Pearl King's Aspirations for the Future

As delivered by Auntie Pearl King at the 6th International Dolphin & Whale Conference August 11th 1997

About Auntie Pearl King (at the time of the conference)

Mrs Pearl King a *Koamu, Komilarol woman originally from South West Queensland is an Aboriginal Elder who resided permanently on the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Mrs King at age 58 completed full time studies and achieved a diploma in Aboriginal Welfare Practices.

Now in her 70’s Auntie Pearl likes to spend time in her yard gardening or at her computer typing in stories about her childhood days.?Over the past two years she has spent a lot of time researching stories about her parents and family and has hopes that one day these stories will be published in her book.

Auntie Pearl sees the combination of her Aboriginal spiritually and her interest in new age perspective’s as working hand in hand for her.

Spurred on by a zest for life she looks to a future world of heightened spirituality as a doorway for us all.

Pearl’s speech

How to secure a future for the next seven generations??As an Aboriginal Australian I feel it is my responsibility to say, in order to move confidently forward, we must first settle the past and align it with the present. Australia is currently having much difficulty with precisely this issue.?I believe the enemy of our secure future is in the mind-set and behavioural patterns of Australians at large.

Living in the White world, I have had a front row seat at the circus that is white culture.?I wouldn’t send the white fellas back, because I, too, have become accustomed to the brick houses and soft beds with fluffy doonas.?Also, the white fellas have heap big magic.?Reading and writing is a good example. Giant metal birds that ferry people all over the globe - most impressive. Sophisticated telecommunications that shrink the planet so much we can now call it a global village. The systems of law and democracy are brilliant in principle, and gatherings like this one help to better the lives of everyone by sharing ideas and making wishes for the future.?This is really humanity at it’s best.

The trouble with such unrivalled cleverness and power is that the whitefellas have come to thinking that they are the ultimate movers and shakers.?There is an unconscious, and therefore unquestioned belief, that this civilisation is the superior style.?Not only compared to other cultures, but to the universal scheme of things.?In other words, God comes second, or even not at all.?And nature, which is subordinate to the western Male God, is exploited and dominated to maintain this civilization.

It is a superiority that is believable because we can see and touch it.?There is much tangible evidence of the power of civilized culture.?And history testifies to its might.?My people have had to accept the overwhelming might of the white culture, which in 209 years of settlement, turned our continent from a virgin wilderness into an Anglo-European style civilization.?In 209 years, from an ancient ecological paradise to a land devastated by European, 19th century farming practices and thoughtless urban development.

The people of this superior culture have matching minds and attitudes.?This mind-set means doing all the talking and not much, if any, listening.?The non-listening affects all of us personally since it is the behavioural norm in this culture.?Our leaders, the politicians and scientists’ etcetera, are good examples of how non-listening is rewarded.?Parents act like politicians with their children.?This characteristic is viewed as strong, confident and unwavering.?It is accepted behaviour to be pig-headed, stubborn and to see other viewpoints as misguided.?A characteristic like “curiosity” is treated as inconvenient or plain stupidity. “Receptivity” is a sign of weakness.

In fact, in the civilized world, the opinions of the powerful are far more important than the experiences of the powerless.?As a collective, we spend lots of time and money arguing principles and opinions.?The ones that do the best arguing get to be the winners, but our land remains on the ecological edge.

Aborigines love the land and each other in a way white people envy or revile.?Aboriginal spirituality relied upon a deep listening, to without and within.?Rarely does the white person stop to see or hear, nor to ask how or why.?And an understanding of Aboriginal meaning does not come to those who have no sense of enquiry or receptivity.?The Aboriginal style has few places to exist in the mainstream, and white folk do not venture out of their comfort zones to make new discoveries, since they have all the answers just where they are!?The areas where our uniqueness can be absorbed and appreciated, though, in sport or art for example, we usually excel because the Aboriginal heart and spirit has survived despite attempts to destroy it, or ignore it.

Picture the black woman, her bare feet touch the soil.?She sees, hears, feels, smells and knows her surroundings.?She thus lives with Nature.?She is comforted knowing that Nature knows what it is doing even if she herself has doubts. Picture the white woman in her uncomfortable but fabulous looking shoes.?She treasures her neat house with its familiar and comforting four walls.?She knows no other world.?Nature is something she visits on long weekends.?She stands on centuries of ordered civilization.?She looks to her husband and his boss to tell her what her priorities are because she has lost contact with her own senses long ago.?And neither her husband nor his boss can help her because they are even less connected with the earth than she is.?The average male of white culture does not have much to do with ordinary earthy things.?He is too busy either being the boss or being obedient to his own boss.

Though these things have changed in my lifetime, and women have gained more power, generally the rules are the same.?Feminism freed the middle class white woman to become as competitive as her husband.?Now they are both too busy being bosses to look at the world around them.?Both too busy and stressed to take stock of the damage their lifestyles and attitudes create. Thousands of years of civilization has created a culture and a person which is as spontaneous and free as the machines it is so good making.

I can, as an Aborigine, accept the obvious superiority of the technological power of the dominant culture.?Now this culture needs to accept the not so obvious superiority of Aboriginal spirituality.?This society needs to value and alive connection with Nature and Mother Earth, if we are to have seven secure future generations, and beyond that.?At this gathering I am probably preaching to the converted since I was invited to speak and you are already listening.?It is the wider community that needs to learn and listen.?We need gatherings of all sorts of people.?And when we do come together let us not argue about principles and opinions.?Let us share heartfelt stories about our everyday lives, about histories shared or not, about how we feel afraid because our lives do not feel as our own.?Let us have the maturity to face how we are all dress up dolls acting out living, without really understanding what life is.?Let us have the sensitivity and courage to see how our relationships have been affected by our history.?A very aggressive, dominating culture creates aggressive, dominating people who are not allowed to make mistakes or experiment outside cultural boundaries . Then when we have truly opened ourselves to each other, the pain shared and revealed can transform to compassion and understanding.?Instead of selfish, fearful attitudes we would have community spirit and respect for the land and all people.

We all are well aware that each one of us is the product of our parents as our parents were before them.?It is critical to remember that not only our actions, but also words and thoughts will echo down and therefore affect the next seven generations.

Spirituality is not about sitting isolated on a mountain top or in a monastery trying to transcend earthly distractions.?It is not about sin or feeling guilty.?It is about living in life and finding the sacredness in everyday affairs.?It is about everyday affairs including sacredness.?It is about offering our joyful uniqueness to an embracing and accepting world.?It is about honouring not on a paternal God, but a maternal Goddess as well.?Australia and the rest of the world need a Great Mother to balance the Great Father.?We listen to Her we are united with Mother Earth.?That way she can guide us home to her own healing.

Copyright Pearl King – Australia 1997 reproduced with generous permission from Pearl and Tom’s eldest daughter Philippa.

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*Pearl was born in Dirranbandi, 19th August, 1925 and died in Tewantin, 29th October, 2001. Her people are Bigambul of that region in S. Qld. She believed she was Kamilaroi but family found more info after her death.

Tom was born in Runcorn, 8th May, 1926 and died in Gympie, 29th February, 2000

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My ‘personal’ story - Desley Cowley

I am the sixth of 9 children, born in Brisbane.?My parents were wanderers.?We tripped around during my childhood from Caboolture until I was 8, then Mundubbera for the balance of my primary school years.

While at Mundubbera, I attended Boynewood State School.?The one teacher school Principal, Tom King’s wife was Pearl King.?

Pearl taught the weekly school sewing class and told us many stories as we lined up with our sewing sample to be taught the next stitch.?

My parents kept in contact with the Kings for many many years after we left Mundubbera.?

I rekindled my connection after 25 years as a result of recurrent visions I was seeing of Pearl each morning and evening as I was either waking or falling asleep, that went on for weeks. ?I finally touched base with them and kept in touch on and off until both Tom and Pearl passed away.

I attribute, at least partly, my passion for the value and importance of our Indigenous cultural heritage to my 4 years at Boynewood State School.

We truly didn’t see black or white back in the day.?I can remember wishing we had more black kids in our school who could run as fast as the kids at Eidsvold School, who would beat us on sports day.

Why am I sharing this now? Pearl gave me this and much more when we were in touch and told me she was happy for me to share it.?I wanted to be sure the family were comfortable for me to do so since her passing and on and off I had tried to reconnect with them to no avail.

I recently, once again have been thinking about Pearl and her message and tried ‘one more time’ to contact family.?This time with success.

An omen, meant to be perhaps?? A timely message from the past.