School and most of his staff were present and all expressed interest in the project and promised help. This help materialised the next morning in the form of paper, paint, brushes and books.

First Session

The second day, the first session of the preschool group was held. The first problem—that of material—had partly been overcome with a donation in kind from the school. As paint and dough were new to the Aborigine mothers, we demonstrated how to mix and make. For us it was an exciting experience to see children exploring these media for the first time. It was a colourful beginning in more ways than one. Paint flew in all directions!

We found the children very attractive, with brown skins, soft wavy brown hair and large, brown eyes ringed with long, spiky black lashes. However, they did not la [ unclear: ] gh much and showed a considerable amount of aggression

and hostility towards each other. Perhaps this was an expression of the barrenness of their lives.

Farewell

In the little time remaining we evaluated what we had done, plans for the future were discussed—how the local environment could be exploited for equipment and materials at the least cost, we talked of the organisation and supervision within the group—how we could continue and help through correspondence, and finally, our hopes of meeting again.

That evening, six very weary women met again at Casino Airport. Our Aborigine friends from Box Ridge were there to farewell us. Somehow during the weekend they had learned “Now is the Hour’ which they sang as we crossed the tarmac.

Evaluation

In four days we had experienced a great deal. We had gained deeper insight into ourselves. We had made new friends and had seen how they lived. Because of their lives we had gained a deeper appreciation of our own way of life. We had given of ourselves, so that emotionally we were drained and empty, left with the feeling that the friendship, encouragement and support we had given must not be withdrawn.

I think that they saw in us a realisation of what might be. They had taken steps towards its achievement. They wanted recognition and equality for their own efforts. This feeling is best expressed in this quotation from a poem by Kath Walker, an Aborigine who has published two books of poems.

‘Make us neighbours, not fringe dwellers,
Make us mates, not poor relations,
Citizens, not serfs on stations.
Must we native Old Australians
In our own land rank as aliens?
Banish bans and conquer caste,
Then we'll win our own at last.’

Aboriginal Charter of Rights.