How do you belong to a stolen land? (2012)
Writer, journalist Romana Koval asks ,”does coming from somewhere tell me anything about who I am” and then wonders what if you do not know where you come from? Does it make a difference to who we are? For most of us, a place is important because it reflects and shapes our identity. A supportive home helps us to grow, and connect with our family and our past. Contrastingly, those who lack a firm sense of place or a supportive home suffer from a loss of self.
Home is a place where we can feel secure, confident and happy
Who we are and where we come from, Patti Miller would suggest, is critical to our sense of being in the world.
“Place” is a solid piece of ground: In the book ‘The Mind of a Thief’, Rose Chown, an Aboriginal elder, whom Miller considers critical to her research, yearns for a sense of place with regard to the Native Title claim, and ‘only wants to be on the land where she was born’.
The more solid the place, often the more secure and confident one feels. A good sense of home often leads to a positive and strong sense of identity.
Likewise, Patti Miller remarks ’I knew this place was my ground. It wasn’t a country, not a nation, but hills, valleys, creeks, dry dusty paddocks, gum trees, she-oaks, dome of childhood sky’.
However, place also reflects identity and the stories we tell about our place are critical to who we are.
According to Patti Miller, the stories we weave, the questions we ask about our past, and the way we reinterpret these stories is important to our sense of identity. Just as important is the “weaving” of the threads of the stories relating to self, family and ancestors. Identity and connection could only be found in the telling. “It wasn’t the threads of the story that really mattered, it was the weaving of the threads.”
“The warp and weft of identity is re-woven every time and is so tightly and thickly made it seems we were born with it, part of our flesh, instead of it being only a cloak” (16)
Identity is often a matter of chance as well as upbringing. “Even with the same genes, the story could so easily be different: a series of random chances that determines where the cloak of identity is hung” 235
“I knew for certain .. that identity and connection could only be found in the telling. It wasn’t the threads of the story that really mattered, it was the weaving of the threads.” 239
Being in the mainstream story makes all the difference
Identity as part of the main story: confidence and certainty
Patti Miller has Irish ancestors who were also the founding fathers of Wellington and accordingly she knows that she is part of the “main story” and this makes all the difference. Her great-great-grandfather, Patrick Reidy, was a member in 1867 of the original Town Common Committee. In a way, Patrick Reidy’s story is that of the white settler-land thief. In 1867 a committee of three men was appointed to decide on the establishment of a Town Common, which was formally gazetted along the Macquarie River. According to Miller, this was the moment the land was officially taken from the Wiradjuri.
Unlike the aborigines, “as part of a farming family” Patti realises that she has a “something the Aborigines didn’t – a sense that I belonged in the main story.” (195)
But she is also both in and outside the story as an observer who does not completely belong. “I couldn’t do without my story, but I didn’t merge with it the way he (Wayne Carr) did.” (234) She wonders, “did that mean Wayne knew who he was and I didn’t?” (234)
Patti reflects upon the objects that one keeps and the personal evidence that supports one’s life’s story. “These are part of the museum of myself, the things I would try to take with me if a fire swept through the apartment, the evidence of my story about who I am.” (191) In contrast, the Wiradjuri did not have much evidence – just the landmark rock signatures and the feeling that Baiame had created it all.
For those whose “cloak of identity” hangs differently, life is a constant struggle against prejudice and disadvantage.
Wayne Carr keeps going because of “identity; because identity is the most important thing. It gives you self-esteem, it gives you something to live for.” (237) Wayne experiences a different type of connection with his ancestors. Contrastingly, he had a certain confidence and passion because of his sense of continuity with place, including the continuity of culture in relation to place. “He knew who he was in relation to place.” The knowledge of his 10,000 year old ancestors “coursed through him, made fire in his veins and his heart, illuminated him.”
Struggling on the margins: individuals and groups on the margins
It is very difficult to be oneself if one belongs to marginal groups. In this case, individuals are often restricted by disadvantage or by injustice. (Being an outsider has a big impact upon one’s sense of self.) Patti Miller shows that many Aborigines lack opportunities because they are the victims of prejudice in the community. They also lack a strong and purposeful sense of self and suffer what could be called an “identity crisis”.
Wayne’s story:
Wayne Carr is typical of those aborigines who suffer from a lack of purpose, a lack of connection and a lack of pride and dignity. His own immediate family is dysfunctional and his daughter becomes institutionalised because of her addiction. As part of the marginalised story, he feels isolated, excluded and often desperate. Wayne was sexually exploited during his childhood and is psychologically scarred. As Patti Miller states, he suffers from “a wound that never properly heals”
Stories about culture and origins: Language and belonging:
“Native Title is about belonging. It’s about where you belong and what belongs to you.” (138) It becomes symbolic of a search for self and place.
Wayne Carr has been involved in the land claim struggle for 12 years, which reflects his own personal and spiritual journey. His mother and grandmother were traditional women from the Valley, Stuart Mickeys, directly descended from the oldest recorded families in the Valley. (219 ) His mother was Violet Stuart and his father was a Norwegian. He was raised by his grandmother at Nanima and won a scholarship to the local high school. However, his life started to unravel. He states, “this identity thing caught up with me. I went crazy, berserk.” (227)
Wayne’s story: Positive (Aboriginal identity) Obsessed with the land-rights claim, Wayne becomes more positive about his life and gains a sense of purpose as he delves into his cultural roots. For him, his own personal and family identity is connected with that of the tribe. “it was always about protecting Wiradjuri identity.” He keeps going because of “identity is the most important thing. It gives you self-esteem, it gives you something to live for.”
For Wayne, the purpose of the land claim was to enshrine the inalienable right of the Wiradjuri, who for 40,000 years, had lived on the land. He opposes Rose Chown’s claim because, she did not have the right to “speak” on behalf of the Wiradjuri peoples. So, Wayne believes it is a type of “forced assimilation” of the many separate Aboriginal identities into one. (253)
Rose Chown nurses a long grievance against Bill Riley who treated Rose’s family “like interlopers” when the Aboriginal Protection Board closed their reserves and dispersed them in 1910. They had nowhere to go and landed upon local Wiradjuri land. The “newcomers were always resented through no fault of their own” (283). She wanted to be on the land where she was born, “back where she’d lived as a child when everyone was still alive” . She had the air of a “wounded, tired child who didn’t want to be hurt anymore.”
Positive (family): It’s my responsibility to look after them, discipline them, re-educate them.” Wayne’s duty to his grandchildren reinforces his cultural and social obligations as an Aboriginal which helps him give back to the community. “Too many Aboriginal people have forgotten it’s a part of Aboriginal culture to look after kids in this situation.
Positive (place) Wayne gains a certain confidence and passion because of his sense of continuity with place and the continuity of culture. The knowledge of his 10,000 years old ancestors “coursed through him, made fire in his veins and his heart, illuminated him.” Patti Miller suggests that although he is not part of the main story, his historical and spiritual connection with the land gives him a much strong sense of place than the white settler such as Patrick Reidy will ever achieve.
An aborigine’s identity is not just based on the biological family but also on the clan, the skin groups and the aboriginal language group into which they are born. “And Aboriginal identity is not just through biological family, it’s a whole pattern of elements.” (155)
Wayne Carr belongs to the Wiradjuri clan which joins clan members together through language, but also through kinship laws. The clan also determines their relationship with the land and “who has the right to speak for it”. In other words, some leaders have greater power than others because of their traditional place in the clan. (155) With regards to the land rights claim in Wellington, membership to the clan also determines who has traditional access to the land. (155) “Your moiety gives you the right to identity spiritually with certain areas of land, but so does where you were born, who your mother and father are.” The conflict with Rose which divides the land rights claimants amongst themselves has its basis in the moiety. Rose has the right to “identify” with the land, but not the “right to speak for country” (156)
Ancestral stories: myths and origins
The stories we inherit, that are told to us and that we tell to others, are critical to who we are and how we see our place in the world.
In his background, Patti’s father had tales of Vikings and fjords, snow falling at dusk and Ibsen. Her ancestors were from Ireland. She wonders how different things might have been if she had grown up in “Limerick with green fields and stony villages and studied at Trinity.” (234)
The mythical and spiritual stories that shape and inform a person’s life are critical to their sense of identity. Such stories also influence an individual’s views and values.
We must celebrate and cherish our memories, our roots and our ancestors. The pursuit of ancestral land claims on behalf of the aborigines shows that individuals need to reconnect with their cultural ancestors and roots in order to have pride and confidence.
Wayne celebrates with his ancestors the story about the mythical Baiame who came out of the sea with his “emu feet”. He was a “giant of a man with his two wives and stroke up through the Valley and he created it.” The stories people tell about their origins, and the spiritual views and values have a big influence on our journey through life. The cave paintings in the hills around Wellington and the Wiradjuri names of landmarks are all formed by Baiame. Even on the hill, “like a womb and birth canal”, you can see Baiame’s footprints. (263)
The language:
Wayne says: “It has always been important to me to speak my own language because it’s who I am, it’s where I belong.” “I knew for certain .. that identity and connection could only be found in the telling. It wasn’t the threads of the story that really mattered, it was the weaving of the threads.” (239). (Not only do the stories matter, but the words we use to tell these stories also influence our identity.”
Aboriginals realise that dialect is critical to a sense of cultural identity without which they have difficulty relating to community and place. For this reason, aborigines in the Kaurna community in South Australia are determined to keep their language alive because of the critical link to their cultural origins. “It has always been important to me to speak my own language because it’s who I am, it’s where I belong.”
Relationship with the group: immediate family members
Our relationships with wider groups and clans are important; for some this means our relationship with our grandparents; for others with our ancestors (great-great grandfather – Patti Miller); for the indigenous, clan based on language identification (determines social kinships; marriage patterns); the relationship with mythical ancestors (Baiame) is critical because these relationships form the basis of many of their land-rights claims. These relationships also become a source of pride and dignity.
Wayne’s duty to his grandchildren reinforces his cultural and social obligations as an Aboriginal which helps him give back to the community. “Too many Aboriginal people have forgotten it’s part of Aboriginal culture to look after kids in this situation. It’s my responsibility to look after them, discipline them, re-educate them. (231) Wayne wants them to “go into the future with their identity intact” (233) Patti states, “sometimes there is too much pain and it doesn’t make you stronger, it just wounds you forever.” (233) Wayne believes that his life story is typical of so many other Aboriginals who have squandered their opportunities because of incredible adversity. However, he believes that his capacity to deal with his hardships has strengthened him and given him a purpose: “it’s made me who I am now”. (233)
See key concepts for The Mind of a Thief
Sample: draft of “having a sense of difference” based on The Mind of a Thief
Sample essays for The Mind of a Thief: identity
Sample essays : The Mind of a Thief
Parallel examples with “The Mind of a Thief”
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