It was with some apprehension in mid 2022 that I commenced a journey of learning by joining the Book Club. Not being a reader or evaluator of books, initially I felt this new journey may be an adventure into the unknown for me. I was encouraged to start, having others to walk with and knowing that I was not alone.
The group’s reviews started with the book ‘Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe and a review of a number of responses from the wider community over several months. I found the information collated and presented by Bruce Pascoe very informative on a number of the achievements of the First Peoples, debunking much of my understanding I had ‘learnt’, or been told.
This was a very gentle start for me. Our reviews have since included books, movies, podcasts, TV series, and poetry. Truth telling became a growing fact of each of these resources.
I have found that my way of listening, seeing, and thinking has conditional blinkers and filters, limiting my ability to understand the wider more complex First Peoples knowledge, their ways of life, culture and thinking, their ideas and their history.
In the latter part of 2022 we agreed to look at First People’s poetry. With thousands of poems to consider, we were encouraged to choose a poem that provided a deeper meaning for discussion. The poem I chose was ‘Mookari’ by Dan Davis, a Barada Man (Central Queensland). ‘Mookari’ is this mob’s word for storm. A simple but complex multi dimensional poem.
While listening to this poem, it surprisingly activated several senses by having the oral expression by Dan with the background sounds of the storm and reading the words at the same time. The anticipation of the storm, the feeling of the coming change, the distant approaching sound, the smell of the rain, watching the first lightning flash, dangerous but beautiful. To me, the First Peoples’ knowledge, through their story telling, was experienced at a different level.
I trained as a Civil Engineer, am a keen storm chaser and an interest to learn more about the impact of Climate Change, so this poem resonated strongly with me as it is written with both Rhyme and Reason, the knowledge and experience of up to 60,000 years. In that time the First Peoples were there when the last ice age finished and the sea levels rose and the Australian environment transitioned so dramatically.
Since the start of colonisation, I find that as ‘Second Peoples’ continue to fail to understand the simple and complex truths in this poem. The consequences of this ignorance being experienced regularly.
My understanding and appreciation of Australia’s First Peoples, and our later discussions of the Middle East conflict, have experienced profound change, a change that is continuous. I have begun to appreciate how much I do not understand.
I have been stunned how familiar issues sadly come to the surface in the two key areas of the Book Club discussions: for example, ‘Terra nullius’ and ‘Settler colonialism’. Another key and common issue I realise is that how the information that forms our understanding of history and current affairs has been, and continues to be, manipulated and filtered so that ‘truth’ is considerably distorted.
My journey has included many experiences, at times with some unsettling challenges. Through sharing of ideas and fellowship, the group has enabled the journey to continue. Through discussion, I have found the impact of each resource has increased my understanding and appreciation of these challenging issues.
I have had many different feelings including sadness for the stories and situations reviewed, and feelings of frustration in the limited ability as an individual to be able to change or influence better outcomes.
By sharing these feelings at many group meetings, I again realise I am not alone. Collectively, the idea of hope for positive change is becoming a possibility. In one of the books we read, the author suggested that ‘change’ may not be a dramatic change but might be to achieve a bend in the direction towards a more just outcome. To me these words reflect that there is hope.
For me, our time in the Book Club has continued to be a very meaningful, shared experience with these difficult issues that our community is faced with. I feel that I have increased my awareness and understanding of the issues that the Book Club has reviewed and gained a more objective view of the information that we are exposed to by the media.
~ John H
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