A Day Filled with History

On Tuesday May 27th, my classmates and I met in the Rainforest room of our YHA Hostel. The Rainforest room is used as our classroom, which grants us free high speed wifi... aka I really like this room. Our itinerary says we will be meeting here every day when we're in Brisbane. From lectures, editing stories to uploading blog posts, the Rainforest room is our go-to room, away from the hostel residents.

We began our day with a lecture about the Australian Aborigines, who are the native people of Australia who settled the northern region after migrating out of Africa. They are known to be the first wave of migration to Australia. Our lecture was lead by Mary Graham, a Kombu-merri, that has lectured and tutored on subjects in Aboriginal history, politics, and comparative philosophy at the University of Queensland and other educational institutions. Mary is currently working as a community development/ research consultant for the Kummara Association, an indigenous family support center in Brisbane.

Mary talked to us about how the Australian Aborigional culture, which includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the dreamtime. Mary said "Dreaming is not a faith-- I would never say I believe in dreaming." Reference for the land and oral traditions are emphasized, like "a kangaroo the size of a building or a wombat the size of a tank."

Genesis stories are somewhat like evolution stories. Every story is different, but one thing is always the same--"Land made us and sports helped us to find it." The Aboriginal people believe in the lateral system and all are independent. There is no God, no heaven, and no hell. After life, you go to the place where ever your ancestors went and made sacred.

Dreaming stories change with the changes in the land, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Aborigines are great with astronomy and rock formation stories. It is said that when throwing a spear at a kangaroo, a volcano emerges where the kangaroo is hit.

The Aborigines understand climate change, and believe that looking after their place is the biggest lesson. Indigenous people can no longer predict things nor reply only on food and water to survive. They want to form their own associations between groups to find ways to prepare for changes in the environment because we cannot aim for certainty. It's important to accept that the environment will make its own changes.

Although the Aboriginal people believe climate change may be occurring, they still believe the idea of conflict is okay. Unification leads to hierarchy. It works against them too; when they want to be united, someone almost always disagrees.

Mary's lecture was a story... her story.
It was heartwarming to listen to a person who had so much passion for what was being discussed.



After her lecture, my classmates and I ventured to the Queensland Museum. The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, featuring natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement in throughout the state. Popular exhibitions showcase Queensland's prehistoric past, the cultures of Queensland's Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Straight Islanders and Queensland's unique biodiversity. The Museum is also a work-class research facility in the fields of biodiversity, geosciences and cultural history.

Once we were done touring the Museum, my classmates and I explored the South Bank and ate sushi. We also met a friend named Diamond.