PM seizes vision of social renaissance
Thursday, July 24th, 2008Nicolas Rothwell; 24/7/08
With consummate skill and elegance, the two partners in Australia’s utopian future played their parts in Yirrkala yesterday. Kevin Rudd, the fresh inspirer of an idealistic nation, came face to face, on Aboriginal land, in the very cradle of the land rights movement, with Galarrwuy Yunupingu, the veteran of the indigenous cause, the feudal leader of North-East Arnhem Land. They dreamed together of a new constitutional compact; they were shadowed by the past. Here, at Yirrkala mission, the depths and complexities of the Aboriginal myth world first became plain to Western incomers. And it was also in this country, a generation ago, with the consent of the federal parliament, that bauxite miners churned up precious land excised from an Aboriginal reserve. Here, too, on this narrow promontory, a cultural revival began 10 years ago with the Garma Festival - the symbol today of indigenous cultural strength and pride. Well-chosen ground for new understanding.
