and now, for something completely different...

When I found out we were coming here, I started finding out about the Aboriginal people here. It's not easy.
I still have the tourist's viewpoint which is very thin. Our closest connection so far has been to have two young girls (14 and 10) ask us to call the police for them one night when Tom and I were sitting on the front porch. "A woman" had terrorized the younger girl at home with a knife and they had not been able to find any other relative's home to go to. The older girl said the woman had never acted like this before. Usually, when she got drunk, she would go to sleep. They sat on our porch until the police came, talked to the officer, then walked away.
The South Pacific Islander party I talked about in an earlier post was for Father Raass who is being sent from our parish to another. He has been among the indigenous people here for six years and tells a bit more:
http://www.centralianadvocate.com.au/article/2009/10/13/4845_news.html