Just finished production managing Circolombia’s tour of the show Urban in Australia’s Sydney and Adelaide and New Zealand’s largest city
Auckland. I wouldn't have ever visited these countries as a tourist for
it’s distance too far, the cost too high, and what I assumed to be the
cultural experience too low. But my actual visits have made me see otherwise (except for the cost bit!).
Both Oz & Nz are unique and interesting places which run across magnificent
stretches of planet earth...
Though I have to admit what has struck me the most is the ability of England, Europe's most densely populated country, to bud into a variety of commonwealth nations. As I walked around Australia and New Zealand I couldn't help but wonder how could convicts, missionaries and farmers expand so much? Then one day I saw a group of white children on a school outing in Adelaide and thought to myself: ‘ah, that’s exactly how they took over these lands… reproduction’. This added with an imported complex social system backed by Guns, Germs & Steel and of course cruel colonial practices...
So what about the indigenous people? In Australia I saw the beautiful Aboriginal flag flown next to the Australian flag more often than I saw the newer Maori flag flown next to the Kiwi flag. Yet I barely saw any Aborigine people coexisting in the cities I worked in, and the few I saw seemed marginalised and destitute. Nevertheless Oz seemed to have adopted Aboriginal symbols and patterns as a sort of local folkloric motif seen on anything from public benches to souvenirs One river pathway in Parramatta en route to the theatre where I was working did retell the story of the Stolen Generation when Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and put in ‘civilising schools’ to become more ‘white’. What I was told by a local was that what is missing from the story is the systemic killing of the adult males and raping of the females to mix the race. And this was going on until recently as you can see in the brilliant film Sapphires about a female Aboriginal soul group in the 60's that tours to Vietnam entertaining US troupes during the war. During this same era a 1967 referendum finally recognised the Aboriginal community as citizens of the Australia and should be noted was overwhelmingly voted in.
Though I have to admit what has struck me the most is the ability of England, Europe's most densely populated country, to bud into a variety of commonwealth nations. As I walked around Australia and New Zealand I couldn't help but wonder how could convicts, missionaries and farmers expand so much? Then one day I saw a group of white children on a school outing in Adelaide and thought to myself: ‘ah, that’s exactly how they took over these lands… reproduction’. This added with an imported complex social system backed by Guns, Germs & Steel and of course cruel colonial practices...
So what about the indigenous people? In Australia I saw the beautiful Aboriginal flag flown next to the Australian flag more often than I saw the newer Maori flag flown next to the Kiwi flag. Yet I barely saw any Aborigine people coexisting in the cities I worked in, and the few I saw seemed marginalised and destitute. Nevertheless Oz seemed to have adopted Aboriginal symbols and patterns as a sort of local folkloric motif seen on anything from public benches to souvenirs One river pathway in Parramatta en route to the theatre where I was working did retell the story of the Stolen Generation when Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and put in ‘civilising schools’ to become more ‘white’. What I was told by a local was that what is missing from the story is the systemic killing of the adult males and raping of the females to mix the race. And this was going on until recently as you can see in the brilliant film Sapphires about a female Aboriginal soul group in the 60's that tours to Vietnam entertaining US troupes during the war. During this same era a 1967 referendum finally recognised the Aboriginal community as citizens of the Australia and should be noted was overwhelmingly voted in.
In New Zealand racial integration seemed much more apparent and was to me a rather welcome relief. Upon arriving for the Auckland Arts Festival, all the visiting artists were taken to a marae (sacred area) for a Pōwhiri (welcoming ceremony) where I got to have my first hongi greeting (kinda Maori kiss :). It was a generous gesture of cultural identity and a real tourist attraction. The AAF programming included various Maori works including the festival hit Hui where a new local friend performed and a live Ta Moko, or traditional Maori tattooing, event
where tattoo artists worked on their clients and took questions about the
process and the meaning from spectators.
Perhaps this larger representation of Maori’s in the cultural scene of Nz comes from a combination of the Maori people as a strong warriors not easily defeated and the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed between the British colonists and the Maori chiefs in 1840, creating an early constitution from which to organise the country. Many white New Zealanders spoke with pride of Maori traditions in some ways seeing them as their own as New Zealanders even if they were not Maori themselves. After all Maori’s were immigrants too, arriving by waka (canoe) from Polynesia, a few hundred years before the Europeans and to an already inhabited island. Yet a parallel was drawn to me by a Maori between them and African-Americans, where a lack of education opportunities, funding, history of inequality and racism has created huge domestic disadvantages for them. I noticed when filling out some official forms that the first racial option was ‘white european', in the US you'd find 'caucasian' and in the UK 'white', though I suppose it makes sense as their roots are much closer to Europe. In Latin America I cannot remember ever filling out a race form, but I was happy while abroad to check 'other' and fill in Latino!
Perhaps this larger representation of Maori’s in the cultural scene of Nz comes from a combination of the Maori people as a strong warriors not easily defeated and the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed between the British colonists and the Maori chiefs in 1840, creating an early constitution from which to organise the country. Many white New Zealanders spoke with pride of Maori traditions in some ways seeing them as their own as New Zealanders even if they were not Maori themselves. After all Maori’s were immigrants too, arriving by waka (canoe) from Polynesia, a few hundred years before the Europeans and to an already inhabited island. Yet a parallel was drawn to me by a Maori between them and African-Americans, where a lack of education opportunities, funding, history of inequality and racism has created huge domestic disadvantages for them. I noticed when filling out some official forms that the first racial option was ‘white european', in the US you'd find 'caucasian' and in the UK 'white', though I suppose it makes sense as their roots are much closer to Europe. In Latin America I cannot remember ever filling out a race form, but I was happy while abroad to check 'other' and fill in Latino!
Aussies actually struck me as very close in idiosyncrasy to Americans except that they lived in a very British system. I say that in terms of social organisation: the road signs and street arrangement felt very British with both Aussies and Kiwi’s in right-hand drive automobiles on the left hand side of the road. I only remember jay-walking being awkward in Germany until I found myself being the only one doing it in Adelaide. The laws seemed very rigid and the people rather compliant. Oz has that expansiveness of the US, the country is huge, the roads and cars are big, the streets are wide and everything just seemed very clean and in its proper place. Even Parramatta where I was based was considered ‘working class’ and by comparison to either the US or Britain was relatively clean and nice. Australia seemed to gleam with new construction and people spending $50 notes as if they were coins. The impression I was left with was the real land of milk & honey, when I compared my weekly pay rate with local crews they made more than double! Time to jump ship I thought! I suppose this is ideal for an economic immigrant whose sole purpose is to produce income, which seems to be one of the drives of globalisation, yet so is cultural output and its legacies. A festival producer told me the best way to make a profit for the company was to export work to Europe where there were funds to buy shows and public to buy tickets. Australia felt like California all over, but with the naïve optimism of the 1950’s. What I was definitely left with was wanting to explore more of the amazing continent: beautiful beaches, tree covered cliffs and valleys, endless outback with an untapped wild spiritual core...
New Zealand was much more relaxed, the people incredibly friendly and the nature spectacular as probably everyone already knows from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But in person its even more stunning and I didn’t even make it to the South Island. While in New Zealand I felt I was on the cusp of the future; a sliver of land that almost begins the calendar year on planet earth. But more importantly than that works towards cultural integration, not only between Maori and whites but also all the demographics that inhabit the country; Auckland seemed just as diverse as London to me. And the most fascinating fact shared by a geothermal scientist I met was that Nz produces 75% of its electricity from renewable sources! This had a profound effect on me, for it changed something that I felt every time I flick a switch: guilt. I am so aware that any use of the grid is bad for the environment that each time I use energy it haunts my animal brain. This was so ingrained in my subconscious that it was only until I was in Nz that I realised the impact this has on eco-aware individuals when you power up the electric kettle and know that almost ¾ of that power is renewable not consumable. Now THIS is the future, when there is no such thing as waste but re-cycle and we finally learn to live in symbiosis with our great host planet earth...
I hope to live long enough to see the changes that may help me believe this day can happen...
Leaving Nz made me feel it is possible....
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
