Latest news with #Aboriginality
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's been interesting': The awkward questions Brooke Boney gets in England
Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we're told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they're given. This week he talks to Brooke Boney. The Gamilaroi journalist, 38, has presented for Triple J, NITV, SBS, the ABC and Today, and is completing a master's in public policy at Oxford University. Her debut book, All of It, is a collection of essays. RELIGION Did you grow up with religion? It's a common misconception that all Aboriginal people are super-left or really progressive. There were always missionaries in Aboriginal communities, so in the country areas [Christian] religion is a big part of Aboriginality. My [maternal] grandparents believe in god; we weren't allowed to say any swear words, we weren't even allowed to say 'fart'. I used to go to church with my cousin and her nan and pop and they bought me a Bible, which I still have. The things we were taught about at Sunday school – about fairness, generosity and charity – are good principles. What do you tick now for 'Religion' on the census? Oh, I don't think I'd tick anything.
The Age
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘It's been interesting': The awkward questions Brooke Boney gets in England
Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we're told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they're given. This week he talks to Brooke Boney. The Gamilaroi journalist, 38, has presented for Triple J, NITV, SBS, the ABC and Today, and is completing a master's in public policy at Oxford University. Her debut book, All of It, is a collection of essays. RELIGION Did you grow up with religion? It's a common misconception that all Aboriginal people are super-left or really progressive. There were always missionaries in Aboriginal communities, so in the country areas [Christian] religion is a big part of Aboriginality. My [maternal] grandparents believe in god; we weren't allowed to say any swear words, we weren't even allowed to say 'fart'. I used to go to church with my cousin and her nan and pop and they bought me a Bible, which I still have. The things we were taught about at Sunday school – about fairness, generosity and charity – are good principles. What do you tick now for 'Religion' on the census? Oh, I don't think I'd tick anything.
The Guardian
02-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Andrew Krakouer blazed his own trail beyond family history and football feats
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains the name and images of a deceased person Some of the best Australian sportswriting of the 1980s came from a young journalist from Tasmania, Martin Flanagan. He was particularly fond of Fitzroy and North Melbourne – two clubs with scarcely a dollar to their name, but rich in character and talent. Flanagan would write about anything – politicians, war heroes, graffiti artists, homeless people, police and paramedics attending catastrophic car accidents. But where he really excelled was writing about Aboriginal footballers. Many of the scribes and coaches of that era downplayed the Aboriginality of players like the Kangaroos' Jim and Phil Krakouer. No, Flanagan insisted, it should be celebrated. It should be understood. And it should be nurtured. He encouraged the 'Black Magic' signs. He applauded the VFL's full-page newspaper ad, 'Take your family to see some Aboriginal art tomorrow'. 'It is rare that there is no booing when the Krakouers approach the ball,' Flanagan wrote in 1986. 'You cannot help but suspect that they violate too many stereotypes and preconceptions, that things would be better if they were more mindful of their place. Small and slight, it might be better if they contented themselves with gathering the crumbs. The problem with the Krakouers is that, often as not, they take the cake.' Phil was unlike any footballer I've ever seen. He moved like one of those inflatable tube men that flap outside car dealerships. He had rubbery limbs and a tortured kicking action. He would pat the ball on the ground instead of bouncing. He would appear, Flanagan wrote, 'like woodsmoke at the edge of packs'. Jim was completely different. He had clean hands, watchful eyes, sharp elbows, and a lot of history. John Kennedy, who'd seen and coached most of the greats, said he was one of the best ball handlers he'd ever seen. But if you tugged his jumper, if you went after his brother and if you racially vilified him, he would punch you, and he would punch you hard. He had the left hook of a man who'd been trained to box, a man who'd been fighting all his life, a man who would give you one warning. 'It has been in my make-up since I was a kid not to let people stand over me,' he told the VFL tribunal in 1982. 'I will be like that till the day I die.' In 1990, Jim transferred to St Kilda, where he collected 36 possessions in his first game and built up a rapport with Danny Frawley, who would later coach his son. Just four years later, Jim was arrested for his role in trafficking amphetamines. He was sentenced to 16 years prison and served nine. He was in jail when his son Andrew debuted for Richmond against Essendon in front of nearly 80,000 people. Andrew was a very different footballer to his father and his uncle. He had excellent forward craft. He got to the right spots and did the fundamentals well. If you freeze frame the seconds leading up to his mark of the year in 2011, after he'd moved to Collingwood, there are at least seven players who at some point look as though they had claims on the mark. Krakouer is the only one of the seven whose eyes are on the ball the entire time. Five years earlier, he'd been charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm. Teammates, teachers, coaches and even the presiding judge expressed bewilderment that an apparently gentle man was capable of such a savage attack. This column isn't about glossing over the events of that night. Andrew himself certainly never did. He's lucky his victim didn't die. He's lucky he wasn't locked up for longer. He was certain he'd never play football again. And yet there he was, halfway through the second quarter of the 2011 grand final, looking as though he was going to win the game off his own boot. I watched that game down near the fence in the forward pocket underneath the Olympic Stand. It was a bitterly cold day and a rain-dotted, nerve-shredding, high-standard contest between two of the great teams of this century. The Geelong defenders – so lippy, so cocky and so good – were flummoxed by Krakouer. You could hear them screaming and swearing at one another, throwing their hands in the air and trying to rearrange themselves. Krakouer just stood there, chewing his gum. At their best, the Cats defenders had a telepathy that was almost reminiscent of Jim and Phil. For about 10 minutes this day, they were in disarray. As it turned out, another son of a former VFL player wrenched the premiership back off Collingwood. Krakouer never hit such heights again. It really didn't matter. He mentored young prisoners. He spoke at schools. He co-authored a kids book about children whose parents had been incarcerated. He was a calm, clear and unwavering voice detailing the racism at Collingwood. Krakouer, the son of a painfully shy man who solved problems with his fists, engaged respectfully with some of the powerful men in the game. This is what happened, and this is what needs to change, he told them. Krakouer was 16 when he first became a dad. In every interview, he rarely talked about football. Instead, he talked about his four daughters – how they'd never judged him, how they'd given him strength and hope in prison. As a kid, when he tried to hug his dad, prison officers would intervene. He overcompensated, he said, with physical affection to his own girls. On Sunday, while out in the garden, he had a heart attack and died. He was 42 years old. The Crows are just the third team to win each of their 12 quarters to start the season, after the Hawks in 1987 and the Eagles the following year. The resurgent side could become the first to win their opening 13 quarters when they face Gold Coast on Saturday. This week marks 30 years since Fremantle played their first AFL game. The Dockers fielded 10 debutants on 1 April 1995, and were led by an innovative coach who was years before his time. Gerard Neesham drew from his experiences as a water polo player, eschewing the pointlessness of circle work at training, instead focusing on speed, protecting the ball carrier and an early iteration of the forward press. At least initially, it caught many opponents off guard. The Dockers rallied to just fall short of a very good Richmond side in their first game. Greg Hobbs wrote in the following week's Footy Record: 'Well done Fremantle! You didn't come home with a victory last week in the Richmond clash but you did the next best thing … unleash a spirited and proud beginning for a club that since its birth has been criticised right, left and centre for its so-called lack of talent.' The Eagles' chief executive does his best to hide any displeasure while talking with SEN about the key forward meeting with the Hawks coach, Sam Mitchell. Allen will be a free agent at season's end. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion 'Thank you from the deep south of WA for looking at Harley's second season. It's nice to see some intelligence and reason in the footy media, when the field is so strewn with gobshite and ego. Oh yes, and betting ads. 'Harley has a mentor, Elliot Yeo, and I'm sure he'll be in his ear a little this week and all season long.' Jeff, a West Coast supporter and self-acclaimed Harley Reid fan, appreciates the more considered views of the 19-year-old's start to his second season. But Leila Toiviainen comes at it with yellow and black glasses on, saying: 'Dusty is far too good for Reid, should be not mentioned in the same sentence.' Any feedback or thoughts you want to share from the stands (or the couch)? Reply to this email or send your views to fromthepocket@ Which club did Joe Johnson, the VFL/AFL's first recognised Indigenous player, play for? Bonus point if you know the year he debuted. Answers in next week's newsletter, but if you think you know it, hit reply and let me know! Last week's answer: Which premiership team in the AFL era is the only one to not have any players named in that year's All-Australian team? Hawthorn in 1991. Congratulations to Pat A, who was first to reply with the right answer. Fremantle outclass West Coast as a western derby win keeps the wolves from the Dockers' door, while Hawka explains that life as a sporting mascot is anything but predictable. The former Richmond and Collingwood star Andrew Krakouer dies aged 42. Reply to this email and drop me a line, or email fromthepocket@ Have a friend who might? Forward this to them, or tell them how to get it.
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- The Guardian
The Perth tradie: ‘Do I keep grinding through 12-hour days?'
Brent Daylight knows hard work. For years, the former roof plumber put in long days under the scorching Western Australian sun but, when he couldn't find reliable workers, he took a punt on something new. At 39, he remortgaged his family home and bought a business that installs CCTV cameras on construction sites across Perth, where builders are battling illegal dumping and a growing epidemic of copper and timber thefts. Daylight, who lives in the highly marginal Liberal-held seat of Moore, also works night shifts at a mining company twice a week to keep the new business and his young family afloat. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Although settled in Perth, he is a Jarowair man from south-east Queensland. Despite his workload, he says life is much better for him than it was for his parents and grandparents. 'All the elders in my family were removed from country and moved down to missions across south-east Queensland,' Daylight says. With a family to support, Daylight's grandfather was forced to conceal his Aboriginality to gain employment. 'Indigenous Australians face such harsh stereotypes but there are plenty of successful First Nation businesses and I want to be one of them,' Daylight says. It never really stops. Being a small business owner, we are constantly getting emails. Basically, I have to get all my work done in three days and then I also work night shifts as a fixed plant controller for BHP in the city twice a week – so I'm doing two jobs. Day-to-day is just kilometres in the car. Yesterday, I started north in Yanchep at 7am and I finished more than an hour south of Perth in Kwinana, at 7pm that night. If the work is there, I work 12-hour days and just smash it out because it means, come the end of the week, I might get a day where I can get away and do something for myself. In my spare time, when I'm not doing installs, I'm doing development on new camera poles so I can eventually compete in the commercial market. Outside of work I'm normally either surfing or planning trips away. I try to get my daughters out camping up north or down south as much as possible. They learn a lot being outdoors about fishing, surfing and doing things kids should be doing away from screens. It teaches them to appreciate Country and be respectful as we are visitors to this beautiful state. There are a few things. My biggest stressor is cost of living, the price of food mainly – it is ridiculous – but also the falling Australian dollar. I purchase my CCTV units from China, where everything is priced in the US dollar. So when the Australian dollar falls it really affects my bottom line. The cost to import stock now takes an extra two months to earn back from installs and rental than it did when the old owner was purchasing. Then, on top of that, builders don't always pay invoices on time. I also think the price of housing is stressful right now, because we would like to buy a house that is on a bigger block to have more room for the girls as they get older. I want to grow the business, but I don't want to take on more debt. So, I have to decide if I keep grinding through 12-hour days split between two jobs. The work is there, there is no doubt, but it is just about whether the timing is right. We want more time with family, more time in the water. But for now, there are bills to pay and a business to run. I am optimistic. But I am worried about climate change and the future for our kids. It is a big pusher for us, in terms of political views and who to vote [for]. There is contradicting evidence about windfarms and solar and I'm not sure about nuclear energy. I feel like our time has passed now and, if we were going to get into nuclear power, we should have done it 10 years ago, like other countries. This is a tough question – I lost my dad at a young age and was brought up in a single-parent home by my mum with my two sisters. My mum is the most amazing person in the world and would do anything for us kids. I believe if my dad was still around when we were growing up, with two incomes things would have been comfortable. That wasn't the case and we scraped by. Comparing that to what I have now with a two-income household and a business, I feel like we are living a pretty good life. I don't trust social media for news, I don't believe anything I read on social media. ABC is my main source of news that I read when I'm at work. I read it online and I don't pay for any sort of news subscription. I like podcasts and I listen to a lot of business podcasts. I do listen to a lot of ABC news on the radio. I have always been a real Greens and Labor voter. I don't like Peter Dutton – like the other week when he said that he doesn't feel the pressure to cut the [interest] rates, but he criticised the Albanese government for not doing enough to cut the costs of living. And the fact that he said that if he was prime minister he wouldn't stand in front of the Aboriginal flag. Well, that is just rude. I don't think you need to be disrespectful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I feel like he has come out trying to look like Trump in the last couple of weeks. So, I will go with Labor at the federal election.
