cont'd ...

http://stolengenerationstestimonies.com/index.php/testimonies/index.1.html

"Every individual Australian needs to have an experience, when the
view of the history is reversed, everything you thought you knew is cast up in the air.
That hasn't happened with white Australia sadly."
(Thomas Keneally).

Before leaving this discussion it would be appropriate
to just add a few more thoughts on the question of Amy
Spiers'campaign to draw attention to the Hanging Rock's
cultural heritage and conservation.

Her campaign is apparently attracting attention and
until now the Macedon Ranges Council had focused on
Recreation. Currently it appears that it is now working
to incorporate more Indigenous history into the site.
However the Council does seem to feel that "Miranda Must
Not Go." The story should be retained as part of the
"rich tapestry" of the site.

Werundjeri elder Annette Xiberras has stated that references
to Lindsay's tale should stay, but there should be more
Aboriginal information. It seems that before white
settlement the rock was used for corroborees and initiations.
A medicine woman, Bundine, sourced plants there, including
Kangaroo Apple, for contraception and gum tree sap for
antiseptic. Interesting.

My Russian gran was a firm believer in all sorts of herbal
remedies. To this day mum believes that gran saved mum's
hair from falling out during the war with her special
concoctions that she used to rub into mum's head.
Today, mum may have lost her memory - but she's got the most
magnificent head of hair that everyone admires.

Dearest Foxy,

Lowitja was a good friend of my wife's, and we still sometimes meet and hug each other in the same supermarket. She lives just up the road.

She is probably aware that her father placed her and her brother and sisters at the Oodnadatta Police Station, since there was a severe drought in the early thirties and he could no longer work in the region: he was going to go to Queensland to look for work, but to return as soon as he could. We know now that he couldn't, or at least didn't. Of course, we know what came after 1934; he didn't know at the time.

I understand that it would be painful for many people to go through their files. Of course. But they may come to understand better the whys and wherefores of how and why they were put into care. Of course, somebody could say that much of the material in their file has been fabtricated, doctored, faked. But then, what else do they have as evidence ? Frankly, I don't believe that much gets faked, it really is too hard to keep up a lie.

When I was typing up the nine thousand letters of the Protector, I used to constantly ask myself if this one or that one was genuine. And of course, it was, I'm sure: faking a letter leaves one open to all sorts of unexpected double-checking, which would quickly expose any fraud. Then I asked myself, what if someone thought that I had fiddled with a letter, or faked what it said ? What would be the point, I thought, I'd be bound to be found out, simply by someone checking the original letter in the Archives. Busted ! Anyway, I'm too lazy to try anything as stupid as that.

So anybody taken into care would have a file. It would be unlikely that there would be any faked data, letters, reports, etc., in their file. I look forward to somebody somewhere taking their case to court. Good luck to them.

Love,

Joe

Dear Joe,

Actually Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue tells a different version
of events to yours. She was born in 1932 in a remote
Aboriginal Community. She never knew her white father
and at the age of two she was taken away from her mother
who she did not see for 33 years.

Dr Lowitja O'Donogue proudly calls herself a member of the
Stolen Generation and is a great activist for her people.
Her biography is one of those revealing in depth accounts
that provides us with an invaluable archival record and a
unique perspective on the roads we, as a nation have
travelled.

Just letting you know that I am now leaving this discussion
and I shall not be responding to any further posts.

Dear Loudmouth,

Your hairy arse not withstanding if there was a letter from a Mr Arthur T Hungerford, Depot Superintendent at Jigalong addressed to Neville, dated 11th October 1931, which happened to read as follows;

'The half-caste girls Molly and Daisy have returned to the Jigalong area after their most wondrous walk home. I am afraid you will never get them now. By this time they will be somewhere back in their own country out in the desert – nobody knows where. I do not think you will ever keep them in a settlement unless you lock them up all the time. And I guess it is better for them to live in the bush rather than behind a locked door.'

Do you think you might then be inclined to drop the term myth?

Dearest Foxy,

Lowitja's father's letter is in "The History of the United Aborigines Mission' booklet, by A. E. Gerard (1945), in the Appendix. It should bde in most State Libraries, it certainly is in the SA State Library.

Hi Steele,

At last ! Evidence ! Thank you ! So the girls took around seventy days to travel the 1000 miles ? If they got a ride from a camel driver, that makes sense: about 16 miles each day.

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it ? Evidence: if a story is plausible, rhere's bound to be some. Thank you again.

Cheers,

Joe