Joe,

By the way Colin McKinnon Dodd, the founder of the
Gallery was Aboriginal and the company was run by
and for Indigenous people and their families.

Just thought you should know.

Foxy, that's my point, what you experienced might "turn you on", but me aside, I KNOW that the real majority of the population could not give a rats, and you will find that, that has more to do with it's closure than anything you might be imagining.
I don't know why you refuse to see the world for what it is really like, if you are afraid, I can understand and you would not be alone in that.
Whatever the reason, you must come to terms with the real world, or you will live a fictional life of lies and make belief.
There has been far too much praise and cordiality afforded the blacks and it has been tolerated for too long.
The greater majority of Aussies it seems, are beginning to demand a re-assessment of the benefits and status of the blacks, by bringing them back down to the same level as everyone else.
There is no point in expecting everyone to get along if some are unjustifiably treated as being more special than others.
I remind you and everyone else, that throwing money and all these meaningless social artsy-fartsy programs and offerings at them is NOT going to help them or their well-being and therefore their future.
And it certainly will not help them to accept this Australia of today.

Joe,

I'm afraid I'm with Foxy on this.

We all know it's hard, it's a struggle, but maybe from small acorns some mighty oaks might be fostered. The problems are not going to go away without some serious attention. You know what I mean.

Following up our previous brief discussion on this thread, such a gallery precinct, and others, both urban and in remote communities, might provide an avenue and facility for the cultural interchange of experience, ideas and potentials across the 'Urban' and 'Bush' communities, to the ultimate benefit of all, and potentially to seeds of reconciliation.

As Foxy has identified, we are all different, unique, and the variations are wide, cavernous even, and there can be no simple formula to overcome all problems and concerns.

Ok, not all can be suited to academic pursuits, or even artistic ones, but efforts need to be made to find an effective and fulfilling place for everyone. Ok, total success is not possible. We know this from the 'white' experience already. But, we also know that the problems are not going to go away by themselves.

I accept your assessment that what I was, and am still proposing is somewhat impractical, but surely something constructive has to be attempted for the benefit of those remote and regional communities which are exhibiting distress or dysfunction - and I am not suggesting that this could only be of their own making - but resolution must be at their direction, if possible, and where appropriate (for we accept that it will be a hard slog for those where anger, social disintegration and unruly disturbance are most prevalent).
(TBC)

Continued:

As you, Joe, have already clearly identified, a pure emphasis on 'education' can't work - even if the services are very broad, including art, sport, trades, music, design, food sciences, drama, fashion, as well as STEM. It seems possible that all has to be approached from a culturally sound and sensitive basis. Or else, I cannot identify. I am at a loss, and it will take some with true cultural experience, expertise and deep understanding to find the right threads and lifeline, and I believe people like yourself, Joe, might be able to help with this, with a guiding hand.

All I am able to assess is that 'townies' should not have too great a say in the future assistance services provided to those truly in need. And, maybe, some suitable immersion of 'townie' youth in a genuine cultural environment, might help to correct some of their misunderstandings about 'cultural' life, and about what is truly important in the search for cultural identity and personal success and fulfillment.

Here's hoping.

Saltpetre, I wonder if you are starting from a higher base than the actual bottom or the root of the problem of assimilation or integration.
Firstly what is a 'deal breaker' is the handouts or leg up's the blacks enjoy.
Secondly, and equally important is the utter disdain and dislike the white's have to endure, and at street level.
Thirdly, the blacks absolutely have to drop this arrogant, "we were here first" BS.
Then after they get their own minds and priorities in order, they can begin to accept this is what it is, and we aren't going anywhere, so suck it up and move on.
I understand the true blacks have been exposed to a world of totally different values and ideals.
To that I say, I understand, but instead of trying to change yourself and your own personal culture, don't, but instead carry on living the lifestyle and live in the bush, as you and your ancestors did.
BUT, if you want to live in harmony within and around a multicultural environment and all the benefits it offers, you must accept it and not fight it.
The ones who are causing the majority of problems and dissent or are actively engaged in all the unsociable and unsavoury practices which we find un-acceptable and abhorrent are the GREYS!
There are not enough words or time to describe how they are causing the greater majority of the problems, from the overseeing of monies directed at black causes and assistance to in-sighting anti white sentiments.
I don't expect the pure bloods to change their life or lifestyle, but the greys, as far as I am concerned, they know very well what they are doing, and it has to stop!
I would suggest the greys lose all their benefits and instead be directed to take up some kind of employment or apprenticeship, that will lead them towards a self sufficient and contributing life.
And I make it quite clear, they are NOT to handle their own anything, which involves their own culture.
This must be practiced outside the govts involvement or finance.

Saltpetre,

I don't think that any Indigenous people are living a substantially 'Bush' life, and going back to the first contacts, I think that from the beginning, most people quickly cottoned on to the new opportunities, offered by the ration system on the one hand and the work/money system on the other.

I would suggest that, both in the 'south' in the nineteenth century, and in the 'north', the 'Bush' as you call it, Saltpetre, this would have been a feature before the first generation of contact was over. By the second generation of contact, the people were actively replacing their traditional language with a combination of local versions of English and the useful components of traditional language, and spears and boomerangs with muskets, rifles and shotguns.

In SA, the Aboriginal Protector was asked in 1884 or so by his Victorian counterpart if he could buy some fishing spears for the Melbourne Exhibition, their fiftieth anniversary. He was surprised to find that nobody knew how to make them any more.

Of course, the current urban myths fostered by well-meaning whites would deny this, and so much else, that everybody was still 'cultural': would that it were so.

Joe