环球英语 — 231：3226 Kanyini

Voice 1

Hello. I’m Marina Santee.

Voice 2

And I’m Ruby 1 Jones. Welcome to Spotlight 2. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1

The sun sets over the desert of central Australia. This is the best time to see one of the natural wonders of the world – Uluru. This huge rock formation stands nearly three hundred and fifty [350] metres above the ground. It extends even further below the earth. At sunset, the rock changes colour from red, to orange to purple. It is truly one of nature’s most unusual places. Uluru – also known as Ayres rock.

Voice 2

People travel great distances to see this natural wonder. However, for many people it is far more than a beautiful rock. It is important to their history and culture. This area has held great beauty and great pain. It belongs to the native Australian aboriginal 3 tribes 4. These are the indigenous 5 people – the people who lived here before Europeans discovered Australia. In Uluru, the indigenous tribes are the Pijantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. They have a powerful, yet sad, story to tell. Today we share the story of one of the Yankunytjatajara elders – Bob Randall.

Voice 3

‘We can do anything if we so desire. If we have the will, we can do anything.’

Voice 1

The words of Bob Randall. Bob sits beside his home, on the beautiful aboriginal land near Uluru. A large white hat protects his head from the hot sun. His eyes are warm, and gentle. Yet the lines of time on his face show suffering and pain. He is an old man now, though he does not know his age. Yet, he looks strong. He speaks with powerful emotion. His words come from his heart. David Bast shares Bob’s story.

Voice 3

‘We just lived on the land, as people of the land. To us our life was a natural way of being. We did not think of anything as being different from us. Our way was a way that included all of life. If you were alive you connected to everything that is alive – all that is around you.’

‘It is my responsibility to care for everything around me. My people have a name for caring this way – we call it Kanyini. It is caring with unconditional 6 love. You feel good when you live like this. You never feel lonely. How can you? Everything around you is your family. This was the way of life we knew. It was complete and whole. It was Kanyini.’

‘People say I was taken away between the ages of six and eight. I was a little boy, already walking around, playing with other boys. That is how I remember it.’

Voice 4

All Aboriginal and part Aboriginal people are expected to live in the same way as other Australians. Clearly in time, we expect that all persons of aboriginal blood or mixed blood in Australia will live like white Australians do.

Voice 3

“The government took away my Kanyini – that is the way I was connected to four ideas. My beliefs, my spirituality, my land, and my family. One by one, they took these from me. They took me with many other children. Now, people call us a stolen generation.”

Voice 1

The ‘stolen generations’. This tragic 7 part of the history of the Australian indigenous people involved pain and suffering. It began in the late eighteen hundreds. It ended in the late nineteen sixties. In this time, the Australian government separated tens of thousands of indigenous children from their families. Some were taken to government centres. White families took others into their homes. The idea was to change the children’s culture – to make them think and act as white people. Bob Randall tells how they were sent to non–indigenous schools and taught non–indigenous religion. These schools were severe, cold hearted places. Yet many claimed to be Christian 8. Later, he read the Christian Bible for himself. Then he knew that the schools had given him the wrong idea. The Jesus they preached 9 was not the Jesus in the Bible, he said. They did not teach about a man who acted in love, kindness and purity 10. The Jesus of the Bible gave hope and freedom. The severe religion of the schools did not talk about these things. This wrong teaching was just part of the sufferings of the stolen generation.

Voice 2

Lies. Violence. Crime. Injustice 11. For many years, the rest of the world knew little of the sufferings of the stolen generation. But gradually, the truth was told. In 1992, Paul Keating was the Australian prime minister. He made a public announcement. He formally recognised the wrongs of the past...

Voice 5

‘...we took the children from their mothers... It was our ignorance 12 and prejudice.’

Voice 2

A government report in 1997 took matters even further. The report was called, ‘Bringing Them Home.’ It investigated the separation of indigenous children from their families. It confirmed that many thousands of children had been separated from their parents. The report resulted in huge public interest. And it stated that many of the indigenous people’s problems today began with these bad policies of the past.

Voice 1

So how do the sufferings of the stolen generation continue today? Clearly, the children who were moved were directly affected 13 as adults. They lived on the outside of society. They could not go back to the natural life they knew – being at one with the land. Neither could they fit into the non–indigenous world. They did not understand its ways. But the problems of Australian indigenous people today are wider than just this.

The year 2007 is the tenth year anniversary of the ‘Bringing Them Home’ report. Sadly, indigenous people are still disadvantaged. They have higher rates of unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic 14 violence. Experts estimate that alcohol causes the death of an indigenous adult every thirty–eight [38] hours. The report points out that these problems are as a result of a loss of indigenous identity. How could the stolen generation every find their identity and live at peace again?

Voice 2

Bob Randall told his story through a film, called ‘Kanyini’. The film brings the tragic situation of the Australian indigenous people to the public eye. In telling the story of the past, Bob Randall hopes to bring change to the future. Kanyini’s message is clear. We are all responsible for each other. We are responsible for the land around us. We stand as equals on the same land. When we recognise this, then we will bring change. Then, we will stop seeing others as enemies. Instead, we will see them as brothers. Only then, will humans be able to live on the same land in peace.

Voice 1

In another Spotlight programme we examine some government plans that will affect the future for indigenous people. Are these plans good, or bad? Listen out for ‘The Sacred Children.’