A tool for reconciliation
Mark Butler
© The Australian - Australian IT, Tuesday January 18, 2000,
p7. Reproduced by permission.
Despite the best boorish efforts of the federal Government to derail
it, the march towards reconciliation between those who were here
before the European invasion continues, driven not by politicians
but by ordinary people and artists.
Politicians just can't help themselves, so it's as well
to keep them out of the picture. If enough people want reconciliation,
it will come.
It will come through an acceptance on the part of non-indigenous
Australians that indigenous culture is worthy of respect, and an
understanding that indigenous peoples' religious practices and beliefs
are no less sincere than our own.
It will also come through the recognition that all those who are
born and live on this continent are in some way shaped by the landscape
around them.
Lore of the Land aims to nudge the process along. It is a collaboration
between indigenous and non-indigenous artists, writers, story-tellers,
musicians, filmmakers and computer professionals from Victoria,
and it "invites all Australians to explore, understand and
reflect on their own relationship with and love of the land",
using every cutting-edge piece of digital technology it can cram
onto one disc.
It's not aimed at the general marketplace and it's certainly not
entertainment, even though it contains some haunting songs (by Archie
Roach, among others) and features the work of musicians such as
Shane Howard and Neil Murray, and it's not a straightforward, searchable
reference.
The lack of any visible marketing hook is a plus, for it reinforces
the authenticity of the impulse behind the disc, and will probably
make it attractive to schools looking for a way to broach the topic
that will engage children's interest.
Although the approach favours reconciliation, the techniques are
exploratory, not prescriptive, and at each stage you are encouraged
to make up your own mind.
Lore of the Land is not propaganda, but a heartfelt and quite moving
contribution to an important and scandalously unresolved national
issue.
The companion Web site encourages users to communicate with each
other about their own experiences and feelings about the land.
A very simple but visually rich interface offers five area for
exploration: Experiences, Indigenous Culture, Land Issues, Understanding
and Discovery.
To encourage self-reflection on your journey, there is an option
to set up a personalised, password-protected journal into which
you place notes, texts or graphics for further contemplation.
Questions crop up throughout your journey that encourage you to
search your attitudes and beliefs - not to doubt them, but to examine
them and think about them.
Perhaps the most interesting element of the Lore of the Land is
the way it includes the migrant experience in the quest for reconciliation.
This is expressed in an essay by author Arnold Zable, who describes
Australia's unique mix of people as "a grand symphony with
many melodies".
Zable also makes a suggestion worthy of further exploration: "Perhaps
we need a special day, each year, to reflect upon the perilous journeys
of our immigrant forebears who sought to build new lives in a new
world, while recognising our indigenous people, who have nurtured
our natural abundance for so long."
Yet these words demonstrate the difficulty reconciliation faces.
"Our indigenous people"? Aren't we all Australians? Isn't
that the point?
A less troublesome message is articulated eloquently by Banjo Clarke,
uncle of Archie Roach and a Gunditjmara man (from the Portland region
in Victoria), who we meet in the Indigenous Culture section. He
says: "Where you're born is very sacred. That's your spiritual
home till the day you die."
Without that relationship, he explains, "you've got nothing
to cling to ... I still go to the cemetery and talk to the old people
... I believe in the spirit world they will hear me. That's the
way we think. We still belong to spiritual things. Without that,
you're lost people."
It's a pleasure to see this sophisticated technology devoted to
such a cause.
markb@g140.aone.net.au
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