The Desert Park

We enter the Desert Park.  A sign says a talk will be given all about Survive in the Desert. We go, sit and listen to the member of staff. 

 

Man wearing uniform:

 

Welcome to country. We always welcome people to our country. When they come. Tell them where to go. Where to not go. Scared sites.

 

Our art tells you this. I hate the term rock art. It not art. Its our life. It’s us.

 

This is my country. I can survive in it. I know where to get water. I know where to get food.

 

Today we own this land. We are clever. On our land we own hotels. Do tours. We charge you money to stay on our land.

 

My father was aboriginal. My father was taken off his country when he was young.

 

I don’t drink. I was at a dinner with five of you people. Five bottles of wine were put on the table. I didn’t drink any. These bottles were all finished off.  

 

We share. Anything we have we share.

 

We hunt the lizard and turtle. We have a mortar and pestle. We grind the seeds to make an edible paste.

We hunt kangaroo. We use a gun. We are not stupid.

 

When we need glue we use araldite. We use the best of what we can.

 

I own land. It makes millions. I don’t have to work. You would like that. Go fishing all day. Go hunting. No work.

You took our land from us. We are 3% of the population.

 

We now own a lot of land. You have given it back.

 

We can survive in the desert. It is not a desert. This is a plant you can dig up. Eat the tubers.

 

Waves dismissively a few plants. This bush tomatoes. Wild passionfruit.

 

What happened in 1967. We were made Australians. My father was made an Australian. I was lucky. I was born after 1967.

 

My father was kept on a mission. He was taught nothing. Then he was told to go and work. Do servant work or be a stock man.

 

You wouldn’t survive in the bus. No Maccas or KFC in the bush. When we eat Maccas we get diabetes. We get sick.

 

We can survive in the bush. Eat good healthy bush tucker. We can survive. We don’t worry about the financial crash.  We were not worried.

 

When we ate your food, we get sick.

 

I had a man tell me he had four grandmothers living in this land. I tell him I have a thousand grandmothers living here. Not four.

 

I’m not picking on the British. It was the Portuguese, The Spanish, The French. In the past they all decide to take over the world.

 

I ask him if I can see an emu bush. For the first time he smiles. Stops scowling and growling. He enjoys telling me where to see an emu bush in the Desert Park.

 

I dream of the future when his son will give talks to the sons of us tourists. I imagine his son enjoying it. Enjoying talking with us. Learning from us as we learn from him. Respecting us as we respect him.