## Hi all, usually I wouldn't post a story holus bolus as an individual post on this blog, but I did ask the writer's permission. So, below, please find the story about the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation's dilemma. The reason that this particular story is significant is because Dumbartung is so unique - the group is characterized by how fiercely independent-minded they are. They state the truth more fearlessly than anyone and open their doors to everyone. These are my personal views and they may seem like an endorsement, and so, I guess in a way, this is my disclosure statement... as one of many who have walked through those doors.
The group bravely took over the premises of a once Catholic Church-run "orphanage," haunted by terrible atrocities committed against children who were abducted by the Western Australian government, and Dumbartung spoke authoritative healing over that place. Their words have reformative power and now, it would appear that the denial of funding will be yet another effort of the State to silence such strong, independent voices. They touch the lives of all those they meet, irrespective of colour or heritage, and embody the true meaning of social inclusion and community cohesion, in Perth - a city indelibly tainted by a long history of racist government abuse and the active suppression of the true history of the genocide of Aboriginal people. Standing up to be heard and to heal, in that environment, must take considerable courage.
Dumbartung's work shows everyone how things could be and should be, and is extremely vital to the whole of the community's future and well being.
PIC: Selina and Robert Eggington and Nyoongah Elder
John Pell inside Dumbartung’s Kyana Gallery.
Fears for future of Dumbartung
(By Kirstie Parker, 13-2-13, first appeared in The Koori Mail)
WHO will stand up for Nyoongah culture? That is the question being asked by Nyoongah man Robert Eggington, who for more than 20 years has led the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation and its renowned Kyana Gallery in Perth.
Mr Eggington says Dumbartung, which operates out of
the old Catholic orphanage (Clontarf) in the suburb of Waterford, is
potentially just months – if not weeks – from closure as its current funding
peters out with little word of more.
For the past year, the grassroots organisation has
survived on a one-off community grant from Lotterywest and funds from a tender
under Redress WA to record the stories of adults seeking ex-gratia payments for
abuse and/or neglect suffered while they were in state care.
Part of the Lotterywest grant was put towards
development of a business plan to help Dumbartung use its resources in an
income-generating, sustainable way.
The business planning consultants are due to report
at the end of this week, but Mr Eggington is apprehensive about what may lay
ahead.
“If Dumbartung isn’t funded through the
responsibilities of government heritage and cultural maintenance, we would have
to go overseas to get access to the money needed to keep this asset going,” he
told the Koori Mail.
“Within that lies an absolutely shameful hypocrisy
of the fact that the state and federal governments do not see the preciousness
of the Kyana Gallery, an asset they should feel privileged to fund.”
Dumbartung began as an advocacy and cultural body,
hosting the famous Kyana Aboriginal Cultural Festivals of the early 1990s.
Over time, its scope has morphed to encompass
campaigning for human rights, protection of Aboriginal intellectual property
(including a fight against the fabrication of stories in American author Marlo
Morgan’s controversial book Mutant Message Down Under), repatriation of
cultural material, educational and cross-cultural programs reaching thousands
of schoolchildren and adults, and prison art activities.
Some of its most important work centres on healing
the grief and loss experienced by Aboriginal women, through a program conducted
by Robert’s wife Selina, and other activities conducted with Nyoongah youth
around substance abuse, identity, and suicide prevention.
The Kyana Gallery is a cultural, totally
non-commercial enterprise that is home to thousands of Nyoongah and other items
donated and acquired over time, including rare artefacts (some of which have
been repatriated from domestic and overseas collecting institutions), artworks
including some by the late Revel Cooper and other famed artists from Carrolup
in the state’s south-west, ‘bookahs’ (Nyoongah kangaroo cloaks), historical
photos and records, and much more. None of these items are for sale.
Mr Eggington said that some items in the gallery’s
non-public keeping room were thousands of years old; so ancient that the
ceremonies they were used for no longer existed.
However, the conditions within the gallery are far
from ideal. Its floor is uneven, the roof leaks when it rains and there’s no
temperature or climate control, which means some of the gallery’s contents are
continually at risk.
A few years back, the Gallery was recognised by the
National Library of Australia (NLA), the National Archives and the Department
of Prime Minister and Cabinet as nationally significant.
Museum consultants Dr Brian Shepherd and Paul
Bridges have assessed the significance of Dumbartung and its collections.
“It is clear that it is one of considerable local,
state, national and international significance when understood within its
institutional context,” the pair said in their 2011 report.
Their recommendations referred to ‘the need to
harness the collection within recognised professional museum practice to ensure
that its worth can be more widely understood and passed to future generations’.
Dumbartung and the Kyana Gallery also have the
support of a cross-section of the community, from Nyoongah people to respected
child health expert and 2003 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley and
activist journalist John Pilger.
Over time, they have hosted and won the admiration
of the Dalai Lama, folk singer Bob Dylan, the late Johnny Cash, who visited
with his late wife June Carter and actor Kris Kristofferson, and British punk
band Prodigy.
But all of this will matter little unless
Dumbartung gets thrown a lifeline, and quick.
Behind the scenes, some suggest that Nyoongah
culture is too hot a topic for the WA Liberal Government, which is currently
negotiating with the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) over a
rumoured $1 billion native title settlement.
There’ve been vocal, highly-charged protests
against the would-be deal, with much of the dissent coming from a Noongar Tent
Embassy established on Heirisson Island (Matagarup) in the Swan River on the
city centre outskirts.
‘Our story, our way’
“This all comes down to one very, very important
human right and that is Aboriginal people’s human right to start throughout
those collections to archive, maintain and interpret our story, our way, in
relation to the significance of what is the oldest living culture on the most ancient land mass on the face of the Earth,” Mr
Eggington said.
“And what has become a worldwide interest not in
going into tourist shops and buying pretty
dot-dot painting or watching a dance group in an
auditorium but learning about the real history and culture through bastions of
culture like Kyana.
“The story tellers are Aboriginal people because
for far too long our story has been told by non-Aboriginal professionals like
anthropologists, social workers and more.”
A comment on the future of Dumbartung and the Kyana
Gallery was sought from WA’s Minister for Culture and the Arts, John Day, but
none was received by the time of printing.
The Labor Opposition’s spokesman for Culture and
the Arts, and Heritage John Hyde told the Koori Mail that WA Labor recognised
‘the importance of Nyoongah culture and values efforts by Nyoongah Elders and
stakeholders to preserve and celebrate our indigenous culture’.
He said he was disappointed the Government had not
done more to research and promote the Carrolup and other Nyoongah artists, or
lobby the Commonwealth effectively for a national Indigenous museum to be based
in WA. However, Mr Hyde did not comment specifically on Dumbartung or the Kyana
Gallery.
Mr Eggington said that numerous government
ministers and politicians had visited the Kyana Gallery during the past few
years, including Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett, Federal
Liberal MP Joe Hockey, State Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier, and
Deputy Premier Dr Kim Hames.
“They have seen the value of the gallery and have
all said upon their departure ‘we will ensure that Dumbartung will continue’,”
he said.
“They all leave promising the earth but you never
get a grain of sand back.”###