St James

Uniting

Church

Welcome to the Spring

edition of Red Wings!

With the onset of spring and an increase in growth after the rain and hot sun over the past few weeks, Canberra is definitely blooming.

We are all more than aware of climate change and its effects, and the article by Evan Mann on the People’s Climate March on Page 2 re-minds us of the upcoming Paris conference, and its implications for Australia and the world at large.

Bill Bush also happens to be another member of the Presbytery Social Justice Group. He is a member of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform and a former international lawyer. He penned an article on Poverty Week, published in the Canberra Times on October 13th. Page 3

Briony Griffiths, Community Development Coordinator for the ACT , has shared with us a copy of her report on Celebrating Courageous Congregations, on Pages 4 and 5.

The ABC Religion and Ethics department fea-

tures What Australia Hides in the Dark: Tor-

ture and the Need for Transparency on Pages

6 and 7 by John-Paul Sanggaran and Deborah

Zion.

Eureka Street also regularly produces some

topical material such as Kids need care not cru-

elty to avoid radicalisation by Andrew

Hamilton. (Pages 9-10).

The last article by Jonathan Davis, An Indigenous Approach To Healing Trauma, is an excellent introduction to the ideas of Mir-iam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann and others who practice a method of healing called Dadirri. (Pages 10 - 12).

Editorial

Several congregations in the Presbytery, in-cluding this congregation, have a social justice group. In some cases these groups have been active for many years. Lacking though was a similar group organised at the Presbytery level, an absence which two years ago a group of

people sought to rectify.

In February 2014 Jon O'Brien, Social Justice Advocacy Coordinator in the NSW/ACT Synod and Briony Griffiths, UnitingCare Community Development Coordinator in our Presbytery, invited people in our presbytery who were in-terested in social justice issues to attend a fo-rum. The main item for discussion was the formation of a presbytery social justice group

The Presbytery Social Justice Group which was formed out of that forum, convened by Evan Mann, saw as its purpose to help Canberra Presbytery, its people and congregations, dis-cern and act upon matters of social justice, peace and the environment of relevance to the local community. The group has been active in fields such as drug law reform, affordable housing, divestment of shares in fossil fuel companies, climate change, and Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians. We think the group has had some influence both within and outside the church.

The members of the Group come from a varie-ty of backgrounds and interests, but share a great passion for social justice and a need for change in policies and attitudes on behalf of the various governments, state and Federal, as well as those of the general population. A number of members of the social justice committee have been involved over the past year in the establishment of the Canberra Alli-ance for Participatory Democracy or CAPaD. Bob Douglas and SEE-Change were the initial proponents while our Reverend Chris Lockley, who in earlier years was strongly involved in the Sydney Alliance, has assumed a leadership

position in the organisation. The IGM was held recently with now approximately 90 individual and organisational members.

It is my hope that the work of these two groups will enhance fairness and justice for Australian people and bring about change for the underprivileged and needy in our society.

Merilyn Tandukar (Editor)

Issue No. 5

2015

Red Wings

This Issue

Contents and Editorial 1

Burning Issues 2

Reflection 3,6-7

Presbytery News 4-5

Discussion Corner 8-9

Indigenous News 10-12

2

PEOPLE’S CLIMATE MARCH

In early December this year, world lead-

ers will meet in Paris for the United Na-

tions Climate Summit. This will be the

21st such conference but we are yet to

see an international agreement that

effectively addresses climate change.

This time in Paris perhaps it will be differ-

ent? The aim of the conference is to limit

the global temperature increase resulting

from emissions to 2 °C. Several major

emitters, notably China and the USA,

have made commitments to reduce sub-

stantially their emissions and this is

against a backdrop of rapidly developing

renewable energy / low emission tech-

nologies. But as yet national commit-

ments to emission reductions do not ap-

pear to equate with a 2 °C target. And

there is strong concern that even should

the target be achieved, it will not prevent

major change to global weather patterns,

significant loss of species and disruption

of human agriculture in many parts of the

world, with the poorest the hardest hit.

Governments need to be given a strong

message - climate change must be ad-

dressed decisively. Millions of people

around the world, in hundreds of cities

will be proclaiming this message in late

November in Peoples Climate Marches.

For many years the Uniting Church has

spoken out on the need for action to

combat climate change. This position has

recently been strongly reaffirmed when a

representative of the church joined with

hundreds of other world faith and spiritu-

al leaders in signing a statement on the

upcoming Paris conference.

https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/

documents/wcc-programmes/diakonia/climate-

change/statement-from-religious-leaders-for-

the-upcoming-cop21

In particular the statement calls for a fair,

ambitious and binding global deal appli-

cable to all countries, with a long-term

goal to phase out greenhouse gas emis-

sions and phase in 100% renewable ener-

gy by the middle of the century in order

to stay below 1.5/2°C of warming.

In Canberra, the People’s March will

gather at Parliament House at noon on

Sunday 29 November and march to Rec-

onciliation Place for a community festival.

Congregations are encouraged to partici-

pate in the march. Carry your church

banners and wear purple as all faith

groups are encouraged to do. By your

presence you can make a statement for

the planet and for our common

humanity.

Presbytery Social Justice Group

Contact: evan.mann@netspeed.com.au

Burning Issues

3

Addressing the drivers of poverty

Bill Bush

Canberra Times October 13, 2015

We and future generations have much to gain by the elimina-

tion of poverty. Relieving the disadvantage of our neighbour

has as much to do with self-interest as doing the right thing.

Experiencing poverty in prosperous Canberra is particularly

bitter because it places you so much on the outer and we all

bear the high health and social costs of the resulting exclu-

sion. In the ACT there were some 21,528 people living in pov-

erty; 9910 households experiencing housing stress; 14,148

people experiencing financial stress; 1785 experiencing

homelessness; and 28,639 disadvantaged people. Those mak-

ing do with less than the poverty level can't afford the little

luxuries of life that the rest of us take for granted, nor pay for

schooling extras, that others regard as essentials. Poverty

week gives cause to reflect upon social exclusion and what

we who live comfortably might do about it.

If you have the misfortune to be poor it is most likely that you

are afflicted with a clutch of other misfortunes: you might be

born with a low IQ making school a struggle and pushing

those "good jobs" beyond your reach. Farewell to that house

that our former treasurer advised we need only to work hard

enough to get.

There is a technical term for the cluster of risk factors that

crowd around the disadvantaged. These are the social deter-

minants of health and well-being that the World Health Or-

ganisation has promoted as the factors to address if our soci-

ety is most effectually and efficiently to eradicate disad-

vantage and promote social inclusion. As Sir Michael Marmot,

the president-elect of the World Medical Association, has put

it, "it's about being empowered, having control over your life

and that starts with the quality of early child development,

with the nature of education, and the nature of conditions in

which people live and work".

Disadvantage is also clustered in particular localities. This

year the geographic concentration of disadvantage is ana-

lysed in the periodic surveys conducted by Professor Tony

Vinson for Jesuit Social Services. His 2015 Dropping off the

Edge Report identifies postcodes of severe disadvantage in

the ACT where physical and mental health is poorest, there is

highest representation in the criminal justice system, school

outcomes are poorest and domestic violence is most preva-

lent. The clustering of risk factors is corrosive. Thus, a poor

education and a deprived childhood are not just risk factors

for poverty but for other marks of disadvantage such as men-

tal health problems and drug dependence. People with risk

factors tend to accumulate others as they move through life

in something of the way that a snowball rolling down the hill

accumulates greater mass.

Broad acceptance in Australia of a safety net for the most

disadvantaged sets us apart from other countries where ad-

herence to radical liberal principles denies the appropriate-

ness of any paternalistic measures like age pensions, unem-

ployment benefits, universal health care and free universal

education. Indeed, this broad political acceptance of a pater-

nalistic safety net is rightly regarded as a vital ingredient of

the Australian fair go. But liberal principles rightly demand

that paternalistic measures be rigorously assessed. Drug laws

are seen by some as the most extreme form of paternalistic

overreach. They are extreme because they seek to dictate

what an individual may ingest.

Drug addiction is a powerful driver of poverty. We fear drugs

because of the lack of control that addiction to them can en-

tail. The communal response has been to intensify that lack

of control by applying the coercive processes of the criminal

law. I have not met a dependent drug user who does not wish

the monkey of addiction off his back, but naturally enough

drug users have a range of priorities in their life and resent

the state dictating to them the time and circumstances to

address their addiction. The user's insistent need to appease

his addiction is bound to trump the user's other priorities,

thus reinforcing the struggling drug user's conviction of his

own hopeless failure. As Johann Hari points out, the pain and

isolation imposed by drug policy reinforces addiction.

Countries like Switzerland and Portugal have drug policies

that take advantage of the wish of dependent users to over-

come their addiction by acknowledging the control that they

wish to have over their life, and respecting their choices. The

outcome in those countries demonstrates the value that indi-

viduals and the communities reap from respecting the worth

of drug users as human beings and supporting the choices

they wish to make. For it is this lack of control over our own

life that knowledge about the social determinants of health

and well-being tells us is so insidious.

This poverty week let us seek ways to make poverty history

and eliminate budget deficits in the process.

Bill Bush is a member of Families and Friends for Drug Law

Reform and a former international lawyer.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/

addressing-the-drivers-of-poverty-20151013-

gk86lw.html#ixzz3pw8KiAEL

Follow us: @canberratimes on Twitter | CanberraTimes on

Facebook

4

Presbytery News

Community Development Coordinator

Report

Celebrating Courageous Congregations

I am often reminded by my peers in other locations

that the Canberra Region Presbytery is “so different”

to many other Presbyteries – well resourced, capable

and committed. This year we might well add coura-

geous and innovative to that list of attributes, as con-

gregations and the Presbytery alike have stepped

bravely into new initiatives.

Innovative Community Grants

The Innovative Community Grants Fund, administered

by UnitingCare’s Regional Councils, provides funding

for innovative new community projects or to expand

existing community programs designed to build

stronger communities. This year $93,020 was award-

ed to congregations in the Canberra Region Presby-

tery – doubling both the value of grants and the num-

ber of congregations participating in the last two

years. Congratulations to all those involved.

As the grants are intended, the applications from our

region this year really highlighted creative and coura-

geous congregational thinking. Queanbeyan UC re-

ceived support for their Safe Shelter initiative; Gun-

gahlin UC received support for expansion of the Mus-

tard Seed Uniting Food Pantry; Mt Dromedary Parish

received a contribution towards development of their

Narooma manse as a Community Drop-In Centre; and

the Grace Community will expand the support they

provide to Goulburn children and families affected by

Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The Erindale Neighbourhood Garden truly is a

“growing community”. Initiated by Karen MacPherson

of the Tuggeranong UC, the garden is a wonderful

example of Church in partnership with other commu-

nity organisations, seeking to strengthen a local com-

munity. Sited on under-utilised community land adja-

cent to the Church, bus stops and the shops, the gar-

den has been granted a ten year lease by the ACT

Government who appreciated the garden as enabling

community connections.

As a ‘neighbourhood’ garden, it is structured on joint

management and garden participation by community

organisations or groups rather than individuals. This

opens the garden to use by a wide range of communi-

ty members, and allows for people to come and go as

individual interest or needs change over the years.

Currently, garden beds are tended by the Erindale

Police Community Youth Club (PCYC), Appletree and

Iloura Day Care Centres, Tuggeranong Uniting Church,

the Erindale Neighbourhood Centre (managed by

TUC, servicing elderly residents from adjacent public

housing and other community groups), and a group of

local residents. On a recent visit to the garden, Karen

MacPherson (pictured) noted that the garden “is al-

ready becoming a pace that people [walking by] stop

for a chat”.

Affordable Housing Initiative

This year the UnitingCare Social Justice Forum invited

congregations to run Table Talks as part of our Afford-

able Housing Initiative. In total, 10 Table Talks were

held in the ACT with strong support from 4 congrega-

tions. Affordable and appropriate housing has also

been a key focus for the community services sector in

Canberra this year. Anti-Poverty Week events in Octo-

ber 2015 focussed on affordable housing as a key is-

sue for the ACT and surrounds, and ACTCOSS and ACT

Shelter have developed a joint campaign to run

through until the ACT Election in October 2016.

Through the table talks, we have contributed to these

broader community campaigns, with participants ex-

pressing overwhelming support for the UC to have a

role in increasing the availability and access to afford-

able and appropriate housing for those most margin-

alised in our society.

5

How can congregations contribute directly?

Key suggestions from table talks included:

Use of Church property: Making available, under-

utilised church land for social housing projects,

particularly where wrap-around support services

are available on site. There are several Churches

in our region with vacant land that could be used

in this way.

Being creative and courageous with housing

models: Creative “tiny house” models of

community living could act as demonstration

sites on Church property that challenge the

expectations for large houses and higher cost

standards of accommodation.

Encouraging people to make rooms available for

those in need: The church could help address

the unmet demand for affordable housing by

encouraging congregation members to rent

out spare rooms or granny flats at low rates

to those in need.

Community discussion: People need to be better

educated about the affordable housing crisis.

The church could help achieve this by facili-

tating discussions about housing issues

affecting congregation members.

The full analysis of the ACT Table Talks is available on

the Presbytery website.

http://canberraregion.unitingchurch.org.au/wp-

content/uploads/2015/10/Table-Talks-Analysis-ACT-

October-2015.pdf

Uniting in Canberra in 2016

2016 will see significant growth for UnitingCare in

Canberra. We have recently won a competitive ten-

der to deliver support services to high risk families

under the new A Step Up for Our Kids strategy. This

service will mean more focused, practical supports to

families such as hands-on parenting training, on an

intensive basis over an extended period of time to

maximise the chance for families to stay together and

to reduce the number of children entering care.

A priority for services is that they are appropriate,

accessible and culturally safe, meeting the needs of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, who

continue to be over-represented in the ACT child pro-

tection and care systems.

A new UnitingCare office will be established in Can-

berra with recruitment of 30+ dedicated staff to man-

age and deliver services.

UnitingCare Disability has also secured further fund-

ing for disability services in the ACT, and has recruited

3 additional staff with expectations for up to 10 staff

in 2016. UnitingCare Ageing has also grown with an

extension of Community Care services to Crookwell,

Braidwood and Gunning, and a new office in Deakin

from December 2015.

And in case you missed it, UnitingCareNSW.ACT will

soon change to

with a new logo and a new name to be publically

launched on 25 November 2015.

For further information on any of the above, please

contact Briony Griffiths, Community Development

Coordinator – ACT

bgriffiths@unitingcarenswact.org.au.

Presbytery News

6

What Australia Hides in the Dark: Torture and the Need for Transparency John-Paul Sanggaran and Deborah Zion ABC Religion and Ethics 22 Oct 2015 Submission 95 to the parliamentary Select Committee on the Recent Allegations relating to Condi-tions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru contains a description of what is evidently torture carried out in Australian run detention centres. The submission details waterboarding, a practice that is now almost universally condemned but which was regularly employed in places like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and by groups such as ISIS. There is also the description of a practice called "zipping," which involves using cable ties to secure an asylum seeker to a bed frames. The bed frame is then thrown into the air and allowed to crash onto the floor, thereby inflicting injury. Dr Peter Young, the former mental health medical director of International Health and Medical Services, described the treatment of asylum seekers as torture, stating: "If we take the definition of torture to be the deliberate harming of people in order to coerce them into a desired outcome, I think it does fulfil that definition."

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture has, moreover, found Australia to be in breach of the United Nations Convention against Torture.

Despite more than a decade of anguished accounts of the conditions in which asylum seekers are detained, have we lost sight of the fact that they are human beings, that they are vulnerable per-sons that have escaped persecution and have been found overwhelmingly to be "genuine" refu-gees? Their vulnerable humanity is easily forgotten and the dehumanising practices of torture and indefi-nite incarceration are allowed to proliferate when we fail to ensure that there is transparency in places of detention. This is hardly surprising. After all, should we imagine that Australians are somehow different to the rest of humanity in this regard? Healthcare workers, teachers and humanitarian workers have thus been forced to become whistle-blowers despite significant deterrents to them doing so. These include a perceived risk to one's professional standing, as well as loss of employment and hence the ability to support oneself and dependants. There is also the backlash that some have faced from powerful persons in public office - including the former Prime Minister. And then there are the difficulties negotiating confi-dentiality, especially for health care workers. It is into this context that the Border Force Act (2015) was introduced, and with it came another deterrent: the threat of imprisonment for whistle-blowers. It was because of this and the govern-ment's inability to provide assurances that those wishing to speak up about their concerns would not be prosecuted, that the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants postponed his visit.

There is good reason to be deeply concerned by the sheer disparity that exists between the multi-ple corroborated accounts from professionals and evidence heard by official inquiries (such as the National Inquiry into Children in Detention, the Moss report and the current senate inquiry), on the one hand, and the statements from government , on the other. Such a disparity cannot help but muddy the waters of popular opinion.

Reflection (cont.)

7

Thankfully, there is a degree of moral clarity coming from health care professionals, who are push-ing back against the inhumane treatment of people caught in the immigration detention system. Many healthcare workers are aligned - if somewhat intuitively- with the Declaration of Tokyo, which states: "The physician shall not countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures."

This is the motivation that fuels the advocacy from the health sector. The open letter on the Border Force Act, which over 40 "entrusted" persons signed, stated: "We have advocated, and will continue to advocate, for the health of those for whom we have a duty of care, despite the threats of imprisonment, because standing by and watching sub-standard and harmful care, child abuse and gross violations of human rights is not ethically justifiable."

In addition, the recent actions of the doctors at the Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne) and the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital (Brisbane), who are refusing to release their patients back to immi-gration detention due to the harm they will suffer in that environment, show commitment. While these acts are highly laudable, we would go further and suggest the following solution to guarantee transparency and accountability. In 2009 Australia signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). This United Nations treaty is designed to ensure transparency in places of detention. Aus-tralia has signed up to this through the joint standing committee on treaties, which, at least in the-ory, ensures bipartisan support. Ratifying the OPCAT would guarantee adequate oversight of all places of detention within Australia through the establishment of a national preventive mechanism. This means domestic and interna-tional monitoring. The effect of being accountable should act to deter human right abuses and pro-vide a means to rectify those that have taken place. This system has been implemented in 78 coun-tries already, including the UK and New Zealand. By contrast, the Australian Labor Party proposes that a "refugee advocate" be introduced to attend to oversight of asylum seeker detention. But there is no shortage of refugee advocacy. This sort of toothless advisory role has been tried in the past in forms such as the Independent Health Advisory Group. Such approaches fail due to the problem of transparency and thus accountability, and the problem of "dual loyalty" through which advisors are working at the behest of the very govern-ment that is violating the rights of those seeking asylum. Australia needs to ratify the OPCAT. There is already considerable support for it. This was demon-strated by 64 organisations writing to the Attorney-General asking for ratification, including Am-nesty International, Oxfam and multiple human rights law centres. Just this month, Australia's peak health bodies released a statement calling for Australia to ratify the OPCAT.

Significant work has been completed on the requirements for implementation. Tasmania, the Aus-tralian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have released draft bills. The Australian Human Rights Commission has also provided extensive analysis. We should no longer hide our sordid behaviour in the shadows, or turn a blind eye. The evidence of our abuse will be there for future generations see and by which to judge us; it will have festered because of the time taken to address it. This is analogous to failings we have seen in the past, such as institutionalised child sex abuse and the treatment of the stolen generations. We hide from the light at our peril. We are reminded of what the Holocaust historian Yehuda Bau-er said: "Do not be a victim; do not be a perpetrator; and above all, do not be a bystander." http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/10/22/4336539.htm

Reflection (cont.)

8

Kids need care not cruelty to avoid radicalisation

Andrew Hamilton

Eureka Street 22 October 2015 Children's Week, which commences in Australia this Saturday 24 October, is timely. It invites us to reflect on the proposals to impose control orders on children as young as 12, amid the growing ten-dency to see the response to the radicalisation of children to lie in punishment, not in considering

the children's development into responsible adults. Children's Week reminds us that children are young human beings, children among other children. It

reminds us of the gift that our children are, of the future of the world that they hold in their small

hands, and also of the world of violence, flight and hunger that so many of them enter, into which

some are seduced, and in which many more unwillingly perish.

Children's Week also invites us to think of what responsibility means. We are responsible for shap-

ing the world in which our children will grow. We are also responsible for caring for them and for

protecting them from the things that threaten them. And we take it for granted that governments

will assume this responsibility when parents and others cannot.

Children learn from adults how to take responsibility for their own lives and to be responsible to

others in the decisions they make. Responsibility comes slowly. It involves brain development, train-

ing and teaching from significant adults, and the space to make mistakes and learn from them.

Some of those mistakes can have terrible consequences. But they are the mistakes children make,

and should be responded to in a way that wins them to a better way, not confirms them in irrespon-

sibility.

Many vulnerable children have lacked responsible adults to protect and care for them. Their devel-

opment may have been affected by hunger, violence and lack of education. Radicalised young peo-

ple may have been seduced by adults who prey on them. Many others have come to the notice of

child protection services from an early age, and some who have breached the law have come under

the criminal justice system.

The government exercises its responsibility for vulnerable children through these agencies and also

through community agencies. The goal of their work is to accompany young people, many of whom

have lacked responsible adults to nurture them, to provide a space for them to find themselves, and

to encourage them to be responsible adults.

This delicate and precarious work demands that agencies and governments are responsible in en-

suring that their care will further young people's development into responsible adults. Responsibil-

ity is not simply something individuals carry. It is a network of relationships between people within

society.

Discussion Corner

9

In particular it is very important that children's contact with the justice system encourages them to

take responsibility for their lives, and does not simply punish irresponsible behaviour. It must pro-

vide them with the support and mentoring in the community which will show them a better way.

Incarceration should be a last resort, because it normally hinders the development of personal re-

sponsibility.

A particular issue in Australia is the age of criminal responsibility, which varies in different states be-

tween ten and 12. Research into brain development suggests that people cannot fully take responsi-

bility for their actions until they are 15 years old. Responsible policy must respect the human devel-

opment of the child and ensure that the response to their wrongdoing takes into account their age

and does not place them in processes they can neither understand nor properly participate in.

Governments, of course, also have the responsibility to protect society from the consequences of

criminal behaviour. When children are involved, as they have been in terrorist schemes, this respon-

sibility is complex and delicate. But the government response must respect the fact that they are

children and encourage their growth to responsibility.

From this perspective the proposal to impose control orders is concerning. I suspect its conse-

quence will be to make the children feel untrusted, to encourage others to see them as martyrs or

monsters, to marginalise parents in their children's journey to adult responsibility, and to weaken

the confidence of the Muslim community both in Australian authorities and in its own capacity to

nurture its youth.

Whether or not these considerations are outweighed by the immediate threat to security, the pro-

posal to impose control orders demands careful scrutiny because Australian attitudes to deviant be-

haviour are often crude. They see it only in terms of crime and punishment.

They do not consider the degree of responsibility of the offender and the obligation of adults in soci-

ety to help offenders develop their own sense of responsibility. It is an attitude that is itself irre-

sponsible and prompts governments to act irresponsibly. When shaping the treatment of children it

is also cruel.

Highly vulnerable children, including those attracted to extremist groups, form a relatively small

group of young people in Australia. But their welfare and growth into responsible adults are a test

of our responsibility for them and also critical for a healthy Australian community.

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=45582#.Vii45zFUDv8

Discussion Corner (cont.)

10

Indigenous News

Indi

An Indigenous Approach To Healing

Trauma

By Jonathan Davis on Monday July 20th, 2015

The Healing Power of Listening in Still-

ness

People have always experienced pain, and in the

vast span of time before the colonial expansion

of western culture, indigenous cultures weren’t

without their methods of dealing with trauma.

For centuries we’ve largely ignored the wisdom

of those among us who are still directly connect-

ed to ancestral ways of knowledge. As our mod-

ern lifestyle collides with the fact that our Earth

is not capable of supporting our current way of

life, we are finally starting to look to those who

once lived in a state of indefinite sustainability

and abundance, for a way forward.

“In order to have sustainable community you

have to make sure the people are sustainable.

This means healing trauma.”

– Jarmbi Githabul, Narakwal / Githa-

bul Custodian

What is Dadirri?

“Dadirri is inner, deep listening and quiet, still

awareness. Dadirri recognises the deep spring

that is inside us. We call on it and it calls to us.

This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for. It is

something like what you call ‘contemplation’.”

– Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-

Baumann, Ngangiwumirr Elder

When Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

speaks of dadirri, she speaks of a form of deep,

contemplative listening that is nothing less than

a personal spiritual practice. This type of listen-

ing in stillness is widely known all across the

Australian continent, in many language groups

under many names. “When I experience dadirri,

I am made whole again.” Miriam describes. “I

can sit on the riverbank or walk through the

trees; even if someone close to me has passed

away, I can find my peace in this silent aware-

ness. There is no need of words. A big part of

dadirri is listening.”

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann – artist, writ-

er and public speaker

Learning and healing through listening

According to Ungunmerr-Baumann the act of

learning, from a very young age, is all about

waiting and listening; not asking questions. In a

culture where everyone is so well practiced

at listening that it becomes a spiritual art, it

makes sense that when trauma occurred the

people would come together and deeply listen

to each other. For this reason dadirri also refers

11

Indigenous News

Indi

to each other. For this reason dadirri also refers

to a form of group trauma healing that brings

the deep presence found in the solo practice of

dadirri to a group setting. Details of dadirri as

group practice can be found in Prof. Judy Atkin-

son’s book Trauma Trails, Recreating Song-

lines. The essence of dadirri, in this wider con-

text, is the creation of a space of deep contem-

plative, heart based listening where stories of

trauma and pain can be shared and witnessed

with loving acceptance.

In my own experiences with orignal Australians

who are deeply connected to country, I have

felt that they are so grounded it’s almost as if

the land itself is listening to you, through them.

“Healing country heals ourselves, and healing

ourselves heals country.”

– Prof. Judy Atkinson – Jiman / Bunjalung wom-

an, author of Trauma Trails, Recreating Song-

lines

Emotional Completion

According to Prof. Stan Grof, trauma healing

comes from finally completing an experience

emotionally that may have been physically

completed long ago. The initial moment of pain

may have become so overwhelming that we

make a subconscious decision to ‘check out’; in

other words, we emotionally dissociate. Every

part of us screams “Stop, I don’t want to feel

this!” The problem is that we don’t stop the

emotional experience, we just press pause.

When we don’t have the courage or skills

(because we are too young, or were never

taught) to actually feel all of the emotions of a

traumatic experience, we inadvertently trap

the part of it we couldn’t handle, and store it

away for later. Dadirri is a practice that allows

us to open up this trapped pain and trauma in a

sacred and held space and with the support of

those around us, we can finally feel it in order

for it to be released.

“Trauma puts you in a disempowered position

that makes it easy for you to be influenced. It

interferes with your ability to make clear deci-

sions for yourself.”

– Jarmbi Githabul, Narakwal / Githa-

bul Custodian

The importance of a practice like dadirri is that

it is completely based on non-judgment. Over

time, the story is shared on multiple occasions,

and by doing so the telling begins to change.

The emotional charge is released a little at a

time as the circle around them offers an unwa-

vering reflection of loving acceptance. Very

often, the person who has suffered trauma

starts to adopt this attitude of loving ac-

ceptance toward themselves.

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Indi

Indigenous Newsgenous

News

Limbic Resonance and Revisioning

The reason this works, from the perspective of

neuroscience, is because of: limbic resonance,

mirror neurons and neuroplasticity. The notion

of limbic resonance asserts that without con-

sistent love and acceptance during childhood

our brains don’t develop properly. The part

that becomes developmentally stunted is our

resilience against emotional distress. Similar

problems can occur in people of all ages when

they suffer trauma. The process of limbic revi-

sioning is about rewiring the neural structure

of person who has suffered trauma or emotion-

al neglect; in order for this to occur there

needs to be an external example for the limbic

brain to mimic.

Deep, respectful, contemplative, heart-based

listening based on loving acceptance instead of

judgment may well be the optimal reflection

for a traumatised limbic system to use as a

model for restructuring. Mirror neurons see

this outer, compassionate reflection and fire

internally in the same way; and neurons that

fire together wire together. With a bit of repe-

tition, neural re-wiring occurs (thanks to neuro-

plasticity) which gives a neurological explana-

tion as to why dadirri is good for helping peo-

ple who have suffered trauma.

I feel we’re fortunate to be living in a time

where, whether we’re indigenous or non-

indigenous, we’re waking up. We’re recognis-

ing the common threads between ancient and

modern ways of healing ourselves, and by do-

ing so discovering the techniques that actually

work.

http://upliftconnect.com/indigenous-approach

-to-healing-trauma/

My Sitting Down Place

by Gail Kay,

(Proserpine, North Queensland)

I go down to the creek

Where the water gurgles Joyfully

As it hurries along Over the shining sand and pebbles

To its destiny With the sea.

Dappled sunlight Flits and moves

Across the water, over the creek bank, And the birds sing happily

To the accompaniment Of insects and crickets.

I sit in silence as I soak it all into my soul. Peace flows

From the water To my heart.

Whatever life brings me I now can face

Because of this, My sitting down place!

Source: http://www.creativespirits.info/

aboriginalculture/arts/my-sitting-down-

place#ixzz3pxgJcwIW

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