Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

Randall describes the way of life of his people in their original state as something thatsounds and looks (through very early film footage) like life in the garden of Eden. His‘before’ narrative asserts that his people’sKanyini made us feel confident because we felt connected to the big things andlived in a way that was both compassionate and sustainable…we were healthy andhappy. We lived in the moment, not anxious for tomorrow. We lived freely andwe lived with a sense of the sacred in our relationship to each other and all ofcreation 53 .Randall describes the process of disconnection that occurred following the arrival of theEuropeans. First, the European occupiers disrupted connection to land by destroying foodsources, erecting fences, introducing cattle, and shooting and imprisoning the indigenouspopulation for hunting the introduced species. Secondly, the European occupiers wentabout imposing a worldview and belief system that was contradictory to the wisdom ofKanyini, which was ridiculed and disregarded as ‘uncivilised’. Thirdly, the Europeansimposed a new system of Christian spirituality that Australian Aboriginal people noticedwas disconnected entirely from the way the Europeans acted and lived. ‘You told meabout Jesus whose teaching about loving your neighbor sounded just like what we used tohave before you came!’54 . Finally, the Europeans disrupted the essential connection tofamily through the policy of removing Australian Aboriginal children from their familyof origin to be re-enculturated in remote mission stations and/or with European families.Randall describes the state of his people following the disconnection and disruption totheir Kanyini.After European occupation we began to ‘shrink’, we got smaller; we diminishedbecause our connection to the things that made us ‘big’ was disrupted andsuppressed. All of my connections are now cut. My Kanyini is gone and I am likea corpse, adrift and floating in space. Now you throw me a lifeline, you call it‘welfare’ and you think that it’s good. But it’s not nearly as good as what Ialready had before you came 55 .53 Ibid.54 Adapted from ibid.55 Ibid.199