I believe you are right Australian “Balanda” culture has some big problems, largely due to a sell out to consumerism and an extreme form of individualism. And the negative aspects of Balanda culture have their greatest impact on the minority groups. Many of challenges the Yolngu people face as they try to make better lives are an out working of problems in our larger society. Especally when it comes to the influence of media and how the Government treats people. Our Government no longers know how to respond to the needs of people only statisics and media enhanced retoric. There is a genuine need for Australians to respond to marginalised Indigenous people as humans and friends, rather than objects to be fixed. Unfortunately this requires us (as individuals) to do some hard things that involve a commitment to sharing the burdens people carry and as governments and organisations to give up some power. It means giving up some of the comforts of the mainstream to truely be with the marginalised in their struggles, and letting go of some of our beloved ideologies and rules. It means … well perhaps I should leave it to another artilce.

A regular visitor to Australia from the UK and later from the USA since 1985, living here (WA) since 2006, I am appalled at my own earlier ignorance, my stereotype view of the Aboriginal culture. Another point I will make about the non-Indigenous population is an opinion based on a working life of years spent conducting international business which crossed numerous cultural divides. We are witnessing the slow self-destruction of the European descendant family value system. Whole families here are preoccupied with material possessions, maximum comfort for minimal effort, with daily public displays of ‘me-first’ attitudes. Greed is this society’s prison.

I do not see happy white people here, for all their wealth, for all their advantages. Rudeness is almost guaranteed to show itself during shopping trips, and there is no age or gender limit ito those responsible ill manners. It has been quite a shock to my family when compared to the much more thoughtful, civil and generous community culture we enjoyed while living in the United States. I am left wondering, again drawing on longstanding cultural experience, whether the British psyche is at the root of it, because this is the dominant influence where I and my family are living and we had seen this emerging trend when we moved from the UK in the nineties. (BTW – I am British born).

The point I am making is that the dominant ‘Balanda’ culture has virtually lost its soul. It has been up for sale to the highest bidder for too long – but please permit me to suggest that in spite of all the sad history of injustice, the hardships and the pain, there is reason to believe that the Aboriginal soul is much more resilient. Perhaps my word instead of ‘soul’ should be ‘spirit’ and this is a white man’s perspective so I hope it is OK to express it in this way.

The following is a familiar quotation to many white people of European descent, but it does no harm to remind ourselves of the words of Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797) an Irish born orator, philosopher, and politician who lived for many years in England. It is sad to reflect that his shared wisdom had insufficient impact on those who had and have so much authority over others

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Ani in her March 2010 comment used the words ‘Wake up’. Some of us white fellas are waking up but it has been a long sleep and there is serious communications work to be done in our communities. Enough of us want our souls back. We are going to need Aboriginal leadership and skills to make a difference – because our forebears failed to learn from you in the first place. The search is on for good men – and women and children, regardless of ethnicity – to do something.