![aborigine spear](https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/aborigine-spear.png)
Going Nowhere with the Lingua Franca of Failure
Well-worn sayings are often well-worn for a reason. They put an abiding truth in a nutshell. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” is a well-worn saying of uncertain origin. It comes to mind when I think about past policies designed to improve the lives of those Aborigines living in desperate circumstances – perhaps 20 per cent, according to Gary Johns (The Burden of Culture). One of the difficulties is that not everyone has the same end game in mind. To wit, assimilation versus cultural preservation. A stark dichotomy.
At my Anglican church last Sunday, the sermon was delivered by the principal of Nungalinya College, now in its fiftieth year, and located in Casuarina, a northern fringe suburb of Darwin. It’s an interdenominational training college for indigenous Christians. It aims to spread the Christian Gospel to indigenous communities. That is a worthy aim in two respects. First, it brings the truth of the Gospel to those who otherwise might not hear it….
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins