myrainasia

Gotta stop trying for alliterative titles; not coming up with anything all that catchy. Plus, trying to decide whether I should title my last blog from here- Adios from Australia versus aloha, au revoir, arrivederci or auf wiedersehen. I also thought about “So long from Sydney.” (When you travel on your own you can sometimes spend too much time with your own thoughts.)

Sydney is gorgeous! I only got here yesterday but I did spend last evening walking around the city center thinking this is a place I could live. I even walked across the Anzac bridge and for those who don’t know me well, walking across bridges is another one of those things I don’t do.

But I promised to say a bit more about Alice Springs, Cairns and Club Med Lindeman Island so now I must backtrack.

Alice Springs is a sort of bustling town in the absolute middle of nowhere. The heat was intense but there was no humidity so it was quite bearable. I did a whole lot more sweating when I got to Cairns where the temp was probably about 10 degrees less but the air was so humid you could not step outside without being immediately covered in sweat.

I did a lot of walking around Alice- an enterprise not commonly seen in Alice I suspect, since I did not bump into a single other soul on the street when I walked from my hotel, slightly to the south of the center, to the Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, sort of to the northwest of the CBD (central business district). Kind of cracks me up that I couldn’t keep up with any of the hikes on my adventure tour, but I seem to be the only person I’ve met here who considers walking, not as a sporting activity, but as a method of getting from Point A to Point B.

Arrived at the Cultural Precinct around noon on February 12. Near the entrance there was a TV set up with some chairs and food in front. There was a video playing. I did not really pay attention to this at first, but then learned that they were broadcasting the tape of the Sorry speech that had been given by PM Rudd a few hours earlier. For those of my multitude of readers who do not really follow Australian politics, this was a formal governmental apology to the Aborigines (or indigenous Australians- I haven’t yet figured out which is the PC preference) for the “stolen generations”. More explanation just in case it is needed (if you saw Rabbit Proof Fence it is probably not needed). From around the 1920s (I hope I was paying attention) until the 1970s thousands of Aboriginal children were essentially kidnapped from Aboriginal communities by Australian authorities and placed with “white” or “western” if you prefer, people (families and/or institutions as I understand it) as a way of saving them or, at the very least, improving their lot. At best, this was done with good intentions; at worst, this devastated families and destroyed lives and communities.

I sat and listened to the entire video (and ate some of the food offerings since the restaurant at the museum was closed and I was hungry!) and felt amazed that I was in Australia for this speech, not to mention in Alice Springs, a city in the outback with a very large Aboriginal population and a multitude of centers devoted to Aboriginal culture, art, media, health, politics…. I assumed that there would be some sort of celebration, or at least a celebratory atmosphere, in town. There was none that I could detect. I have subsequently discussed this speech with a lot of Australians, liberals and conservatives both (and I use those terms in the American sense, not in the Australian sense which is a bit different since in AU, the Liberals are the conservatives and Labor is the liberals) and there are a lot of mixed feelings. Still, glad I was in AU at this time.

Other than that, walked through a dozen Aboriginal Art galleries and can honestly say that the “dreaming” pictures blow me away. (More explanation/edification- “dreamings” is the word used by non-aboriginals to describe what non-Aboriginals would call Aboriginal myth dealing with creation, among other things; I read that the Aboriginals consider this their actual history and do not approve of the word dreamings.) Paintings of dreamings generally tell a story, are usually pointillistic (lots of dots) and often include traditional symbols- you might see a kangaroo or simply a symbol that resembles a kangaroo footprint which is meant to indicate a kangaroo. And most of the ones I saw were really beautiful. Also saw zillions of painted didgeridoos and boomerangs. All of this for the benefit of the tourists. I tried to keep my purchases confined to the indigenously-owned shops.

I just reread what I have typed above and decided that it is probably too educational (read “boring”) and not very funny, but I am leaving it as is and signing off now. I will be back before I fly out on March 1 (February 29 to most of you looking at this) and will try to get back to amusing in order to keep you all reading and those comments (NONE!) coming.

Tags: 1, Aborigines, Alice Springs, Australia

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.