A town like Bourke.

I could not help but feel sadness as I read through an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today: Crying out for a new beginning.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/crying-out-for-a-new-beginning-20130201-2dq00.html

For a few years in the 90s I worked for the NSW state government and part of my patch was working in the Bourke area. I must admit that on my first trip out there I arrived with some trepidation. I had heard the stories of a dysfunctional town, high crime rates and zealous police.

What I found however was not quite what I was expecting. Yes I saw the poverty of some of the local indigenous people. I heard the stories from both sides of rough justice meted out by some of the local police. What I also found was a town that felt like an island oasis, a town made up of proud individuals who deep down loved this place black and white, this island in the middle of the bush. I also found a town not only overwhelmingly rich in aboriginal history but a place that is so burnt into the Australian psyche that much of Australia’s grounding and sense of mateship was born here. Names like Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson and Breaker Morant helped put Bourke on the map and build an image of outback Australia, hell they even have a festival celebrating it.

What I also found was sadness a sadness in the people and a sadness in the local indigenous people. As I got to know some of them over time I began to get a sense of the people and how much they loved this place. I found many good people who just wanted a fair go from a town that was almost responsible for creating the concept. What I also felt was a people who had been so neglected by their own leaders that they had nowhere to turn. Feeling no part of the white man‘s world the one place you would think they could find refuge was among their own but it could not be found. 

I still remember my first tour around the town with a local council representative driving past houses that were no more than shacks. I remember we turned down what my tour guide referred to as Crystal St, not that there is a Crystal street in Bourke that I know of, that was the name he gave it due to the amount of broken glass built up over the years that covered the road reflecting the sun’s rays in the late afternoon. In my naivety I asked what was being done to help not realising that I was looking at the help around me in the broken buildings they called homes. As I read this story today I found it hard to comprehend that nothing could have changed since then.

It has been some years now since an apology was made to indigenous Australians of the stolen generation on our behalf. An apology that was given to help heal the wounds of the past caused by the government of the day when they forcibly removed children from parents, an action considered necessary for the protection of some Aboriginal Australians yet it caused so much pain and suffering for so many.
So how has the apology helped the people of Bourke? Has it made the issues that face local aboriginal Australians any better? Has it really allowed people to move on? As I read though the story I could not help but think that there was something missing for these people, something more that was needed before they are able to move forward.

If the apology was considered necessary from our government for past deeds committed against aboriginal people I can’t help but feel that what is missing is an apology from their own Aboriginal leaders for the systematic abuse by previous indigenous organisations, individuals and leadership? Abuse that was going on as Kevin Rudd spoke the very words of apology and as suggested in this article still obvious in Bourke today. It is well documented and acknowledged that governments have got it wrong and carry much responsibility with numerous inquires pointing out the failures. But what of the failures of aboriginal leadership and organisations that have let their own people down?

There are many examples that have come to light over the years of federal and state funds squandered on projects that brought little or no benefit to people that were in need by their very own people . There are countless examples of some Aboriginal leadership who were abusing the very communities they served, and there are examples of leadership who not only knew of financial abuse, neglect even sexual exploitation including assaults on women and paedophilia but did nothing and I am not suggesting that has taken place in Bourke I have no evidence of that. But who from current Aboriginal leadership will stand up and apologise for past neglect and abuse of their own people? If it was necessary for our government to take responsibility for the misguided deeds of the past should it not be necessary for Aboriginal leadership to take responsibility for their own misdeeds?

Sorrow and forgiveness from within a family can be a powerful thing. Following a dispute with a loved one the admission of wrong and a full and unconditional apology can bring profound healing to that family, was that not the intended result of an official apology by the federal government to assist in that process? An expression of sorrow can invoke a strong and binding family relationship that allows that family to heal, forgive and move forward. Surely it is this very healing and forgiveness that is needed now in Bourke. The healing process may have begun with Kevin Rudd. We as a nation can now look back and admit that things should have been done differently. Healing for indigenous Australia also needs to come from within as an expression of sorrow giving people the opportunity to move forward. Until that time I cannot see how Bourke can move forward as my impression is that they feel they can’t trust anyone not even their own leadership. Where are they going to turn and how do they move forward?