babana aboriginal men's group newsletter - may issue
DESCRIPTION
Babana Aboriginal Men's Group is a not-for-profit group running in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, NSW, Australia.Five years ago Aboriginal men and their non-Aboriginal friends came together and formed Babana. Their purpose was to assist, support and mentor Aboriginal men to take control over their lives and work together to gain more positive outcomes for themselves, their families and the community as a whole.It has been very successful in turning around the lives of many men by providing assistance, comradeship, mentoring and just plain men-speak help each to each other.Redfern community, once considered to be almost a no-go area for mainstream Australians to visit, has become a vibrant, exciting community due to the changes that Babana has brought about, along with other community organisations, the police and the public at large.TRANSCRIPT
Babana News
Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc.
Volume 4 Issue 3
April 2012
Babana News is the official Newsletter of the Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc., and is produced in the main as an e-letter. A copy will also be produced in the Babana Myspace site and a limited number will be available at our General Meetings. Opinions and conclusions contained in the ‘Your Word’ section are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies, aims or objectives of Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group.
Inside this issue:
after-march events.
No access to veterans'
benefits for a variety of
reasons.
Unmarked graves:
When Aboriginal Diggers
died the Department of
Veterans Affairs often
failed to provide plaques
for their graves as it were
supposed to do for all
veterans who died of war-
associated causes.
War traumata
continued to affect all
Diggers. As a
consequence Aboriginal
Diggers were unable to
forge lasting relationships
and turned to drinking
alcohol.
‘Uncle Jimmy was the
only one of the four
brothers who got any
counselling and was the
only one who would even
mention the war.’
—Susie Russell, sister of
the brothers
When you're serving,
things are pretty equal.
You do your job well, your
mates respect you and
you get promoted. It's
when you get back that it
gets hard on the black
Digger.
—David Williams,
president NSW Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
Veterans Association
When Aboriginal people
returned from war they
faced many challenges,
some even many years
after they had returned:
No recognition for what
they had achieved. White
Diggers were heroes,
Aboriginal Diggers
forgotten and their names
omitted from war
memorials across
Australia.
Excluded from RSLs.
Returned Services
Leagues offered a forum
to returned Diggers to
enjoy comradeship and
share memories. For a
long time Aboriginal
Diggers were not allowed
entry.
Back to the mission. For
many Aboriginal Diggers
who returned from WWI
and WWII it meant that
they had to go back to the
missions they had lived
on, back to the physical
and psychological abuse
they suffered there.
The children were taken
away. To the horror of
what they had
experienced at war came
the loss of their children
which were taken away
whilst the Aboriginal
Diggers fought for their
country.
Their pay was withheld
from their families,
another aspect of the
stolen wages affair in
Australia.
Unable to march with
their comrades on Anzac
Day or join with them in
From the Chair 2
Aboriginal community
benefits from Cuban literacy
program
3
Donation to Barmbli Room
at Prince of Wales Hospital
4
Almost 70 years later, Digger
gets his burial
7
'The Best We Forgot' -
Aboriginal war involvement
8
An Anzac aftermath
May. It’s been strange weather.
But we all know the cold of winter is
coming.
It’s time for keeping inside and
keeping warm. But not for us. There
are still many things for Babana to do
in May.
There were many things to do in
April too.
We once again travelled to the
Prince of Wales hospital where we,
on behalf of the men of Babana,
presented the Barmbli Aboriginal
Room with a brand new television
set. Just another small part of our
involvement in the community.
Our brothers and sisters who have
family and loved ones staying in the
hospital will now have an even more
comfortable place where they can
stay. Particularly those who come
from the country areas of this state.
It is so difficult for many people to
feel at ease waiting while an
operation or a check-up is being
performed. A television in the
Barmbli Room will provide a small
way to keep the worry at bay.
And April was the Coloured Digger
March. An event that has in just a
few years become an integral part of
the fabric of the Aboriginal
communities of Sydney.
The march was hard work for the
organising committee who have given
their valuable time to ensure that the
whole day went off without a hitch. It
is up to their hard work and giving of
their time that the Coloured Digger
has become such an important part
of the calendar of Aboriginal Sydney.
From the Chair
Page 2 Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
Mark Spinks Chair of Babana
The bus was a
gift from a
generous
anonymous donor.
He does not want
to be named—and
we will not. But
his generosity is
appreciated so
much.
And the volunteers who helped on
the day; once again giving of their
time and energy to ensure that
everything went well on the day. A
special mention must be made of a
small group of university students
who came along to give a hand on
the day. They were made up of both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
students and their assistance was so
much appreciated on the day. We
never have enough volunteers really
and their giving of their time from
their studies was an indication of how
things are changing in the City of
Sydney and especially Redfern and
Waterloo.
And good news!!. By the time you
read this Babana will be in
possession of a new bus—our own
bus—which will be used to ferry our
members and friends to events and
gatherings.
The bus was a gift from a generous
anonymous donor. He does not want
to be named—and we will not. But his
generosity is appreciated so much.
A bus is something we needed so
much. For the work we do but also to
transport members when we go to
other areas and communities. It will
be well used, but carefully used. It is
a gift that will be used respectfully
and with gratitude to our donor.
So May is here. And there are still
so many things to do. We are
growing and our resources are
growing. Our ability to be even more
effective in our community ensures
that all—our members, our families,
our friends and all grow with us.
Page 3
here and to have this experience in
Australia.
The name is enough to what is the
meaning, and we've started to practise it
in many countries. In Latin America, in
the Caribbean, in Africa and also in Asia.
NATALIE WHITING: Wilcannia has just
400 residents and 60 turned out to the
graduation dinner.
Glenys Marie Dutton was one of 10
graduates who spent 13 weeks
completing the course. She says she'd
like to see more Aboriginal people given
the opportunity to complete the program.
GLENYS MARIE DUTTON: It's a good
program - learning to read and write, and
whatever, you know. Because a lot of
people they don't know how to do that,
reading writing thing, and they can learn
a lot from it.
NATALIE WHITING: Jack Beetson has
been running the program and says the
success comes from having locals teach
it.
JACK BEETSON: Not just locals learning
from locals, but family learning from
family. So they understood each other,
they had an empathy or each other; they
had a familiarity that you just don't get
otherwise. If you bring teachers in
they don't belong in the community,
they're not from the community.
NATALIE WHITING: He says following
the success in Wilcannia, he'd like to
see it introduced across Australia.
JACK BEETSON: Something like 50
to 60 per cent of Aboriginal people
are functionally illiterate, especially in
some of the more remote areas of
Australia and I would like to see
it go on into other communities.
Other communities have
already asked, just by hearing
about it - can they try it?
NATALIE WHITING: Pedro
Monzon backs the idea.
PEDRO MONZON: To go on
helping to spread the program
in the whole Australia.
NATALIE WHITING: A second
session of the 'Yes, I Can'
program will begin next week in
Wilcannia, and already 20 people
have signed up.
Jack Beetson says it's good news for
the whole community.
JACK BEETSON: Literacy is not just
about learning to read and write, it's
about learning to speak up for
yourself. It's about learning how to go
and possibly defend yourself in court -
speak up in court, for yourself.
And if you look at the data, the
science around literate communities,
truancy decreases almost to nothing,
crime rates drop, health rates
improve. So it's not just about learning
to read and write.
Aboriginal community benefits from Cuban literacy program
ABC Radio Australia
11 May 2012
Cuba and Australia are
hemispheres apart,
geographically and politically.
But a Cuban adult literacy
program called "Yes, I Can" is a
remarkable success in outback
New South Wales.
The small Aboriginal community
of Wilcannia is trying it out with
help from the Federal
Government, the
University of New
England and the National
Aboriginal Adult Literacy
Commission.
Correspondent: Natalie
Whiting
Speakers: Pedro
Monzon, Cuban
ambassador to Australia;
Glenys Marie Dutton,
"Yes, I Can" graduate,
Jack Beetson, "Yes, I can"
coordinator
NATALIE WHITING: It's a long
way from Canberra to Wilcannia,
but the Cuban ambassador
looked right at home as he joined
in traditional Aboriginal dancing.
The ambassador visited the
remote New South Wales town to
see locals graduate from the 'Yes,
I Can' adult literacy program.
The program began in Cuba in
2000, and now runs in more than
15 countries.
Pedro Monzon is the Cuban
ambassador to Australia.
PEDRO MONZON: I feel really
good. I really feel very good to be
Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
Page 4
Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group has
worked with the local communities to
raise money for the purchase of items
for the Barmbli Room. This allows for
opportunity of patients and their
families to have a place available for
respite.
In an effort to improve the surrounds
of the Barmbli Room at Prince of Wales
Hospital (POWH), Babana Aboriginal
Men's Group Inc raised funds with a
BBQ at last years National Aboriginal
and Islander Day Observance
Committee (NAIDOC) Week
celebrations for the purchase of a
television for the Barmbli Room.
At a morning tea held on Thursday,
19 April at POWH the donation of
Television by the Babana Aboriginal
Men's Group to the Barmbli Room was
presented by representatives led by
Chairman Mark Spinks
Mark said that he was very proud to
be contributing an item which will be
enjoyed by Aboriginal patients, staff
and visitors to POWH.
POWH’s Barmbli Room is an
Aboriginal Respite Room and actually
translates to ‘a place of rest’ in the
local Aboriginal language.
The Barmbli Room is used by
Aboriginal families who have family or
friends at POWH. They can take time
out to rest or to speak with Linda
Bonney, POWH’s Aboriginal Liaison
Officer.
Donation to Barmbli Room at Prince of
Wales Hospital comes full circle
Prince of Wales Social Work team with Babana’s Vic Simms and Chairman Mark Spinks
Linda Boney, Lara Boss and members of Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc.
Linda Boney, Mark Spinks and Lara Boss
Page 5
Mark Spinks with community members
Barmbli Room with guests
Lara Boss, Linda Boney and Mark Spinks
Babana member, Vic Simms
Barmbli Room with guests and Babana members
Page 6 Volume 4 Issue 3
Babana News
Salute the coloured digger
There was another soldier, just as brave and strong. God Save the Queen the
other soldiers sang as they marched along. But not the coloured digger he
marched to a different song.
He fought his best for country he fought for sacred land. The coloured digger
fought for way more than the white fellas could ever understand.
The barking of machine guns and the bloody site of war, hurt the coloured dig-
ger as he lived a different lore.
Against the coloured diggers nature to kill for reasons none to him. It left the
coloured digger broken as it destroyed the spirit within.
The very flag the coloured digger fought under felt nothing for his pain, as allot
of the men that ruled under it left his people feeling the shame.
But this coloured digger holds no grudges towards his comrades that fight by
his side. He made bruthas for life with many and he mourned the ones that
died.
So tilt your slouch hat upwards coloured digger we honour your service to
country and kin. We salute you as a soldier and we share the fight within.
By Ray Eather
Dedicated to the forgotten coloured digger.
(Aboriginal art is free common)
Page 7
Almost 70 years later, Digger gets his burial
The Canberra Times
20 April 2012
BEFORE he volunteered to fight in
the New Guinea campaign in 1942,
Private Frank Richard Archibald
needed ''dog tags'' to walk into an
Armidale shop.
They weren't soldier's tags,
although he had served in Egypt,
Tobruk, Greece and Crete, but the
label given to the Aborigines Welfare
Board certification that said he was
allowed to move freely in town.
''So this man give his life to his
country, and this country didn't
want to know this man as a
man,'' said his relative Mavis
Davis, 60. ''It treated this man
like a dog.''
Almost 70 years after the 25-
year-old soldier was killed by a
sniper's bullet on the Kokoda
Track near Sanananda, his
family and supporters go to
Papua New Guinea to honour
him and finally put his spirit to
rest.
A group of 12 - including his
only surviving sibling, Grace
Gordon, 75 - will leave Sydney
for Port Moresby this morning to
conduct a traditional Aboriginal
burial ceremony at his grave in the
Bomana War Cemetery, where the
family had decided to have him
buried when he died.
The Anzac Day event, six years in
the making, marks a new chapter in
Australia's history.
''This is the first time that it's ever
been done for the Aboriginal boys
that went overseas and fought for
Australia and up in New Guinea,''
said Ms Gordon from Armidale. ''I'm
very proud of them, and I'm very
proud now to think that this is going
to be a big thing.''
The ceremony will be conducted in
the Gumbaynggirr language from
northern NSW and use traditional
song and dance to invite Private
Archibald's spirit home. The group
will then visit the graves of five other
indigenous diggers buried in Papua
New Guinea, with instructions from
their families detailing how they
would like them honoured.
Private Archibald's cousin and only
surviving male relative, Richard
Archibald, 65, said he felt
responsible for ensuring his only
family member not buried in Australia
found a way back. A community-
based Kokoda Aboriginal
Servicemen's Campaign helped
raise funds.
"Now it is time to end the grieving
by bringing his spirit home to
Gumbaynggirr country - the
country of our people," Mr
Archibald said.
A specially commissioned
didgeridoo bearing Gumbaynggirr
totems, as well as the uniformed
images of Private Archibald and
other family members who
served, will mark the start of the
official Anzac Day service at
Bomana.
Page 8 Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
Aboriginal Diggers served in all of Australia's main wars since the two Boer Wars—1880-1881 and 1899-1902. Here is
a list of wars in which Indigenous soldiers served Australia
:International Aboriginal war involvement
Note the year when Aboriginal people were recognised as Australian citizens in relationship to the number of conflicts
they participated in before then.
Yet Indigenous Australians were the backbone of the cattle industry which helped feed soldiers in both world wars,
while Aboriginal women assisted in hospitals and factories although they were not paid equal wages.
When my uncle came back from serving in Korea he couldn't even get a beer in a pub let alone a pension, and he wasn't
permitted to become a citizen until 1968.
—John Kinsella, nephew of Australia's most famous Indigenous soldier, Captain Reg Saunders MBE.
Fact In 2008 just over 1,000 Indigenous people were in the Australian Defence Forces, representing 1.4% of all em-
ployees [17]. Indigenous people comprise about 2.3% of the total population.
Fact Len Waters was the first Aboriginal fighter pilot to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II.
But Aboriginal people were not only involved in international conflicts. The following table (next page) might put your
knowledge of Australian history to the test:
War Year Region First Boer War 1880-1881 Transvaal, South Africa
Second Boer War 1899-1902 Transvaal, South Africa
World War I 1914-1918 mainly Europe
World War II 1937-1945 Europe, SE Asia, Middle East,
Africa
Occupation of Japan 1946-1951 Japan
Korean War 1950-1953 Korea
Malayan Emergency 1950-1960 Malaya
Indonesian Confrontation 1963-1966 Indonesia, Malaysia
Vietnam War 1962-1975 Vietnam
Aboriginal people are
counted as Australians 1967
First Gulf War 1990-1991 Iraq, Kuwait
Afghanistan 2001-present Afghanistan
Second Gulf War 2003-present Iraq
Peacekeeping 1947-present worldwide
'The Best We Forgot' - Aboriginal war involvement
Page 9
National Aboriginal wars ('Frontier Wars)
Now, has Australia been 'settled' or 'invaded'?
All of the memorials that have been established generally commemorate the role of Australians in conflicts outside Australia
and there is no precedent for a civil-style conflict to be commemorated.
—Bill Crews, RSL National President
Black Anzac
They have forgotten him, need him no more
He who fought for his land in nearly every war
Tribal fights before his country was taken by Captain Cook
Then went overseas to fight at Gallipoli and Tobruk
World War One two black Anzacs were there
France, Europe's desert, New Guinea's jungles, did his share
Korea, Malaya, Vietnam again black soldier enlisted
Fight for democracy was his duty he insisted
Back home went his own way not looking for praise
Like when he was a warrior in the forgotten days
Down on the Gold Coast a monument in the Bora Ring
Recognition at last his praises they are starting to sing
This black soldier who never marches on ANZAC Day
Living in his Gunya doesn't have much to say
Thinks of his friends who fought some returned some died
If only one day they could march together side by side
His medals he keeps hidden away from prying eyes
No-one knows, no-one sees the tears in his old black eyes
He's been outcast just left by himself to die
Recognition at last black ANZAC hold your head high
Every year at Gold Coast's Yegumbah Bora Ring site
Black ANZAC in uniform and medals a magnificent sight
The rock with Aboriginal tribal totems paintings inset
The Kombumerri people's inscription of LEST WE FORGET
—Cecil Fisher, Aboriginal Australian who served in Korea.
War Year Region
Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars 1790-1816 New South Wales
Black Wars 1803-1830 Tasmania
Port Phillip District Wars 1830-1850 New South Wales
Kalkadoon Wars 1870-1890 Queensland
Western Australian Conflict 1890-1898 Western Australia
Page 10 Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
The Coloured Digger March 2012
Page 11
Page 12 Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
Page 13
Page 14 Babana News
Volume 4 Issue 3
We thank our main
sponsors for the Coloured
Digger March
• Virgin Australia
• Indigenous
Coordination Centre –
Sydney
• City of Sydney Council
We thank our volun-
teers on the day, par-
ticularly those from the
University of NSW:
Sarah Hyland, Kelvin
Brown (both Australia
School of Business
UNSW)i and Nkki Suey
(John Holland Group)
Page 15
Aboriginal activists warmly received in Anzac Day march
NZ Herald
Greg Ansley
26 April 2012
Activists urging recognition of
colonial Australia's frontier wars
and the treatment received by
Aboriginal servicemen after
their return from the two world
wars were applauded as they
marched in Canberra yesterday.
The small group of about 20,
carrying Aboriginal flags and
banners and accompanied by a
didgeridoo, joined the tail of the
national Anzac Day parade,
behind columns of veterans
that included a detachment of
New Zealanders.
Led by Michael Anderson, one
of the founders of the capital's
tent embassy, the activists were
separated from the main body
but were met with support as
they moved up Anzac Parade to
the Australian War Memorial.
Veterans' groups had earlier
attacked the march as
"inappropriate", and there had
been some concern after the
Australia Day protest, during
which Prime Minister Julia
Gillard and Opposition Leader
Tony Abbott were rushed from a
restaurant by bodyguards.
A few bystanders heckled the
marchers - one said they should
"join up or go home" - but were
outnumbered by others who
applauded along the length of
the parade.
Anderson said people had seen the
"lest we forget the frontier wars"
banners and others naming colonial
battles and massacres, and knew that
the march was not a protest.
"The public are a little more in the
know than politicians and bureaucrats,"
he said.
Anderson said indigenous groups
were asking governments to identify
and set aside sites of colonial conflicts
as memorials, but progress was slow.
Separate indigenous services were
held in Canberra and the Sydney
suburbs of Redfern and Blacktown.
Across the nation, tens of thousands
of Australians turned out for
commemorations that began with dawn
services ranging from drizzle in
Melbourne and 2C temperatures in
Canberra, to Elephant Rock on the Gold
Coast's Currumbin Beach.
The services were overlaid with the
toll of 32 dead and 220 injured in
Afghanistan, a war, which after more
than a decade, appears likely to end
ahead of time with the return of most
of Australia's 1550 troops by
December.
In Townsville, the dawn service
remembered three soldiers from the
north Queensland city who were killed
in Afghanistan in the past year. "Young
men who last year may have well stood
next to you at this gathering or played a
game of two-up with you have made
the ultimate sacrifice for our nation,"
Brigadier Shane Caughey told the
service.
At Belgium's Menin Gate, a
passageway to World War I's
western front that bears the names
of 55,000 allied soldiers lying in
unknown graves, Defence Force
Chief General David Hurley said
Australians, New Zealanders and
Belgians were again overseas at war
or on peacekeeping operations.
"As today's Anzacs rise this
morning to commemorate Anzac
Day we think of them and their
families," he said.
Speaking at the Lone Pine
cemetery, Gillard said that the
Dardanelles campaign was
Australia's first act of nationhood,
the place where "its spirit and ethos
were sealed".
She said that for the allies,
Gallipoli had been a battle for wider
strategic goals, and for the Turks, a
defence of the soil and sanctity of
home, but all who fought there
faced deaths that spared no age or
rank or display of courage.
Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc.
General Meeting
Babana invites members and interested men to
join us at our general meeting
The next general meeting of Babana Aboriginal
Men’s Group Inc. will be held on: Friday 25 May 2012 NCIE George Street Redfern
All men of good will welcome
Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc.
PO Box 3292
Redfern NSW 2016
Phone: 0402 567 473
Email: [email protected]
babana@ babana.org.au
Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group Inc.
Our web sites Http://www.babana.org.au http:www.myspace.com/babanaboriginal http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?
id=1715072238&ref=profile
Babana members, guests and friends
To support, e
nable and empower Aboriginal men and families in our community
Quotes:
Mr Huggonson said he had uncovered
the names of 428 Aboriginal soldiers
who served in WWI. ----
Eniar.org