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Words apart, but two worlds come a little closer to terms

By TONY STEPHENS in Bourke

23 March 2000 - Young Tara McKellar, of Bourke, and Elizabeth II, Queen of England and Australia, did their best yesterday to complete a circle and put behind them a deep unhappiness in the heart of this country.

Tara, aged 13, handsome and confident, with a British name on her lips and black blood in her veins, asked the Queen: "Ilakadi thawarla ini, Your Majesty?" How are you going, Your Majesty?

Tara explained later that her native language, Yandruwandha, did not have words for "Your Majesty".

In any case, Her Majesty was going very well in Bourke, gateway to the outback.

Captain Charles Sturt was the first Englishman to come here, in 1829. He had, in his own words, "an earnest desire to promote the public good" and his expeditions to the interior are among the epic legends of exploration.

He "discovered" the Darling River, on which Bourke was built. The Ngemba people had discovered the river thousands of years before, of course, but Sturt met them sympathetically and without violence.

The goodwill did not last. Thomas Mitchell built Fort Bourke in 1835 as a defence against hostile Aborigines. Black-white relations deteriorated. As recently as 1997, Aborigines rioted, leaving nine policemen injured, shops and cars smashed.

Yet the Queen wished to see some towns and the Premier, Mr Carr, recommended Bourke as a town that had turned away from the bad old days.

He said the staff of Bourke Primary School and the principal, Mr Paul Loxley, were entitled to credit. The school won a human rights award last year for innovative programs that dramatically increased attendances and lifted literacy and numeracy levels.

The Queen seemed impressed with social links being built at the school and with the fact that white and black children are learning an Aboriginal language.

A child was equally impressed when, asking how many rooms there were in Buckingham Palace, the Queen said: "Some people say 600. I don't know how true that is."

The Queen went from the school to radio station 2CUZ, where she met Tara and Aboriginal dancers from Brewarrina, missing the old, run-down mission on the fringe of town where some people live in houses with smashed walls and without electricity.

The mayor, Councillor Wayne O'Malley, said the town had nothing to hide but that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had less than two hours in town.

Mr Greg McKellar, of the Murdipaaki Regional Council, said: "There's still hopelessness and despair in parts of the community but, if the Queen had limited time in Sydney, you would not take her to Kings Cross."

Bourke's population is 3,600, of which about a third is indigenous. About 5,000 turned up in sodden Central Park to greet their monarch, some having driven hundreds of kilometres. Flooded roads kept countless more at home.

Mr Alan Jackson wrapped himself in an Aboriginal flag and said the Queen should apologise for standing on Aboriginal land.

Other Aborigines were pleased to see the Queen. Ms Margaret Thorne, who took her four children, said: "It's good that she wants to come to Bourke. It's once in a lifetime for us."

Mr Carr quoted Henry Lawson: "You find the new Australian here that we in town know nought about." He said Bourke was not so much a place on the map but in the Australian imagination.

The town exemplified the fighting spirit of remote Australia. If reconciliation were to succeed, it would have to work here.

The Queen said: "All communities need building with patience and understanding in ways such as these."

This article is from: The Sydney Morning Herald

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