A road trip? Why not? Early Friday morning Di Bell set off with fresh veggies from her garden and assorted goodies for the road. At Camp Coorong she piled into the bus with Ellen Trevorrow, Anne McMahon and their cargo of damped down rushes for weaving and the makings of feather flowers. From there it was into Meningie to pick up Rita Lindsay Sr and her sister Alice Abdulla and then off to Melbourne to meet up with Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein of Spinifex Press for a delicious dinner of lamb shanks and a peaceful sleep at their gorgeous house.
Saturday it was the “World Matters 2008, Rights, Responsibilities and Risks Conference” in Eltham Victoria. The invitation was to engage with environmental, political, legal, social and cultural issues and to meet with members of the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group, the Nillumbik Climate Change Group Now, East Timorese women, Amnesty International, leading writers, publishers, activists, scientists and fellow citizens. Di and the Ngarrindjeri talked about their recent book, Kungun Ngarrindjeri Miminar Yunnan (http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/book_detail.php?id=191) and then Aunties Ellen, Rita and Alice conducted a weaving workshop. By the end of the day rushes were strewn throughout the meeting room and there were many who were planning a trip to Camp Coorong to continue refining their newly acquired skills as weavers.
The presentations were all excellent and the South Australian contingent attended all the Saturday sessions where they heard talks about freedom of speech versus religious vilification; listened to poetry in a number of tongues, including what Ouyang Yu rendered as “Anguish” (his pronunciation of “English”); watched as the tension rose in a session on “Tolerance, Prejudice and Fear” with Gideon Haigh, Christos Tsiolkas and Alexis Wright; and wanted to know more after the “Urgency of Now” session about climate change, nuclear power and poetry.
Back Row: Meera, Diane and Aunty Alice; Front Row: Aunty Rita and Aunty Ellen
It was a busy weekend for action and reflection for environmentalists in Victoria and South Australia. While Di and the Ngarrindjeri were speaking at Eltham, the Waterkeepers’ Conference was taking place in Goolwa, South Australia and on Sunday the Plug the Pipe rally at Yea in Victoria was sending a strong message to the Victorian Government: Stop the north-south pipeline. Speaking at the Yea Rally were Deb McLeish (local farmer), Nick Xenophon (independent senator), Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens senator) and Uncle Roy Patterson (Taungurung elder). More on these events later.
