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Published On: Sep 18, 2009 03:35 PM
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Darwin, 2009
It was more of a loaf in Darwin this trip, with
no trip to Croker Island, though I did catch up with some people from there, and
I mostly stayed within the city itself, although I managed to venture south in
the last week or so. I did make some good contacts, and was frustrated by an
inability to make some others. Darwin temperatures, as usual for this time of
the year, reached a daily maximum of 32 degrees and a minimum of
22.
After my trip to Croker Island in 2007, I was
keen to make contact with Stephen Fejo, whom I had met and befriended on that
trip, although for much of my time on the island Stephen was in Darwin for
'sorry business' . Stephen's traditional land encompasses the ruins of the Fort
Wellington settlement I had been researching, and we had determined to visit the
site together some day. I rang Croker, and learnt that Stephen was in Darwin,
but they had no address or phone number to contact him. Frustrating.
I
was also keen to contact a linguist who spends a lot of time researching on
Croker, by the name of Bruce Birch. Making contact with Bruce is like trying to
meet the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Ghost who Walks and the poet Ern O'Malley rolled
into one. No phone calls of many to various numbers bearing his name ever
elicited an answer. No voice message earned a response, and only one email was
answered. This email indicated that he would be in Darwin during a certain
week-end, and that I should call him to arrange a meeting, but the mobile
number, when called, was not available. All subsequent attempts at contact
failed. Maybe next
time.East
Point
BeachI
had more luck with my quest to contact Stephen. When doing some casual shopping
at a nearby deli, I was served by an attractive and friendly lady from Arnhem
Land called Heleana. One night I arrived at the shop as it was about to close,
and Heleana was bringing the signs in. In the near distance some fireworks lit
up the sky. We watched and chatted, and it was then I found out that Heleana was
from Arnhem Land, and I mentioned my wish to contact Stephen. Stephen turned out
to be her cousin, and although she did not have a contact for him, she was sure
she could track him down for me. We
met again a couple of nights later, at the Indigenous Music Awards at the
ampitheatre in the Botanic Gardens, a great night of music awards and music
which culminated in a performance by Geoffrey Gurrumul. Heleana received a text
message from a nephew, indicating that Stephen was in the crowd, and would meet
us at the gate after the concert, but because of the darkness and the crowd,
this meeting did not take place. The next day, however, I got a phone call from
Heleana, who had met Stephen in a supermarket, and she passed on a mobile
contact for him.
Geoffrey
GurrumulLater that day Stephen, his
two daughters, and Lorraine, their mother called in. Lorraine Williams is an
ethnobiologist, with parents from Darwin and Croker Island, and has combined her
knowledge of growing up with native plants and animals and her academic studies
to form a considerable knowledge pool. Lorraine works with an Aboriginal Women's
Heritage group, which conducts surveys of various sites and produces pamphlets,
brochures and reports on their invaluable
explorations.
Lorraine & Stephen
I
gave Lorraine a copy of "Commandant of Solitude - The Journals of Collet Barker"
which covers the period when Barker was the Commandant at the Fort Wellington
settlement in Raffles Bay, not too far from Croker Island, and which was visited
by Barker during his tenure. We also arranged to meet later in the week, as I
was keen to view a DVD called "Wiril Canoe" which shows the making of a dug-out
canoe on Croker Island in 1971, perhaps the last to be made this
way.A day or two later I was able to
track down another copy of the Barker Journals for Heleana, who apart from being
the friendly face in the deli, is also a student at Bachelor College south of
Darwin on her days off. I am hoping one day to go back to Fort Wellington, and
to explore it together with the friends I have met on this
trip.Molly,
Bob, HeleanaOther activities to fill
in the time in Darwin included attending the Nirvana nightclub and restaurant
nearby, in particular the Tuesday night 'Jam sessions' and a weekly game of golf
at the gardens course, with a small but friendly group organised usually by my
brother Max, but who, along with Sharyn, was visiting their daughter Penny and
family in Botswana. The Nirvana is a good place for amateur muso's to have a
play, but also features some of the best in Darwin at times. A great place on a
Tuesday night. My golf sessions were good practice for the eventual play-off for
the Donald Wilkie Innes Memorial Trophy, more affectionately known as the
"Scrotum
Cup".Eventually,
Max returned from Botswana, my other brother Dean returned from a trip to
Holland with his wife Willie, and we played off for the "Scrotum" my practice on
the course proving invaluable as my brothers roamed the planet.
A
trip to Lichfield Park, with Max, and a balmy evening meal or two later, and it
was back to the green, beautiful and varied Adelaide Hills.
Posted: Wed - September 16, 2009 at 02:12 PM
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