This episode of Tribal Fires called Apprehended, reflects youth detention and juvenile social justice issues facing many Aboriginal peoples.
This story is based on the lived experience of Robert Eggington, the creator of Tribal Fires and his fight to clear his son (Bobbo Eggington R.I.P.) from false police charges in Western Australia.
This story also features Bobbo’s son Robert Joel Eggington who gives tribute through the songs of Archie Roach.
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This episode of Tribal Fires titled ‘Ostracised’ is a reflection of Dumbartung’s history on the old Clontarf orphanage site in Manning, Western Australia.
It is a tribute to the orphans, some of which I had the honour of meeting and hearing their personal stories of struggle to survive.
The episode also tells of the political ostricisation of Dumbartung by successive governments to suppress our voice of truth telling and our rights as Aboriginal people to self determination.
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This episode of Tribal Fires is a respected tribute story to three close advocates for the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation.
John Pilger; Journalist, author & film maker.
Irene Cunningham; Environmental historian, author
John Pell; Community servant, Elder
Since the beginning of Dumbartung these three amazing human beings have given their time, passion & commitment to help take the messages of Dumbartung across this country and the globe.
May you all rest in peace and your campfires burn forever.
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This Podcast 'Powder', is a cry-out to our young people to be consciously aware of the scourge and devastation that powdered drugs such as Methamphetamine and Heroin has on our culture, families and communities.
This story is told through the lens of a lived experience, working in our communities over a 44 year period and seeing first hand the suffering and pain that addiction and trauma has inflicted on our people.
The transition to freedom and love for our people is to face these atrocities with the courage of heart of our ancestors.
May our campfires burn forever.
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This Podcast ‘Pearl Shell’ is a tribute to the Bardi Elders of the One Arm Point Community in the North West Kimberley region of Western Australia.
It tells of the times that I shared and the knowledge gained from many years of travelling and exchanging ancient stories and customs.
The connection and the knowledge gleaned is still a guiding light today for Dumbartung’s ongoing work in all community spheres.
Although all the Elders have passed, Our respect and memories of this experience and friendhip is still cherished today.
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This video podcast titled Wall of Shame - Nations go to war, tells the story of the plundering and pillaging of cultural objects during the colonisation period of Indigenous lands.
We also discuss Dumbartungs wall of shame which has examples of cultural exploitation in varying forms. We also cover issues of racism that challenges our young generations on a daily basis.
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This story titled ‘Vengeance’ looks back over 3 important decades of change and advancement for Aboriginal people. The 1970s, 80s and 90s reflects a time when self-determination and funding resources were extremely restrictive and Aboriginal people faced harsh government laws and policies. These policies kept Aboriginal people oppressed and excluded them from mainstream advancement. The story also reflects todays circumstances where Aboriginal people have benefited from recent inclusive opportunities. These mainstream policies have created an assimilated population that no longer resists the will to struggle for their rightful traditional ownership.
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During the last 2 decades Dumbartung has been approached by the state Lotterywest commission to offer their support to fund a Cultural truth telling centre.
During these meetings Dumbartung has been encouraged to believe that the funding was an obligation of trust by the Western Australian government. After being awarded a significant assessment award funded by Dept. of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
It was understood that the new gallery would be funded.
However recent discussions broke down after a 2 year process and a determination by Lotterywest that the funding requested by Dumbartung via the quantum surveyor exceeded their expectation and rejected the proposal.
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This important episode of Tribal Fires merged from meeting Irish songwriters, poets story collectors and actors in Perth, Western Australia while they were in town doing their own cultural performances. Two important Nyoongah Elders brought them into Dumbartung to meet with myself and Selina for a day of cultural sharing. This podcast titled Irish Connections is a result of our meeting.
This podcast focuses on both the Irish and Aboriginal histories and the legacies of forced occupation.
Our special guests are Manchan Megan & Eddie Sherlock
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In 2017 Dumbartung toured Capetown, South Africa via the Savanna.
We met officially with a number of internationally known organisations and institutions, including; The District 6 museum, Archbishop Tutu Truth centre, The king of the Khoisan nation and a tour of Robben island prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and wrote his famous autobiography - 'The long walk to freedom'.
We acknowledge the gratitude and kindness of the local people who hosted our visit.
This tour enabled us to benefit from discussions between our 2 nations who have both suffered genocide and the colonialism of the British empire.
This episode explores the deep traumas and legacies that still prevail today from past government policies.
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In 2011 the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government) meeting was held in Perth, Western Australia.
The Queen of England visited for the occasion. During her trip she opened the newly constructed Clontarf college boarding house. Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation is also situated on the same site. During the lead up to the visit, Dumbartung was visited on many occasions by several security organisations as they had a perception that Dumbartung may be a threat to the royal visit. This podcast details the extraordinary steps taken to try and deter Dumbartung staff from attending the royal visit.
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This episode of Tribal fires, titled ‘On The Edge’ discusses the political and cultural challenges facing the worlds Indigenous peoples, including refugees and those suffering dispossession.
This episode is a special tribute to encourage all young people of the world to unite and engage in activism in order to transform the current threats facing our planet, including, Climate Change, War and famine.
‘MAY OUR CAMPFIRES BURN FOREVER’
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This episode is a tribute to all of our people who survived, following their lives as Stolen Generation children. We also give a tribute to their great artistic creativity, which was constantly exploited by mainstream society in return for menial rewards such as a hamburger for a masterpiece painting. This episode is extremely important for our young people to understand the history of this era and how our people suffered to build a better future for their children. May our campfires burn forever..
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This episode tells the story of my experience in 1980 travelling from Broome to the Noonkanbah protests against the mining giant AMAX, drilling for oil on the sacred site of the Goanna Dreaming. The story covers the history of Dumbartungs activism in the community regarding protests and rallies for Aboriginal human and cultural rights.
This includes the travesty of the Rio Tinto destruction of the ancient Juukan Gorge cave shelters. WE ALSO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE SENIOR LAW MEN AND WOMEN THAT HAVE SUPPORTED DUMBARTUNG DURING OUR PAST 35 YEARS OF CULTURAL ACTIVISM.
MAY OUR CAMPFIRES BURN FOREVER........
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The episode is a discussion regarding cultural appropriation, Identity Theft, and Aboriginal social issues.
It is a discussion represented by the Director of Tribal Fires Mr. Robert Eggington and the retired Anthropologist of the University of Western Australia Berndt Museum Professor John Stanton.
This episode is important to understand how our culture and spirituality has been nullified and politically neutralized by Government policies and determined how non-Aboriginal people have capitalized on all that was once sacred!
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‘’May our Camp Fires Burn Forever’’
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This podcast is a story about traveling to Rio De Janeiro in 1988 to represent our people as a member of the National body S.N.A.I.I.C IN Brazil.
It’s a three-part story about losing and then finding my didgeridoo, and then being invited after retrieving the object to meet with the great Train Robber Ronald Biggs who was hiding out in Brazil.
Life on the streets in Rio De Janeiro and experiences as well as attending the international conference and closing it in a time with the Didgeridoo when it was a virtually unheard sound around the world.
Please enjoy this Podcast and Share!
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Warning this episode has a high content of racial vilification.
During the early 1990’s I was appointed as the spokesperson for the newly developed Aboriginal Visitors scheme.
This scheme was one of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The story tells of an incident whilst I was visiting a young Aboriginal man in the East Perth Lockup, I was racially vilified and threatened by a Detective Sgt of the Western Australian Vice Squad whilst carrying out my duties. The story also recapture’s the police harassment on my family during the early years of the political activism of Dumbartung.
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This episode of Tribal Fires is when Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash visited the Dumbartung Aboriginal corporation in 1995.
This story is extremely important as much was shared during these visits and both these artists are respected worldwide as creators that voiced the message of a generation.
It was a great privilege to have both these singer songwriters at Dumbartung knowing what they heard and experienced would have been discussed by them with many other empowered and respected peoples in the world in which they associate and move in !
The story has many turns and twists just like Rock and Roll should.
Please Listen and Share!
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During 1995 the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation coordinated a world-wide campaign against an American woman ‘’New Age Author’’ named Marlo Morgan who wrote and published a book titled ‘’Mutant Message Downunder’’.
This campaign was an extensive and effective process that resulted in Dumbartung unifying the Aboriginal voice across Australia and from a well-planned strategy selected six well respected Aboriginal law people both male and female to travel to the United States of America to debunk the book as a new age fantasy of untruths and cultural absurdities.
The Elders participated in a series of media conferences and public venues enticing people that this book was a fabrication of the true Aboriginal cultural and spiritual values and lore!
The campaign ended in a massive walk in Tokyo Japan by Robert Eggington the Director of Dumbartung and Paul Sampi a well-respected law man of the Bardi people from One Arm Point.
Eventually a book was published written by Dr John Eustace from the Acadia university in Canada titled ‘’Old Battle-New Age’’ .
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This episode is about the early life of Robert Eggington the Director of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation. It tells of the story of his younger years , the work he came to do in the coalface of the Perth Aboriginal community, and the interview for the position at Dumbartung and concludes with the story of how he founded and created the most massive Aboriginal cultural gatherings in Perth in Aboriginal living memory.
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Apprehended
55:43
Ostracised
1:36:11
Shining
1:12:01
Powder
37:07
Ricochet : The story of colonial Australia
1:04:59
Pearl Shell
44:04
Wall of Shame - Nations go to war
56:43
Vengeance
1:05:53
A Cultural Crime Against Kyana (Part 2)
55:06
A Cultural crime against Kyana
1:04:26
Irish Connection
1:01:57
Mumma Africa
1:01:07
Little Red Dots
52:25
On The Edge
38:44
Hamburgers For Masterpieces
1:03:38
On Sacred Ground - From Noonkanbah to Juukan Gorge
1:12:05
Trans Racial Identity Change, Cultural Appropriation
1:18:48
Meeting with the Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs in Brazil whilst attending and presenting at an International Child Care and Infant Mortality Conference in Brazil - 1988
42:15
A Death Threat in the East Perth Lockup
35:29
Dumbartung meets with the great Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
38:19
Marlo Morgan campaign the “Mutant Message Affair”
1:48:15
The Kyana Aboriginal Gatherings Perth WA 1991 to 1993
1:10:32