by Paul W Newbury
Bidyadanga (population 900) lies on the coast of Western Australia (WA) 200 km below Broome. This is the traditional country of the Karajarri People who had their native title acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia in 2003.Bidyadanga (population 900) lies on the coast of Western Australia (WA) 200 km below Broome. This is the traditional country of the Karajarri People who had their native title acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia in 2003.
This story has its genesis in the book Raft by Howard Goldenberg that I have reviewed in this issue of Bonzer. There are four tribal groups in this story but only the Karajarri are traditional owners here. The tribes from the desert are the Yulparija, Walmajarri and Mardu.
In the years 1958-68 these nomads of the desert experienced the worst drought in recorded history that resulted in their waterholes drying up. After an historic meeting near the Canning Stock Route in 1968, the Yulparija people decided that to survive meant they had to flee the desert.
Other tribes also fled the drought and famine—clan by clan. The fugitives were taken in by the Karajarri People at Bidyadanga and they settled into life on the mission. The people inter-married and their children grew up learning the saltwater ways of the Karajarri.
In 1999, Daniel Walbidi a 16 year old Yulparija man declared his intention to become an artist. He spoke about wanting to learn more about his desert heritage. None of the old people painted, so he began to pester them for stories and drawing on their recollections he began to paint his country.
Daniel’s enterprise transformed Yulparija history. Around that time, art people from Broome began a series of art workshops with the elders and they began to paint traditional desert iconography—a country that lived only in the mind was brought to vibrant life on canvas.
The old people now in their 70s and 80s, began to realise that they would never see their country again. Their dilemma was that while they lived comfortably in saltwater country, their spirit belonged to the desert.
In 2003, twenty people, young and old, including Daniel made the journey back to their desert country armed with acrylics and canvas. For most, the land was full of memories; a store-house of 20,000 years of culture.
Since that time, the people have worked tirelessly to record their history and culture, in particular their stories that span thousands of years. Their paintings show the desert is full of colour and tonal variation. They began to exhibit their paintings and their first exhibition as well as everyone since has sold out on opening.
One of the leading artists is Weaver Jack who was born at a waterhole in the Great Sandy Desert in 1928. When she was young Weaver married her promised husband and she had children in that relationship.
When mining started in the Pilbara, much of the underground creek system was disturbed causing a devastating drought in Yulparija country. Many people died and others moved away. Weaver came to Bidyadanga in the 1960s. She is considered the senior law woman of the Yulparija People.
Weaver Jack entered a self-portrait in the Archibald Prize. She presented an expanse of abstract desert landscape as her self. This is a profound sense of identity—”never mind this is desert, this is who I am”.
Identity is fundamental to native title cases and claimants must show they have observed their traditional customs substantially unchanged since 1788. In this process, change is equated with a loss of culture, despite the fact that many Aboriginal people were interned on missions where their language and culture were actively suppressed.
The outcome of native title claims has a major impact on Indigenous communities. Having one’s native title rights acknowledged results in enhancement of identity and pride. In turn, failure leads to bitterness about the lack of recognition of the claimants’ relationship with their land.
Across Australia, there is a revitalisation of traditional culture going on and Indigenous people are progressively returning to the old ways after centuries of denigration from some in the dominant society.
The native title process operates in litigated cases on the assumption that the traditions that sustain native title must be frozen in time in order to fit a permissible notion of what is traditional. The Act is in need of review to include a definition of tradition that recognises the dynamic nature of culture that shifts over time to modify those aspects not in keeping with changes in circumstance.
An assumption of continuity of tradition and recognition of cultural revival would go a long way in lifting the onerous burden of proof in native title cases.
© Paul W Newbury 2010
This entry was posted by Paul Newbury on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Australian Studies.
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