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2011 - Theses - Flinders University

2011 - Theses - Flinders University

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…I think the people felt that when Mr. Eaton came along, because he had a family - hehad a wife and family - they thought that ‘Oh he’ll be safe, you know. This is it: they’llstop here forever’.If history judges Mr Eaton, I hope it will hear the respect and gratitude Adnyamathanha hadfor him, lying quiet behind the disappointments.Druid Vale, 2002I was on the cordless phone to my minister friend at Jabiru in the Northern Territory, walkingaround the wide verandahs of my homestead at Druid Vale in the <strong>Flinders</strong> Ranges, andkeeping an eye on the antics of my three year old. I sat down from time to time, resting mypregnant belly, and watching the gentle sway in the whispering needles of the Atholl pines.Dean’s voice on the phone was friendly, ranging over topics he had come across in his worklike a shopping trolley full of groceries.I was talking to the old patrol minister from here the other day, and he was telling meabout one of the Binning mob saying to him ‘Many whitefellas come to live with us.When will one die with us?’My heart skipped a beat. It was so true. And then my heart burned with a fierce commitment.With my husband and children I had just bought a property twenty kilometers north ofHawker in the <strong>Flinders</strong> Ranges, Adnyamathanha country. I was home here. This was mycommitment to this place, and these people. I never wanted to leave.159

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