Speech by

CAROL INNES

presented at the

HISTORY COUNCIL OF WA PUBLIC FORUM

Indigenous and Non Indigenous Culture and the Arts, History and Heritage in Western Australia – what is the future?

Monday 19 October 2009

Perth Town Hall

Before I begin I would like to acknowledge my ancestors, the Noongar people, who walked before me on this land.

I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me to speak at this forum today.  I would also like to acknowledge my esteemed panel members.

I am not an expert on Aboriginal art, nor am I an artist; I am an avid consumer of many arts activities.  I have had an amazing opportunity of working as an administrator in arts organisations at a community, statewide and national level.

My talk this evening is of my experiences in these roles that has given me an understanding and has enriched my professional and personal journey.  It is from my perspective that I can share with you today.  I am not speaking for every Aboriginal person but I do hope that I can contribute to a better understanding of how important Aboriginal Arts contributes to the vibrancy of Australian culture.

Aboriginal arts and culture is not just about, museums and galleries; or about awards, tourism and exhibitions.

It is about who we are – it is our cultural identity as Aboriginal People.  It is about maintaining our cultural heritage by passing knowledge, arts, rituals and performances from one generation to another.

Aboriginal art is an integral part of traditional life, it occurs in song and in stories, it occurs as body decoration in ceremonies, dances, on bark shelter and rock shelter walls, on trees, carved on rocks, weapons, utensils, and sacred objects both natural and carved. It occurs in spoken language, protecting cultural materials, along with sacred and significant sites, and objects.

Cultural heritage is seen as 'the total ways of living built up by a group of human beings, which is passed from one generation to the next', given to them by reason of our birth.

Art is part of our heritage as Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are complex and diverse. The Indigenous cultures of Australia have the oldest living cultural history in the world.

For example, Devil's Lair, a limestone cave located 5 km from the coast in the Naturaliste Region in the South West, is one of the most important archaeological sites in Australia. 

Through the excavation of the site over the past 30 years it was proven that human occupation of the area began more than 30,000 years ago and possibly even earlier than 40,000 years ago.

In contrast to that, we are also in the midst of a cultutral renaissance with regard to Aboriginal Arts in Australia, across all artistic forms.  Music, dance, poetry, theatre, filmaking, songwriting as well as the visual arts.

The matter of “heritage” is one of the most vital elements of this cultural renaissance. It is also about being, doing, as well as the challenges of everyday life.

The arts may be an important site to go digging in.)

Germaine Greer’s essay “White Fella Jump Up” is controversial and the published volume contains a number of essays that argue about her key propositions. A lot of people would probably not bother reading it simply because it is “Germaine Greer”; nevertheless it is not meaningless.

Greer writes: “…Blackfellas are not and never were the problem. They were the solution, if only whitefellas had been able to see it.” The subtitle of Greer’s book is “The Shortest Way To Nationhood”.

A part of that process of defining nationhood is taking place in that we are in the midst of re-defining culture.  Clearly, we have all witnessed the way the Gallipolli story has been re-shaped as an important part of our national identity; and now the story of the Kokoda Trail is being similarly re-defined.

However, are we all actually missing out on something of this rebuilding of the myth?

Because, above all culture is our identity, this is who we are and it defines our nationhood.

Greer’s basic assertion is that Australia will never achieve maturity unless and until it recognises its inescapable Aboriginality.

I have over fifteen years working in the arts sector at community, statewide and a national level. This has been a real privilege and a special journey for me in helping people bring their creative dreams to fruition.   I worked both State and Federal government’s arts department, in the Aboriginal funding program, across all mediums.   I worked with all arts genres. 

I know that there is always a competitive process for funding because it has the age old adage that there is never enough money to fund every submission.  However I do wonder if the arts had more money would we have as many of problems to deal with today.

In 2005 I was very fortunate to work on a major project with the Perth International Arts Festival. Although I worked for the Festival I was working with my community. It was essentially a massive community development project in Noongar country with Noongar people. It was the first time that PIAF undertook a project of this scale with the Noongar community.

It was also the first time that Noongar people worked together under the direction of our Elders to create an artwork that was truly reflective of Noongar people. They wanted something that would make them proud and to show that Noongar culture is strong and alive.

I worked as the Programme Manager in making sure that we worked together and with each other to make sure that it happened. We went through many stages, consultation with the community that entailed lots of travel and meetings with Elders and community members. This process took two and half years to accomplish. Our Elders were invited to a meeting in Kings Park early in 2005 at which over 100 Elders gave endorsement to the project and elected an Elders Steering and Advisory group to oversee the project.

Six Noongar artists were selected to create the beautiful ‘Ngalla Koort Boodja’ masterpiece that was unveiled at the Opening of the 2006 Festival. It was a moment that many of us who were there would appreciate for the rest of our lives. This was a more precious time for me being in the hub of the creation and management of the project.

Another part of the 2006 festival was an exhibition of the renowned ‘Carrolup’ artwork of Stolen Generation children who painted at Carrolup River Native Settlement; an institution near Katanning in the South West that was established in around 1918 by the Chief Protector of Aborigines, Mr AO Neville.

The story of the Carrolup art began in 1945 with the arrival of teacher Noel White who was determined to give his students a more meaningful life, he encouraged the children to develop their talent and introduced sketching sessions.

The children were inspired and began making extraordinary drawings, varying from landscapes and botanical studies, to scenes drawn from Australian poetry and images depicting Aboriginal life in the South West.

The Carrolup art was so distinctive and technically sophisticated that the work toured Europe in the 1950s to considerable acclaim. It was the first Noongar and Aboriginal art exhibited internationally!

Over 100 pieces were then ‘lost’ until 2004 when they were re-discovered, still in their original packing, at Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University in New York State.

It was in Katanning, that the Carrolup story took its next step, when some 25 pieces from the New York collection were shown as part of the 2006 Perth International Arts Festival.

The ‘New York’ Carrolup works were only displayed in a special exhibition at Katanning called "Koorah Coolingah - Children Long Ago”. It was a momentous and moving occasion for the local Noongar community and an exhibition of major historical significance for WA.

There is still a lot of ‘Carrolup’ art in WA; a major collection is held at UWA’s Berndt Museum and some pieces are held at the Battye Library.

There has also been debate as to whether the Carrolup art should be repatriated from New York back to Noongar Country.

I would always say that working in the arts is good as we don’t have to consider solving problems for Aboriginal people! I could work with many of the artists to help them achieve their dream. This was the most rewarding thing that you could do in a job and how you set about helping people put together applications and ideas to achieve what they wanted and when they wanted it to happen.

The arts are an important healing tool that helps many people get through many issues that affected their lives.

I remember traveling to remote and regional communities and saw the places where artists were creating the most amazing pieces of art. Today most of those places are talked about in the term of third world conditions. Artists created songs, stories, music and paintings about policies that affected our people and about their country.

Their work connected them to the country and they became a part of the country. Many of the artists did not have a studio or separate room to create their work it was all done in kitchens, lounge rooms, art centres if there was one in a community or on the ground.

Now I am working as a Manager at the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council. The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) is the native title Rep body for the Noongar people of South West WA. Native Title grew out of the High Court’s ‘Mabo’ decision that came down in 1992 after a ten year battle between the Queensland Government and Eddie Mabo with his colleagues.

This was followed by a legislative response by the Keating government in 1993, which is known as Native Title; this was later modified in 1996 by the Howard government.

Native Title is not ‘land rights’ and many people are critical of the limited nature of native title; I don’t have time, or the technical expertise, to expand on that here today. But I do want to share with you what it means for me as a proud Noongar woman, mother and grandmother.

SWALSC has been working towards the legal recognition of the Noongar people’s native title rights for many years. One of its key strategies was the mounting of a single Noongar claim, on behalf of all Noongar people. This in itself was an amazing accomplishment after careful negotiations involving literally hundreds of people. After this case was mounted the WA government wanted the question of Perth and the metropolitan area, heard first as a separate question, with the balance of the single Noongar claim to be heard at a later date.

Not long after I started work at SWALSC in Sept 2006 the Federal Court brought down a decision that recognised that Noongar people were the native title over Perth and its surrounds. This decision surprised many people; however, it made me and countless other people very happy and proud to be Noongar. Finally, there was some recognition of our cultural identity.

Noongars stood tall as we realized its significance.

The strength of the decision was based on writings of early settlers in the Swan River Colony, anthropological work from the first part of the twentieth century; and, the evidence of our Noongar Elders. The judge found an enormous consistency in all of that material.

After the decision, there were some pretty appalling things said in the WA parliament and media about the decision and Noongar people. Eventually, there was an appeal and a number of people were shocked by the way the State’s lawyers argued against Noongar cultural identity.

The result of that appeal was handed down by the Federal Court in 2008; the appeal court has not ruled out Native Title, but it has said that the first judge had erred in a couple of parts of his decision. This means that we will have to start the process again; maybe even going back to square one!

It is really important to note the place of Noongar people in the political process. The WA Government and its Ministers are more than happy to acknowledge Noongar people as the traditional owners and custodians of Perth and the greater South West. But, the Government does not currently recognise the Native title rights of Noongar people.

Clearly, there are legal positions to this; but what message does this send to Noongar people and the wider community?  One thing is sure, and that is that we know who we are and where we are from! We know our cultural identity as Noongar people.

In February 2008 Prime Minister Rudd delivered an apology to the Stolen Generation; this was a long time coming. It was a very powerful day for so many people, both Stolen Generations people and non Stolen Generations people; for both Indigenous Australia and non- Indigenous Australia. Many have said how now they think we can move forward with reconciliation and others have said they now feel proud to be Australian again. It was important because it was an acknowledgement that a great wrong had been done.

Between two and three thousand people gathered on the Esplanade in Perth in the early hours of that morning to share in the Prime Minister’s apology.

Music and dance were a very important part of our mob celebrating the significance of that event - it was more than just performance – it was a form of cultural expression that acknowledged our past and looked forward to the future.

The word ‘Sorry’ has a special meaning in Aboriginal culture and signifies deep compassion and sympathy. The apology is so much more than a symbolic gesture.  Someone has  suggested that saying ‘Sorry’ is a litmus test for the emotional state of the nation and a clue to Australia’s sense of itself.

Around thirty years ago there were great discussions around defining Australian culture identity. Books and articles were written, conferences were held and there was great excitement about the writings of Donald Horne and controversy around works like Manning Clark’s “History of Australia”. But in some ways it appears that thinking has not progressed much as it still lacks significant engagement with Indigenous Australia.

This begs many questions of an inquiring mind. What has changed in that time? What is the context? Has the paradigm, in fact, shifted in the quest for cultural identity and meaning? The concept of “culture” in itself is a site of great debate both within Australia and beyond. Even within the Aboriginal community there is a range of views from traditional through to contemporary.

Also, those Aboriginal perspectives on culture still have to locate themselves in the broader debates about Australian culture. For example; only a few years ago I suggested “heritage” is a key part of culture at a national arts conference. One would think that would be an acceptable view to put and yet I had to vigorously defend that proposition for the remainder of the conference.

As I mentioned earlier, Australia has begun a renaissance in acknowledging Aboriginal artistic expression. This has moved through all major artistic genres, from visual arts, performing arts, theatre, music, film making, radio, writing and poetry. Who could fail to be impressed with the contribution of the Bangarra Dance Company to the opening of the 2000 Olympics or challenged by the gentle prodding of ‘Mary G’ on her radio or SBS television shows.

Arts have been used to tell the story of our history. This has occurred in theatre, paintings, poetry, songs, oral histories, photography and film making.

Archie Roach’s song ‘They Took the Children Away’ has become anthemic for Australia.   There are many many songs about Stolen Generations practices.  

There are also countless songs by Aboriginal musicians  about land; in fact, there are so many that a couple of academics have written and published a book about them.

Aboriginal people have a history to be told; as somebody once said ‘White Australia has a black history’.

That is a very deep statement, with an incredible amount of meaning. How will you deal with this is fundamental to what I have shared with you today.

SWALSC is at the table in the discussions in the development of the Perth waterfront and government wants to engage with Noongar people in the first instance instead of the last.  This is in itself is a breathe of fresh air; I only hope that the end product is respectful to first peoples of this country.

We need to recognise that the quality and variety of Australian Indigenous art produced today reflects the richness and diversity of Indigenous culture and the distinct differences between tribes, languages, dialects and geographic landscapes.

I should also mention that Aboriginal tourism is an emerging industry. A diversity of tours and experiences that promote Aboriginal culture and lifestyle are available for travellers throughout Australia. 

This is developing from the knowledge that international tourists are looking for to experience something of Aboriginal Australia while they are here.  The experiences range from organised tours to performances of dance, the purchase of traditional Aboriginal artifacts and an opportunity to stay on Aboriginal land to experience the daily lives of Aboriginal people.

In closing I would like to add that our most valuable assets are our people.  Artists, dancers, musicians; along with managers of galleries and the like.  We need people to build a vibrant arts community.  Aboriginal arts are worthy of being supported for all our history.