This week I am going to start with a brief diversion into my own life.
So … over the last couple of years I have been meeting up with my old uni mates to go see plays at the Melbourne Theatre Company. About 8 times a year we go into the city and see plays that explore the big things like feelings and power and thoughts - fabulous things (mostly)! I have been in awe of the sets and stories - the package - that is presented each time. Some people are so clever!
And this last Friday I was meant to see the “The Black Woman of Gippsland” by Andrea James, which I am sure in no coincidence, is now running through National Reconciliation Week. Unfortunately for me I came down with dreadful sciatica, and so whilst I was crying at home and pumping my body full of a cocktail of prescribed steroids, opioids and anti-inflammatories (hooray they worked and by Sunday I was once again able to stand up and walk) my husband, brother-in-law (with my ticket in hand) and mates got the chance to see this play … which they loved. It explores a colonial-era myth about a white woman supposedly shipwrecked in Gippsland and taken in by the Gunaikurnai people. Here is a review.
And this builds on another play I saw and loved last year (it was also on earlier this year, a repeat because it was so popular), "37" by Nathan Maynard which tells the story of a down-on-their-luck country football team whose prospects are boosted by the arrival of two Indigenous players and explores themes of racism, identity, and community within the context of Australian Rules football, drawing inspiration from the experiences of Indigenous players like Adam Goodes. Here is link to a review in The Guardian.
Every time I see things like this they make me stop and think, and reconsider my perspective and my understanding of things, and the complexity … and they really make me acknowledge how much I just don’t know.
Reconciliation is all of our business (as Clare pointed out to me a couple of weeks ago when we were working in the garden on a Friday and she was reminding me to write something in the newsletter for this week). And so this week (such a bummer that I missed the play) I am committing to learning something else new, and maybe you’d like to too. You could maybe read a book or watch a TV show, or go to the play (there’s still tickets available for the MTC show on until 31 May) or listen to a podcast or two …
If you are interested in our local history (like me) you might like to find out more about what happened here in Victoria - I am always blown away by the story of Coranderrk Station/Mission up near Healesville. And just how few of Melbourne’s Aboriginal community survived the colonisation of Victoria to end up there. And how successful it was. And why it was eventually shut down. To find out via TV you can watch series 1, episode 3 of First Australians (SBS) here. Or if you are into podcasts you might like to listen to this one from 2008 from Radio National, Last Refuge: Remembering Coranderrk Aboriginal Station (that’s what I am going to do).
Or of course you can ‘do your own research’ … and if this is your cup of tea maybe start by checking out deadlystory.com website here - an amazing resource with so many links to so many things. Worth a deep dive! Check out the history of Fitzroy and then the link to a walking tour app you can download, for example.
Anyway, good luck! … and back to normal programming …
This week at ACC we have all the usual things … and nothing out of the ordinary.
We (as always) look forward to seeing you!
Cheers Leanne
