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ABC News
28-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
What it's like to visit Country for the first time and how to prepare
Earlier this year, I went to my mob's Country for the first time. I had never known my connection to Country, as I grew up physically isolated in Lutruwita/Tasmania, with feelings of shame about being Aboriginal. I knew that I had family living on Country in Far North Queensland, but both the people and the place felt so far away. As I got older, I felt a blossoming urge to learn more about my culture. I reached out to family, joined First Nations organisations, and also did an old-fashioned online search. I learnt that the official name for my mob was Dulgubarra-Yidinji, which translates to "belongs to the rainforest Yidinji" in our language, which I am also now beginning to learn. Finally, at age 27, I decided to travel to Dulgubarra-Yidinji Country. I knew that when I visited for the first time, I wanted to understand how to do so respectfully. So, to prepare for my own journey to Country for the first time, I asked some experts for their advice on how to approach and prepare for the experience. Visiting Country for the first time can be a profound way to deepen your connection to your heritage, according to Bardi Jawi First Nations culture consultant and writer, Bebe Oliver. "Honestly, there's no stronger way to do that than to be surrounded by the land that raised your family and your ancestors," he says. Mr Oliver grew up on Bardi Jawi Country in Western Australia's Kimberley region, swimming, collecting shells, and learning about the animals and the seasons, and felt a deep connection to his family. When he later returned after living away for 20 years, he says it was like coming home to a place he never left. He says reasons for visiting Country can vary and the experience will look different for every person and every language group; Some people seek a deeper connection to their family, while others may want to have a strong spiritual experience. And, he adds, often, people find that they are connected to Country in ways they didn't expect. "That happens a lot for Blak people because so much of our history has been disrupted through dispossession and forced removals." Samantha Faulkner is the editor and curator of the book Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia, and a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman, from Badu and Moa Islands in the Torres Strait and the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi peoples of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. She says as a starting place it's important to "seek permission from the appropriate people or body [and] watch others and take your cues from them". Ms Faulkner advises that the Torres Strait Regional Authority have put together a useful 32-page book that you can find on their website: It's worth checking online for relevant resources for the Country you are hoping to visit. Mr Oliver believes that one of the most important aspects of visiting Country is connecting with local people and communities. "Respect is a core value in Blak cultures, and it's something we need to bring with us every step of the way. That means speaking to the local mob first and foremost," says Mr Oliver. Ms Faulkner recommends also planning time for space and reflection in your visit, to give you an opportunity to sit with your feelings about connection to family, Country and ancestors. "It can be overwhelming at times, so take time out for yourself at the end of the day or find a quiet space to decompress," Ms Faulkner advises. Visiting Country can have a significant effect on emotional and mental wellbeing. And that can look different for everyone, according to Dr Carmen Cubillo, a proud saltwater woman and clinical psychologist from Larrakia and Wadjigan Country in the Northern Territory. Dr Cubillo had her own cultural journey coming to her Country at the beginning of her clinical psychology career. She says that visiting country isn't like in the movies, and that it's normal to feel grief about being on colonised land. However, Dr Cubillo also says that many have a positive experience coming to Country for the first time. "You may have feelings of peace or yearning, to know more and be there more, to soak up the goodness of Country. "There is a special energy that only you and Country can feel as a relationship." She says that there is no one correct or appropriate way to feel when you visit country, but advises that if you feel you need support it is important to reach out to a medical or mental health professional to help process the feelings. Have you had an experience of visiting Country for the first time? We'd love to hear from you. Email lifestyle@ When I visited Dulgubarra-Yidinji Country, it was just as the experts had said. I felt a smorgasbord of emotions. I was nervous to speak with new family I had never met, overwhelmed by the cultural knowledge I learned, and in awe as I drove through the clouds on the side of a mountain. In school assemblies, meeting and events I had always acknowledged the Traditional Owners of the Country I lived on. During my trip my Elders said that while my feet were on this land I was a traditional owner myself. This was a very powerful concept and it evoked a lot of emotions that I processed both during and after the trip. And while some of those feelings were hard, overall the experience was transformative. My chest was filled with the strange sensation of coming home to a place I was visiting for the first time. This sort of feeling, of belonging to something I never thought I could connect to, was truly life changing. Sitting with Elders, listening to my mob's stories, made me feel so lucky. I was honoured to listen as they spoke our sacred truths. Under all my personal feelings for my new-found connection to Country, I didn't want to leave, because I know I have so much to learn. I now have a sense that this place is, in many ways, my true home — a place I need to return to.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From ‘convict stain' to badge of honour: Tasmania's early criminals inspire celebrated musical
In 1802 Martha Hayes was transported from England to what was then called Van Diemen's Land, accompanying her convict mother. The teenager was the first white female to set foot in the new colony and, having become pregnant on the voyage, she gave birth to the first white child – a baby girl – on the island we now call Lutruwita/Tasmania. While that child had a convict grandmother, her father was Lt John Bowen, a colonial administrator who led the first white settlement, at Risdon Cove. Martha's story is symbolic of so many Tasmanian family trees post-colonisation: part-convict, part-free settler or colonial master. It's one of 17 brought to life in the musical theatre show Vandemonian Lags, co-written by the musician Mick Thomas of Weddings, Parties, Anything fame and his film-maker brother Steve. Premiering to sellouts and standing ovations at the first Dark Mofo in 2013, the show is back from hiatus for a small run of Victorian performances with a cast including Jeff Lang, Tim Rogers, Brian Nankervis, Darren Hanlon and Claire Anne Taylor. Vandemonian Lags had its genesis in the Founders and Survivors project: a multi-university research collaboration drawing from Tasmania's unusually large and detailed trove of more than 70,000 convict records, which was added to the Unesco memory of the world international register in 2007. One of the creative outcomes was a website presenting 17 convict stories in an accessible, interactive format. Vandemonian Lags ('lag' being the contemporaneous slang for convict) takes these stories and gives them a theatrical life, with live songs – composed and performed by the talented cast of musicians – storytelling, and a combination of film and still imagery. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning It's a joyous, emotional and humanising reclamation of stories that were hidden for so long, often due to shame. 'One of the very early songs I wrote is Two Grandfathers,' Mick Thomas says. 'This kid's got a grandfather who's a pillar of the community, he's very visible. And that grandfather's got a chauffeur who the kid doesn't really think much about. 'The kid only finds out much later in his life that the chauffeur was his other grandfather – but he was a convict. So even though they made allowances for him and got him a job and stuff like that, he was not talked about.' The Thomas brothers have convict ancestry in their own family, which has roots in Victoria (where they grew up) as well as Tasmania. 'The family folklore was very much focused on northern Tasmania,' explains Mick, 'but it was pretty much on a great-grandfather who was a banker; it was definitely not convict-oriented.' There was far less attention given to the other side of the family – the one with the strong convict link. The historian Prof Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, an expert on convict life whose research informed much of Vandemonian Lags, says shame about convict ancestry was particularly persistent in the island state, where marriage between classes was more common and upwardly mobile convicts sought to hide their ignominious past. Steve Thomas says denial was still common when he moved to the state in 1979. 'There was still evidence of that 'convict stain' [mentality], where people would deny they had convicts in their family, or they were ashamed, and often the convict side of the family was erased from history.' But statistics don't lie: 'If you look at the entire Australian population, over 20% of them are descended from convicts,' he says. 'In Tasmania, it's closer to 70%. [It was] this major influx of dispossessed British people being used to build this colony virtually as British slaves. It remains one of the biggest forced migrations of the 19th century.' It was disastrous for the island's Aboriginal people. 'There's no doubt that the arrival of convicts was terrible news for First Nations Australians,' Steve Thomas says, 'and we open the show with this.' The arrival of British graziers from the 1820s coincided with the war against the Aboriginal population; those who were not killed were banished to Flinders Island in Bass Strait. 'The land grab was enormous,' Thomas says. 'But, you know, I guess our contention is that convicts did not choose to be here. They were forced and most of them had no way of getting back.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion In 1851, as gold was discovered in Victoria, Tasmania's former convicts joined the thousands flocking to seek their fortune. They were not welcome. In 1852 the Melbourne Argus described a Vandemonian as 'a pestilential addition to our population' and said 'his coming is an evil we must guard against at all costs'. In the same year the Victorian government passed the Convicts Prevention Act to prevent Vandemonians from making the trip across the strait. It didn't work. And, while many Vandemonian visitors failed to find their fortune on the goldfields, turning to crime or dying paupers, some did very well indeed – including Samuel Phillips, who had been sentenced to transportation for poaching. Eventually given his ticket of leave, he made his way to the goldfields and had a huge strike. 'He was smart enough to just hide it and get back to England as a rich man,' Mick Thomas says. 'And – this is a true story – he purchased the estate on which he got caught poaching!' (In the show, Darren Hanlon brings this story to life in his song The Wildest Dreams of Samuel.) Steve Thomas says views about convict ancestry have changed significantly. 'Genealogy has become really big and this shame that many Tasmanians had about their convict past … gradually has faded, so that what was a stain is now a bit of a badge of honour … people are actually sort of looking back at their convict past. Now they talk about things like convict chic!' The 2013 performances in Hobart were 'so emotional for people', Mick Thomas says. He recalls one young woman, the descendant of a convict featured in the show, accosting him in the foyer. '[She said:] 'You don't know what this means to my family. This is so raw.'' Thomas says the heavy material the team was working with had to be balanced with lightness and humour, a delicate mix required to get the stories across in an entertaining yet truthful way. 'In the end, they are ripping stories,' he says. 'It comes down to the thing that Mark Twain said when he toured Australia, that Australian history reads like a pack of lies but it's all true. So they're ripping yarns. But, you know, they're still people's lives.' Vandemonian Lags is at Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo, on 22 May; Melbourne Recital Centre on 23 May; Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, on 24 May; and Frankston Arts Centre on 25 May
SBS Australia
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Host of 'Alone Australia Season 3: The Reunion' revealed
The participants of 'Alone Australia' Season 3. Credit: Narelle Portanier SBS's standout hit series, Alone Australia Season 3 will wrap on 4 June with a special one-hour reunion episode. With just four episodes and the final four participants remaining, Alone Australia Season 3: The Reunion will stream exclusively on SBS on Demand, following the nail-biting double episode finale of the series. Hosted by SBS's Kumi Taguchi ( ), a self-confessed fan, the special one-hour program, will bring together the entire cast for the first time since they were dropped in the remote wilds of the West Coast Ranges of Tasmania / Lutruwita, completely isolated, stripped of modern possessions, contact and comforts, to self-document their experience. With over 6000 hours of footage filmed, The Reunion will include a plethora of exclusive offerings that fans will relish. Joining Ben, Ceilidh, Corinne, Eva, Karla, Matt, Muzza, Shay, Tom and Yonke, Kumi will unveil more never-been-seen footage than ever before. This will include: a first-look at the record-breaking number and range of catches; detailed dives into ten epic shelters; all the discoveries, ingenuity, bush crafted gizmos and gadgets viewers never got to see; more unseen wonders of wildlife; raw reveals of the highs and lows and the physical and mental tolls experienced by the season's cast; as well as finding out what it was like to reintegrate back into life after Alone Australia . Alone Australia is the ultimate test of endurance, with only three ways to exit: voluntary tap out, medical extraction or as the winner. With no camera crew, each participant must document their own survival through a brutal winter as they fight to stay warm, dry, fed and alive for as long as they can. The final two episodes of Alone Australia will premiere on Wednesday 4 June at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand and culminate at 9.30pm with Alone Australia: The Reunion at 9.30pm exclusively on SBS On Demand, also airing on SBS on Thursday 11 June at 7.30pm. Share this with family and friends SBS's award winning companion podcast. Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who have risen to excellence despite a role-model vacuum.
ABC News
11-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
What farmer Dimity May learnt from changing careers and an interstate move
Unwind with… is a regular column that explores the simple ways interesting people take care of themselves through periods of change or upheaval. Dimity May is a seedling grower who lives on the edge of Glaziers Bay in south-east Lutruwita/Tasmania. with her partner, Mark Egan, and two sons. After the birth of her second son, the 42-year-old left her marketing and communications job in Canberra, on the land of the Ngunnawal people, to pursue her small business. "That little window of time where I was out of work and not earning my usual salary gave us the space to think about it, but also to take that leap." Her passion for gardening began during the maternity leave she took with her first son. Her children are now aged 9 and 6. Dimity says growing seedlings was possible in her small backyard and she didn't intend for it to become a business. When it did, she ran it for three years, before the family relocated to southern Tasmania after 10 years in Canberra. "It's funny because everyone we know here had this sort of vague idea that we've moved to the country for a quieter life … and all of a sudden you're busier than ever, but for me anyway it's really fulfilling and incredibly rewarding," she says. We were sort of in limbo in Canberra. We were trying to find land [to buy] but were pretty much priced out. We started looking further afield and Tassie was always really appealing for a whole number of reasons, but it's harder to get work down here for my partner. He was applying for all sorts of things and got offered a job in Hobart. The place we ended up buying we just saw on the market and jumped at it. We'd barely been to the little town that's closest, barely looked at the house. We've been really lucky, considering how little thought we put into it. It's just sort of the perfect place to land. Knowing the level of fulfilment I get from the work, versus the work that I was doing before, was just such a strong drive. It's so much more rewarding and not just for me, certainly not financially, but in terms of the lifestyle that it's brought to our family. Gardening and being immersed in nature and having your hands in the soil also brings real mood-lifting benefits. That's probably been the biggest challenge. Moving to a property there are so many jobs, and they all feel really pressing and really expensive. We've struggled with that balance, and not just spending the weekend powering through and basically ignoring the kids. We've had to be more intentional about how we spend our time. We dedicate time away from the property. Whether it's a weekend away, going out for a bushwalk, or to the beach for the day. We've got a beautiful little swim spot near us. Without the structure of a normal working day … It can get really blurry. A big thing has been making time to eat well. I'm shocking for running around and shoving something in so at least you're not hungry anymore. But, it's such a fundamental part of whether you feel good or not. I'm trying to really prioritise that and actually stop, cook meals and sit. I love going out in the evening at that sort of sunset time and doing the easy jobs. There's still a lot of stuff to do, but I'll always do the "cheat" things, like watering the garden, picking flowers or a bit of gentle weeding. Just taking it all in and soaking up that time.
ABC News
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Album revives ancient Tasmanian language
Lutruwita/Tasmania once had many unique Aboriginal languages, but the impact of colonisation has silenced all but a collection of ancient words that now form the palawa kani language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Singer-songwriter Dewayne Everettsmith is collaborating with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on a new album and concert series featuring the palawa kani language.
