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archytas's review
4.0
I read this memoir, published in by ABC Books in 2003, as a result of a challenge to read a book picked randomly from a shelf. My expectations were hence modest, and it was a pleasurable surprise to realise that I was thoroughly engrossed. Randall explicits uses his experiences to explain concepts and Aboriginal realities to a non-Indigenous reading audience - everything from the impact of the Stolen Generations on both individual and community, through to basic cultural and kinship practices among Yunkunytjatjara and northern Australian peoples.
His life included long stints in Adelaide, where I grew up, and Canberra, which is now my home, and this strong sense of place and local culture also drew me in, throwing new perspectives on worlds I had intersected with. Randall was instrumental in the South Australian education system, for example, in the 1970s and early 1980s, a system I encountered later in life. He has a rich capacity to evoke place and time. His focus remains on his own story, and the details more scant than I wanted on his work and its impact at times.
This is a humble story, and Randall does not hide his flaws or even humble brag. His relationships are told simply from his point of view.
It was however, the insight into culture that most sticks with me, and the strong sense of frustration that Aboriginal healing methods are not supported by funding - and in fact that culturally inappropriate barriers are usually set up to access basic services. Randall's focus moves to this at the end of the book, as he tells of moving back to his country later in life, and his focus moves away from engagement with state institutions.
This book, published just before ebooks became mainstream, would be a great one to make available again in that format. It would be a big shame for it to languish out of print (although it remains accessible in more than 90 libraries).
His life included long stints in Adelaide, where I grew up, and Canberra, which is now my home, and this strong sense of place and local culture also drew me in, throwing new perspectives on worlds I had intersected with. Randall was instrumental in the South Australian education system, for example, in the 1970s and early 1980s, a system I encountered later in life. He has a rich capacity to evoke place and time. His focus remains on his own story, and the details more scant than I wanted on his work and its impact at times.
This is a humble story, and Randall does not hide his flaws or even humble brag. His relationships are told simply from his point of view.
It was however, the insight into culture that most sticks with me, and the strong sense of frustration that Aboriginal healing methods are not supported by funding - and in fact that culturally inappropriate barriers are usually set up to access basic services. Randall's focus moves to this at the end of the book, as he tells of moving back to his country later in life, and his focus moves away from engagement with state institutions.
This book, published just before ebooks became mainstream, would be a great one to make available again in that format. It would be a big shame for it to languish out of print (although it remains accessible in more than 90 libraries).
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