Title: Raft
Author: Howard Goldenberg
Publisher: Hybrid Publishers
Published: 2009
RRP: $29.99 AUD
Presentation: Paperback
Front cover: ‘Raft’ painted by Rod Moss 1990
Also by Howard Goldenberg: My Father’s Compass: A memoir
Howard Goldenberg is a Melbourne-based General Practitioner who for over ten years went into remote Aboriginal communities, up to a month at a time, as a locum for clinic doctors. Howard belongs to the Jewish faith and he makes a number of references to Judaism in his stories.
Story 8. The Valley of the Prophets is set in the Catholic Mission of Balgo (population 200) in the eastern Kimberley. He describes the community as ‘an ancient people living in a wilderness of blasting heat and red rock’. In the first few days, he meets Noah, Micah, Isaiah, Moses, Hezekiah and Elijah.
A sign at the entrance to Balgo says it is a dry community. The locals make the rules here and no one can enter without a permit. Yet, Howard wonders, why are so many of his patients damaged by alcohol? The local policeman tells him that grog and drug runners easily breach security. Balgo is known widely for its cooperative painters’ enterprise, Waylayiri Arts.
At Halls Creek (population 1800), Howard says his patients fall into two categories, “Those who are wrecked but salvageable and those who are wrecked, whom I cannot redeem”. He refers to the sense of “apathy and acceptance” that pervades the town.
In 13, Next door to paradise, Howard tells of his 16 day sojourn at Elcho Island. The island is the largest of the Elcho Island Group and Galiwin’ku (population 1600) is its largest community. The island lies off north-east Arnhem Land, 550 km from Darwin. The locals refer to themselves as Yolngu; Europeans are Balanda.
Howard muses on the difficulty of comprehending a culture, so different to his own. He feels he has stepped out of his world into another, where he is alien.
At Galiwin’ku, Kelly is the Women’s Health nurse. The clinic here has a reputation for excellence across Australia. Howard says Kelly is accompanied by a group of Strong Women Elders. These women have a quiet dignity and pride.
Their presence gives the women of their community the confidence to come and see the Balanda nurse. They interpret more than words—they explain a clinical culture that includes ultrasound. Under the influence of the Strong Women, Elcho women receive effective, timely and confidential treatment.
Howard broaches the subject of sexual abuse of children, not just in Aboriginal communities but also in his own. He says a survey of patients in his Melbourne practice that he had referred for psychological counselling found that half had a buried past of sexual abuse as a child. He says over years of treating these patents, he had no idea of their history.
He says in his forty-odd locum terms he had not come across a single case. One might think this is due to his transient status, yet the permanent medical officers have come across only a few cases. It is only in certain instances that families will come forward and lay charges, otherwise the abuse remains hidden.
In the communities, female nurses collect data that shows a high incidence of sexually transmitted disease in children. So they know that sexual abuse of children is occurring.
Howard believes that government intervention into Aboriginal communities to address sexual abuse will not work, though one wonders whether the Strong Women concept might be appropriate here. It would mean empowering local elders to take on the task of addressing sexual abuse in their communities.
There is so much about Aboriginal communities that we don’t know and about which we are inclined to make generalised judgements. For instance, the community of Bidyadanga (population 900) in WA has a new swimming pool, funded by government. One might wonder whether this is extravagant for a remote Aboriginal community.
Not so, Howard says—research shows that in a town with a pool, ear infections are halved—better hearing leads to better learning. In Bidyadanga there is a rule that school-children may only swim if they have been to school that day.
This is a thought-provoking book. Howard Goldenberg’s writing reveals his immense respect for the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia. He believes that this arises from the similarities between Aboriginal and Jewish culture and history. This includes a spiritual relationship with ancestral land, a similar experience of dispossession and a likeness to the Hebrew experience of Diaspora.
Reviewed by Paul W Newbury
This entry was posted by pnewbury on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Book Reviews.
You can be notified of any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a comment in the box at the bottom of the post.
Print This Post
After you click the print button, a new page will appear.
Click the link at the bottom right of the page to print it.