East Kimberley Impact Assessment Project IMPACT STORIES OF THE EAST KIMBERLEY Helen Ross (Editor) Eileen Bray (translator) East Kimberley Working Paper No. 28 ISSN 0 86740 356 X ISBN 0816-6323 ,.- April 1989 A Joint Project Of The: Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies Australian National University Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Anthropology Department University of Western Australia Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The aims of the project are as follows: 1. To compile a comprehensive profile of the contemporary social environment of the East Kimberley region utilising both existing information sources and limited fieldwork. 2. Develop and utilise appropriate methodological approaches to social impact assessment within a multi-disciplinary framework. 3. Assess the social impact of major public and private developments of the East Kimberley region's resources (physical, mineral and environmental) on resident Aboriginal communities. Attempt to identify problems/issues which, while possibly dormant at present, are likely to have implications that will affect communities at some stage in the future. 4. Establish a framework to allow the dissemination of research results to Aboriginal communities so as to enable them to develop their own strategies for dealing with social impact issues. 5. To identify in consultation with Governments and regional interests issues and problems which may be susceptible to further research. Views expressed in the Projecfs publications are the views of the authors, and are not necessarily shared by the sponsoring organisations. Address correspondence to: The Executive Officer East Kimberley Project CRES, ANU GPO Box4 Canberra City, ACT 2601 IMPACT STORIES OF THE EAST KIMBERLEY Helen Ross (Editor) Eileen Bray (translator) East Kimberley Working Paper No. 28 ISSN 0 86740 356 X ISBN 0816-6323 April 1989 Helen Ross is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University. Eileen Bray is an Aboriginal Language Worker at the Ngalangangpum School, Turkey Creek. i ABSTRACT This paper presents a selection of stories and commentaries by Aboriginal people of the Turkey Creek area, collected for a community social impact study (Ross, East Kimberley working paper no. 27). The accounts extend from the early impact history of the area, about a century ago, through the pastoral working era, leaving cattle stations in the 1970s and building up new communities, to Aboriginal aspirations in the present. These present Aboriginal points of view; further historical information is presented in historical notes by Clement (East Kimberley working paper no. 29). ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank all of the story tellers from the Warmun (Turkey Creek), Wurreranginy (Frog Hollow), Baulu-Wah (Violet Valley), Yarrunga (Chinaman's Garden) and Juwulinypany (Bow River) communities for their enthusiastic participation in this project. I regret that not all of their stories can be reproduced here. Special thanks are due to Cathie Clement for her archival research. We also thank Frances Kofod, Ian Kirkby, Mike Dillon, Ted Beard and Jimmy Klein for their assistance with background information and verification. Barbara Jones, Kaye Thies, Joyce Hudson, Margaret Mickan, Tasaku Tsunoda, Frances Kofod, Peter Read, Nancy Williams, Rachel and Phillip Fry and Michael Adams for their comments on the draft and forms of presentation; and Ettie Oakman and Wendy Chan who handled the laborious task of typing, and Judy Johnson who handled the proof reading through many amendments. iii EXPLANATORY NOTES These stories were collected in late 1986 and early 1987 as source material for the study 'Community social impact assessment: a cumulative study in the Turkey Creek area, Western Australia' (Helen Ross, East Kimberley working paper no. 27) . The project has since grown around the stories. The Aboriginal people participating in the study were keen to disseminate the stories as a means of public awareness for non­ Aborigines, especially those in a position to influence their affairs, and to record them for succeeding generations in their own communities. After the stories were collected, Cathie Clement joined the study to contribute archival research based on the stories. This is presented in 'Historical notes relevant to impact stories of the East Kimberley' (East Kimberley working paper no. 28) in the form of details concerning the places, people and incidents mentioned in the stories. The communities participating chose oral history as the main research method for the social impact study. Their aims were to help white people to understand what has happened to their people, to explain their current aspirations, and to record their stories for the benefit of younger generations. This collection has been published in fulfilment of these aims. The participating communities were the Warmun community at Turkey Creek, and a number of 'outstation' communities which whose members once lived there and who remain associated with Warmun: Wurreranginy (Frog Hollow), Baulu-Wah (Violet Valley), Yarrunga (Chinaman's Garden) and Juwulinypany (Bow River). Apart from discussions with the Chairman, Kawarra (Bungle Bungle) community was not included on the grounds of its intensive involvement with other East Kimberley Impact Assessment Project researchers. The locations of the participating communities, and the places they refer to, and shown in figure 1. Transcription and orthography The storytellers spoke in Kija, Kriol and English. Many switched between languages within their stories, even within sentences. The choice of a written form in which to present Kriol stories and Kriol passages has been most difficult. The 'public relations' aim of the storytellers requires a document that the intended non-Aboriginal readership can understand, but their aim of recording the stories for Aboriginal posterity suggests that distortion of the speakers' versions should be avoided. iv Translation into standard English would suit the first aim, but not the second. In attempts at translation it proved impossible to retain the character given to the stories by the idiom of individual speakers, and to translate ambiguous passages. I opted for transcriptions with a minimum of editing, in order to avoid distortion of the speaker's versions. Goodrooroo Narrogin (1988) warns against wholesale rewriting, and massive framing and intrusions, and others have advised me similarly. While the transcripts are difficult for some readers of English to follow, most of the intended readership can, with concentration, understand and appreciate the stories in this form. Use of transcripts rather than translation presented another problem. Some linguists feel that the use of English spelling with Kriol risks misrepresenting Kriol and that it is far preferable to use Kriol orthography, side-by-side translation, or to translate into standard English. Kriol is a language in its own right, with its own grammar, yet the use of English spelling makes the storyteller appear to be speaking English incorrectly. Also, the different meanings some words carry in Kriol and English (such as 'cheeky') may confuse English­ speaking readers. There is a Kriol orthography, developed in the Northern Territory, but it is in very limited use in the East Kimberley and is not read by any of the intended readership of this paper, Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal. This ruled it out as a suitable medium, quite apart from the fact that I did not have resources to have the stories converted to the Kriol orthography. It was necessary to use a form reasonably accessible to the intended readerships, of (mainly) non-Aboriginal people familiar with Aboriginal affairs and the Kimberley, and Kimberley Aboriginal people. Most of this readership has at least some familiarity with the form and idiom of Kriol. My eventual choice has been to use English orthography, giving explanations in brackets at times to assist readers. Kriol Some features of Kriol should be noted (see Eagleson, Kaldor and Malcolm 1982, p.86-91): the pronoun 'he' tends to be used as a general form representing 'he, she or it'. Occasionally, 'she' is used in a similarly generic way. Kriol, in common with other Aboriginal languages, has an elaborate pronoun system, which distinguishes single, dual and plural forms, and forms inclusive or exclusive of the first person. the auxiliary verb 'bin' is used as the regular marker of past tense, followed by a present tense verb form. V transitivity, or the property of having an object, is marked by the suffix 'em' being added to verb roots. continuous aspect is distinguished from non­ continuous through the use of the suffix 'bat'. Presentation conventions Some clarification for readers has been provided in brackets and footnotes. Round brackets represent my explanations, including unfamiliar terms, and square brackets show where a word necessary to the flow of a passage has been inserted. Three dots in succession indicate where words (often digressions) have been excluded. Kija words included in the text are written in the orthography recommended in 'Kija sounds and spelling' by Patrick McConvell (1986). Most of these spellings have been checked by Eileen Bray and Frances Kofod; I am responsible for any errors which may remain. Only brief explanations and comments have been included by the editor. Detail is available in the companion papers by Cathie Clement and myself (East Kimberley working papers nos. 27 and 29) . The storytellers are identified