Passengers

"If you want be a passenger

Climb aboard with me we're leaving now

Step outside and see another world

Only if you want to be a passenger"

Lyrics to Passenger by Powderfinger.

In the course of my life I have picked up an awful lot of passengers. Some have stayed in the car, some have got out half way through the journey, some ran off and didn't pay for petrol and some jumped out whilst the vehicle was still in motion. Of course there were also some who were outright hitchhikers that I should have left by the side of the road in a plume of dust.

I am amazed at how many people you meet in a lifetime. They are passengers and some stay with you and some either jump, push, run or walk themselves out of your life. I am fortunate as most of the people who come along for the ride don't get out of the car and its a brilliant journey with them in the passenger seat. Though those who grab hold of the wheel and push you into oncoming traffic are more often than not the ones that are a car crash waiting to happen.

Recently I have been reminded of some of the hitchhikers I have picked up and the lessons they have subsequently imparted upon me for being naive enough to stop and let them ride for free. Interestingly I seem to stop less often for hitchhikers these days. Maybe the car is full? or maybe I have learned that it is only wise to pick up full fare paying passengers who have no destination.

Have We Learned Nothing

I was saddened to hear of the recent death of David Ngoombujarra. I feel this way as we have come so far but have learned so little as a society. Australian history is a topic that is only now being served up to a relatively clueless Australian society. Most Australians are unaware of the past and it is largely because as I have determined from a great deal of study that Australia has largely been embarrassed by its convict heritage. We have been embarrassed by the dissemination of the initial inhabitants of the land and the disastrous ways in which previous governments have dealt with the correct way to provide Australian history to the masses in order for them to feel proud of their heritage and learn from our mistakes in order to help the country and her people in the future.

So yet again another black male has been wronged by our society. A society that has failed to look at the past in order to rectify and assist the future. A society that is too busy to stop and take stock and a society which should only look inward to assess where it went so horribly wrong.

Woollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, an aboriginal who lived in the Port Jackson area at the time of the arrival of the British First Fleet. Arthur Phillip who was the governor of the colony ordered that Bennelong be brought to him to establish relationships with the indiginous populations. The fact is that Bennelong was kidnapped by Phillip who held him against his will for a period of six months, after which Bennelong escaped.

A few months after his escape Bennelong made contact with Phillip and requested that Phillip meet him at Manly for a meeting. During this meeting another aboriginal man threw a spear at Phillip hitting him in the shoulder and wounding him. Perhaps it was retribution for holding Bennelong against his will but suffice to say that Phillip had the good sense to leave well alone and accept that the ways of the indigenous population should be left to their own devices, for the time being anyway. I assume at the time that a dirty big fucken spear through Phillips shoulder made him see their point of view quite clearly.

In 1792 Bennelong travelled to England. The details of his trip are not particularly clear but it was said he was sent in order to meet King George III. Upon Bennelongs return to Sydney Cove in 1795 his health was declining and he was suffering from the effects of alcoholism. He was drinking to excess and nobody thought to stop him. They just provided more and did nothing.

On January 13th 1813 Bennelong succumbed to the disease and died at Kissing Point in Putney.

My point in telling you this story is the place in which Bennelong died and was subsequently buried. The estate of James Squire.

James Squire was a convict transported to Australia for stealing. His claim to fame is he founded Australia's first commercial brewery. If you desire you can still drink in James Squire's name the beers brewed are a special testament to our history and James Squires legacy.

So it was on Sunday July 17th 2011 at 2:40pm some 198 years since the death of Bennelong that Australia loses another of its sons. Why does this continue to happen. Because we allow it to.