Dharug Women's Perspectives On
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MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY Faculty of Human Sciences Department of Educational Studies Country Tracking Voices: Dharug women’s perspectives on presences, places and practices A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dated: 15th August, 2018 Jo Anne Rey BA (DipEd) MEd (International Education) 1 Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Ethics Committee Approval No 5201500053 Signed: Jo Anne Rey 15th, August, 2018. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge and pay my respects to Dharug Nura, Dharug Country and its custodians, through which these knowledges arise and in which this thesis is connected and produced. I also pay my respects to all Ancestors and Elders, past, present and forthcoming, across the Countries connected to its examination, recognising that they always have been and always will be caring for their respective places of belonging. Heartfelt thanks to the Dharug community who so generously took me into their ‘cultural hearts’ when I arrived on their doorstep as a ‘Dharug two-year old.’ Without the generosity and inclusivity of Aunty Sandra and Terri Lee, I may well have wandered off track and never known the profound insights that the last 10 years have provided. Even more directly, I am deeply indebted to the Dharug women who have supported this project, contributed to it with their stories, their love, their patience (after all I was culturally only a five-year-old then), and in the process, they have woven me into their worlds. I sincerely hope that this ‘basket-of-knowledges’ and all the years of work involved can contribute to saying ‘thank you’ to you all, truly together creating our Seven Sistas. More broadly, several other Dharug community members have offered appreciated wisdom along the way, particularly Uncle Lex Dadd, Uncle Colin Locke, Dr Shane Smithers and Uncle Chris Tobin. At the same time, I wish to acknowledge my profound appreciation for the supervisory assistance and overall warm support given me by my three Macquarie University mentors. First, my Principal Supervisor, Associate Professor Neil Harrison, without whose assistance, patience, tips, diplomacy and good humour over the several years of this candidature, this work would never have been woven. Second, in that weaving and particularly for her enthusiasm and sensitive insights into human and non-human relationships, particularly through her own weavings with Bawaka Country in the Northern Territory, Australia, and her Yolngu sisters belonging there, my Assistant Supervisor, Associate Professor Sandie Suchet-Pearson. Third, for her community guidance, supportive encouragement and steady hand at the writing helm of the thesis, I wish to sincerely thank Dr Leanne Holt, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy), Macquarie University. Goannas and possum skin considerations have been happily shared. All three mentors have afforded me, in their respective ways across this candidature, an amazing generosity, open-heartedness and inspiring patience. Between all of you, this walking has been a weaving path that I hope is strong and true at the core. Heartfelt thanks and love to you all. 3 I wish to thank the NSW Institute of Educational Research (IER) for their support and project funding by awarding me the NSW IER Maria Lock Indigenous Research Award in 2016. Additionally, thanks to Blacktown Arts Centre and Jenny Bisset and team for their venue support as needed. I wish to acknowledge and thank Hazel Baker of English Express for her editorial services. Particularly, I wish to acknowledge my family members who supported my decision to take on this new adventure: my children Toby, Claire and Jonathon and their partners; cuzzies down on the farm giving me much needed breaks from the ‘big smoke’, Nicola and Jim; my extended family of Faye, Robyn, Cheryl, Ray and James; friends who stood by me along the way, Rena and Christian, Leo, David and Suzie, Peter, Margie, Bob and Sola, and the two Annes; the Swiss mob, Danielle and Christophe; my other two musketeers, Brigitte and Carole; Nanny and the Swiss Reys, Philippe and Jane. Each of you has contributed just by being there. Finally, Missy, the King Charles Cavalier snorer, whose songs at 3am would wake me, and from which many deeply thoughtful times arose. Where would I be without you all? A very humble but enormous thank you. It has been a crucial underpinning to this work that whatever knowledge comes from this project goes back to benefit Dharug community in the future, and benefit Mother Country in the process. Should it sit well with others, then it is my sincerest wish that it be of assistance to all sentient beings thereafter. I dedicate this thesis to Daniel Rey (1958 – 2007) Always in my heart and walking beside me 4 Abstract Country Tracking Voices is a thesis that for the first time brings seven Dharug women’s voices to the written scholarship and broader academy. It is centered in the Australian Aboriginal belief that we belong and are obligated to caring for Country as it is the source of all species’ wellbeing and survival. The thesis engages with how seven Dharug custodians are continuing cultural practices, sharing Dharug knowledges and employing Dharug ways of caring, connecting and belonging. When Dharug Country covers the majority of Sydney, Australia, this thesis contributes knowledges for resilience and renewal to benefit all sentient beings. The ways of practicing Dharug culture today are diverse, educational and positive. They include puppetry, the visual arts, singing, dancing, possum-skin work, weaving, story-telling and poetry, as well as through customary ceremonies and practices. Equally the ways of undertaking research are diverse. This thesis challenges customary thesis methodologies by including the influence of other-than-humans in the research process. By recognizing the agency of Country, this research is able to acknowledge participant voices of birds, possums, and sandstone. It also positions the research method as ‘Goanna walking’, de-composes human-centricity and repositions us to the more sustainable place of being only one within a profound web of interconnectivity. What also makes this project unique is that for more than 200 years Dharug people, Country, practices and values have been talked about by others. In this thesis, we talk back. This project is not a representation of all Dharug people. It is instead a beginning. It offers Goanna’s trailing tail in the sand: simply a tale to follow. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Country Tracking Voices: Dharug women’s perspectives on presences, places and practices 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ 13 TABLE 1: SYMBOLS REPRESENTING THE VOICES IN THIS THESIS ...................................................... 15 WARNING .......................................................................................................................................... 17 GLOSSARY OF TERMS ........................................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER 1: Openings as Disruptive Places and Pointers ................................................................. 21 1.1 Cultural Calls ................................................................................................................... 22 1.1.1 Welcome into Our Place - Dharug Country and Acknowledgements ...................... 22 1.1.2 Our Place of Belonging ............................................................................................. 23 1.1.3 My Place of Acknowledgements .............................................................................. 26 1.1.4 The Place of Outlook ................................................................................................ 26 1.1.5 My Place of Belonging .............................................................................................. 29 1.2 The Place of the Coloniser’s Past .................................................................................... 31 1.3 Pointing out the Path: a time-space index ...................................................................... 34 1.4 A Topographical view of the Outlooks ............................................................................ 40 1.4.1 Lookout 1: Walking Between Humanism and Posthumanism: an Ecosophy of Dharug women’s ways .............................................................................................................. 41 1.4.2 Lookout 2: Walking between Places: Engaging with ‘Brick Walls’ (as sites of Construction) and Trailing Spaces (as Sites of Connection). ............................................. 42 1.4.3 Lookout 3: Walking between Practices: Writing and Other-than-Writing (Academic ‘doing’ and Dharug women’s ‘doing’) ..............................................................................