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Cathy Freeman champions wonders of indigenous tourism

By Rachel Browne

4 March 2007 - CATHY Freeman is urging all Australians to visit Aboriginal communities in the outback to fully appreciate the issues facing indigenous people.

The retired champion athlete has recently returned from a seven-week road trip from Alice Springs to the Torres Strait for the SBS television series Going Bush.

"I think everyone who claims to be Australian should go," she said.

"They should just go. Jump in a plane, fly to Alice or Darwin. Drive or take public transport.

Catch a bus. It's easy to go there. If you can just put aside some time in your life, it is so worth it. It is life changing and it's there. It is there in our own backyard."

In the second series of Going Bush, the Sydney Olympics 400-metre gold medallist is joined by actor Luke Carroll, replacing Deborah Mailman who recently gave birth to her first child.

The pair travel to remote missions in the Northern Territory and Queensland, meeting the people who live there and absorbing their way of life.

With indigenous tourism in its infancy, Freeman and Carroll hope their Lonely Planet Television-produced series will spread the word within Australia and internationally.

"I think it will spread like wildfire because it is something really special," Freeman said.

"People are going to be scratching their heads wondering why they hadn't discovered it sooner.
"It's almost like people will think, 'This is really annoying, why haven't I heard about this whole other side of Australia?"'

Both Freeman, 34, and Carroll, 28, hope to challenge racial stereotypes in the five-part series that goes to air from March 21.

"Both Cathy and I wanted to show the world that there are positive things happening in these communities," said Carroll, who has received Australian Film Institute nominations for his work on the television series RAN: Remote Area Nurse and the film Australian Rules.

"They get a raw deal sometimes," he said. "That's not to say there aren't problems in indigenous communities, but it's not all bad."

Freeman, OAM, who recently announced her engagement to Melbourne equities dealer James Murch, believes it is necessary to give wider Australia a balanced perspective of indigenous life in the outback.

"We want to show our people in a better light," she said.

"It's not all doom and gloom and bad leadership. This is not political. This is about looking forward to the future and raising people's awareness.

" There are good things happening within Aboriginal communities. We have something to be really proud of."

SourceThe Sun-Herald

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