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Adversity in the world today

We are seeing adversity at an unprecedented level in the world today. It touches us all, the earthquake in Japan attests to this and our hearts go out to those thousands of people who have lost their lives and the many people who mourn their loss.

Yet perhaps it is timely to remind ourselves that it is not the adversity, but our reaction to it that makes the difference. In his book “Man’s Search For Meaning”, Austrian Psychiatrist Victor Frankl writes of his struggle to survive in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. While he survived, he found that men died for lack of hope, or as it is written, a broken spirit! (Proverbs18:14). He could tell by the look on a man’s face that he would die that day – and he was right every time.

The ‘Stolen Generations’ could have given up, and after all that they went through, who could blame them. Families torn apart by well meaning or not so well meaning officials. Decimated by an authority that felt it was doing the right thing. Facing the destruction of all that they lived for. Their cultural ways denied them and their voices and language banned from use, in attempt to integrate the children into the ways of the white man. These people could have died through lack of hope. Some did, others turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain while others realised the need to live in victory in the adversity.

What was different for the survivors? For those who faced adversity and lived in victory? Perhaps part of the answer comes from Victor Frankl, as he quotes philosopher Nietzsche’s words:

“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”

There is a choice to be made: To dwell on the ‘History Wars”, also called the “culture wars” which have been an ongoing public debate since 1996, or move on, re-focus, re-build and learn from the past, which perhaps was the hope that could have come from the official apology to the ‘Stolen Generations’ by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Accepting that discussing the interpretation of the history of the colonisation and development of contemporary Australia is in many ways academic, it cannot be changed. The two sides being locked in a void – on the one side with a belief that there were generally low levels of conflict between colonists and Indigenous people – and on the other that there was official and unofficial imperialism, exploitation, ill treatment, colonial dispossession, violent conflict and cultural genocide by “invaders”.

Unfortunately people will believe what they want to believe and then put up an argument to support their belief. This is not what Metamorphosoz intends to do. Rather it is our intention to show the richness of a culture that has been with us for centuries. A culture that is moving from adversity to victory. To speak of its past, deal with the present situation and build on a hope for the future.

Perhaps in light of the recent events that are taking place worldwide, let us acknowledge that the culture of the Indigenous people of Australia is thousands of years old, learn from it, embrace the people – and move on, together. Let their story be an encouragement for those who have been through hard times and are looking for inspiration to carry on. People who have had their dreams shredded, hopes dashed and visions blinded. See how we have integrated the cultures, entwined them, and molded the different arts together in a common and modern theme.

Above all let the joy that fills these people be infectious. Let it pervade you as in time you come to watch them dance, tell their story and fill your lives with their colours.

We’ve had floods, cyclones, and torrents of water running through our streets here in Queensland. Lives have been lost, homes carried away down rivers or flooded to the eaves, roads have been destroyed, crops flattened and families torn apart by one of the most violent acts of nature witnessed here in many years.

Just as we were getting over this, clearing up, hosing down, rebuilding homes and cleaning streets, Northern Queensland was hit by a cyclone – and now Christchurch, New Zealand, has suffered a horrendous earthquake. Claiming many lives and the destruction of homes and historical buildings that tell of New Zealand’s past, that have born witness to the events that have formed and shaped the city and people of Christchurch, buildings with a history that can never be replaced. This is a tragedy that has torn at the very heartstrings of the New Zealand and Australian people.

Yet through all this, the one thing that is continually referred to in the news, is the great Aussie spirit, the great Kiwi resolve – the ability to come back when all is against them. Queenslanders are already standing together as one, shoulder to shoulder, united by the disaster and determined not to let it destroy them, their lives or their heritage. New Zealanders will do the same, they will not be beaten.

It is this resolve that we have been looking at through Metamorphosoz. The resolve of a people with a history, a culture, a way of life, that was almost eradicated from this country, not by a natural disaster but at the hands of fellow human beings, who held to a belief system that could not see the Aborigines as humans, as similar, as equals. The Aborigines had a culture full of music, dance and colour. A legal system that was unbiased and worked. A respect and understanding of the earth and its animals, that allowed them to eat and live well.

They nearly lost it all due to the disaster that struck them, a disaster that would remain for decades. Not a one off, but an ongoing trauma that would see much of the richness of their heritage lost. Yet they are winning. They are able to practice their culture, their music and enjoy parts of their past. It is through the resolve of a few Indigenous men and women, not prepared to give up their past, that the many Aborigines will have the opportunity to experience their deep cultural roots. It is this resolve that appears to be within us all and has the ability to guide us from adversity to victory. Sadness, despair, humiliation, terror, depression make way for joy when we start to re-build, re-focus, learn from our past rather than dwell in it – and move on.

Removing children

Young people of mixed descent felt the sting of the Aborigines Protection Board controls and their absorption policy the most. Indeed, people called them ´Destruction Boards´ for they broke up families in a racist policy which operated dependant on the colours of one´s skin. The fragmentation of families increased after the passage of amending legislation in 1915, which increased the powers of the Aboriginal Protection Board. The Board could now, without parental consent or court approval, take Aboriginal children of mixed descent as young as a few weeks old, and place them in foster or training homes. This was the logic of the 1886 Victorian Aboriginal Act which encoded the Protection Board´s aim of the ´absorption of the whole race into the general community´.

(´Aboriginal Australians´, Richard Broome)

Metamorphosoz is a company that looks at the history of the ´Stolen Generations´ and uses their story as an analogy for life to show how to overcome adversities and come out in victory. It is aimed at young people – not only indigenous young people but they play the major role in it as there is still a lot of hurt and undermined confidence. But young people of all cultures have similar problems – and to not single out one ethnic group supports the unity we aim for in a reconciled future for Australia.

Therefor we aim to start the ´Metamorphosoz Fellowship Program´. Our dance show will lead into a Fellowship Program for young indigenous and non-indigenous dancers who will be invited to join for one year to receive additional training, teaching and mentoring on various levels, including experiencing different cultures all over the world. More information and details will be available soon.

Enjoy your Christmas holidays – and we hope to hear from you again next year.