Protocols visitors to Mparntwe once observed no longer exist

By ROD MOSS Mr Moon’s grimacing mouth at Luna Park is a metaphor for the challenges confronting the children. Born as many Arrernte are, into extreme disadvantage and enduring daily racism in the form of snobbery or strident hostility, I’ve witnessed their spontaneity snuffed when entering mainstream schools and meeting the challenges of a curriculum at odds, or even denying their history, culture and place in the town. Hence the importance of The Children’s Ground’s programme. How would I adapt to a foreign power taking control of my finances, learn its language, operate under its laws, and told where to live. Struggles with cross-cultural communication have been amplified by numbers of Alywarr, Anmatyerr, Pintubi, Pitjantjatjara, Walpiri, and Kaiditch gravitating to town from remote communities consequential to the Intervention. Protocols these visitors to Mparntwe once observed no longer exist. I’ve seen too many men and women die, many, in their thirties and forties, felt the bitterness at grave sites as we lowered their casks and tossed dirt on their lids. Some were good friends, a dozen or so who’d been my children’s playmates. All were hard to bear and the direct result of conditions mainstream Australians would find intolerable. Catastrophic conditions. At top: The Great Ingester, 2018