Sam,

You know, you've got me thinking:

" .... we are set to witness the slow dying out of their ability to claim to live on their traditional land by choice, and that anyone who stays does so simply because they are stuck there."

Why do you think it will be slow ? Yes, from community to ghetto, you're right. But it's a short life in remote communities - the 'Gap' might be seventeen years for all Indigenous males, urban, rural and remote, but I wouldn't mind betting that there are 'communities' in remote Australia where nobody has reached the age of fifty for years, and most guys are gone befure they reach forty. In other words, the average 'gap' is closer to thirty five or forty years than seventeen. Forty years of life un-lived - this is one of the tragedies of remote communities.

We lived for some years in a southern community, within twenty five miles of five or six towns, and only a couple of guys reached fifty there, and no mystery, they were employed.

The Gap is very real, Sam. So do we try to close it, or do we rabbit on about culture and language ? [Ideally, we do both]. What are the point of a vaguely-remembered culture, relating to a no-longer-lived lifestyle, and a similarly-disused language to people who die before they are fifty ?

Joe

Well written John. Loudmouth has no clue and obviously is lurking to attack Aboriginal rights. I hope good people get to read your article and to question the secret government policy making and oppression agenda.

Hi Ghumi,

An interesting comment: how am I attacking Aboriginal rights ? Or lurking to attack Aboriginal rights ? When I stick up for Indigenous participation in higher education, how is that attacking Aboriginal rights ? When my Indigenous wife and I were making Aboriginal flags back in the seventies, how was that attacking Aboriginal rights ? When we went up to live in a community and contribute to self-determination, how was that an attack on Aboriginal rights ?

So any criticism whatsoever, of anything Aboriginal whatsoever, is an attack on Aboriginal rights ? IF that is so, repeat IF that is so, then I hope I will go on "attacking Aboriginal rights" until I drop. If you want people to lick @rses, then go for it yourself but count me out.

Joe Lane

Loudmouth. Try writing an article yourself instead of trying to trash others. On education you need to read the UN expert paper on lessons learnt on indigenous peoples and education. Having an indigenous wife does not add to your credibility.

Hi Ghumi,

You're right, and I've written a couple of articles for OLO, and had a couple published in The Australian, on Indigenous higher education: you may be thrilled, like me, to know that currently, university commencements numbers and enrolment numbers of Indigenous students are at record levels.

Indigenous women are participating at a slightly better rate than NON-Indigenous men in Australia. There are now more than 26,000 (twenty six THOUSAND) Indigenous university graduates: they are set to change the entire policy picture. Doesn't that lift your heart ? It certainly does mine.

No, you're also right that an Indigenous partner doesn't mean all that much. It depends what you do about it. When we got hitched in the mid-sixties, we were involved in SA and Victoria and in New Zealand, then back here, in Indigenous politics as much as we could. We were unskilled labourers basically, so our means and our time were limited. I worked in a bakery, Maria worked in a paper-rolling factory. Have you ever tried those ?

Still, we used to make Aboriginal flags after work from about May or June 1972 onwards - I think we might have made the first flags, for the Aboriginal Embassy here in Adelaide, in the North Adelaide parklands. We kept making them throughout the seventies, until it became safe enough for other people to associate themselves with it. For a while, we ran a small and scurrilous journal called Black News.

We went to live in an Aboriginal community in 1973, and stayed until 1978. I don't know what you were doing back then, of course. We came back down to Adelaide to study, and got involved in Indigenous university student support, where we both worked for a total of about thirty years. By the time my wife passed away a couple of years ago, she was the acting head of the state's Indigenous education consultative group.

When you have some runs on the board, Ghumi, get in touch :)

Joe Lane

I reckon you have been well and truly assimilated loudmouth along with most of the thousands of 'Indigenous' university graduates who reaped the benefits of changing government policies in the 70's Good for you.
My concerns are for the thousands of remote community Aboriginals who have been behind the door when the opportunities were being offered.

It's time to recognise we now have two 'classes'