AustLit

' I'll start right back in the beginning. When I was young I lived in the traditional situation with my parents and my family at Willowra until I was about the age of six. Then I went to live with a white foster parent, still at Willowra. And she was my teacher, but very, very severe in the way she taught. I started doing correspondence and that of course was when I first came into contact with formal-type, European-type schooling. And I always remember that I could not really associate what I was being taught with my home life. It was really quite foreign to be taught about tulips and daffodils and stuff like that when I had never seen any. She wasn't a trained teacher. It was very much learning by rote. Maths and a lot of emphasis on words and spelling them right, and doing the maths and making sure it was right. Not so much on the way you went about getting the answer. There was really only the one way of getting the answer. It wasn't comfortable, you know, very uncomfortable learning that way compared to the Aboriginal way of learning where a number of people were concerned with your future in an informal situation.' (Abstract)

To help you understand my own cultural values and how they differ from the traditional Aboriginal today, let me first introduce myself. My name is William (Billy) James King. I was born 28th January 1940. I am of mixed Aboriginal, Chinese and European descent. As you can see from my birth date I am 51 years of age. I have had a more European upbringing than traditional Aboriginal. I am by Australian law and guidelines legally an Australian Aboriginal. I have lived through an interesting phase in Australian history and was unaware of what was going on around me, it was a case of 'not having a need to know'.

My father's a full blood Torres Strait Islander, his mother was a Darnley/Murray Island woman. My grandfather was brought over here round about 1871. He came over here in the black-birding days, or he could have come over with Samuel McFarlane, I'm not sure, I've still got to find that out. But I know where he comes from, I've been there and it's a beautiful island called Lifu. Lifu Island, which is on the east coast of a place called Noumea. It' s still held by the French and he came over here speaking French, and his language on top of that. So we're a little bit mixed up there, but I more or less identify myself from m y mother's side, the Aboriginal side, the Girrimi people, 134 miles up from Tully.

I'm in the process of researching into my mother's family, and finding out who is still living as well as related to me. So this autobiography explains the up-bringing in my life that I recall and remember. My grandfather was a European man. His name was Sydney Churchill Smith. My grandfather was a magistrate in Newcastle Waters. Newcastle Waters is where my grandmother originally came from before she moved to Elliott, which is located south of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Between the years of 1927 and 1930 my mother Ada Ruth Smith was born a half caste at Elliott. Like many other half caste children, mum was taken away from her natural mother (my grandmother), by the police and put into the care of the missionaries. The missionaries were under the control of the Government. Some of the missionary homes were; Croker Island, Retta Dixon and Kahlin compound. Though there were others within the Northern Territory, I'm not fully aware of them.

'In 19911 had the privilege of being invited to Millner Primary school to talk to a majority Aboriginal class called 'The Mean Machine'. Millner Primary was my old school and I was keen on going back there. My brother, two sisters and I were enroled there in 1968, the year that Millner Primary School first opened it's doors. At that time my family was living at Coconut Grove but moved to Millner in 1969. As I contemplated my visit, I wondered also about what I should say to The Mean Machine whose name was a testament to their teacher's determination to lift their self esteem and academic levels. Without too much effort I decided that what I would really like to say to these kids was something that I wished someone had said to me while I was at school; that it was okay to be Aboriginal. ...'

Dijan stori bla wanbala li gel neim Iirralabunyu Ngarlilwara en bla im Munanga neim dei gulum Holi. Wen Holigel bin lilwan imin grou la Ngukurr garrim im dedi, mami siksbala sistaen fobala braja. Dis mob famili neim dei gulum Joshawa famili en bla olabat dhauwarra dei gulum Marawalwal Gunyigunyi.

In April and May we take the children out for gathering berries: black plum, as well as the currents. It is the gathering season or gathering time. Until the winter comes we still look for other bush food such as lily bulbs, lily stems and lily roots. Yummy. We go out to look for wild potatoes. Also we look for goannas and blue tongue lizards and so on.

'I remember when I was growing up as a child out at Henbury Station, how I used to go hunting with my families on camels and sometimes on horses. We as children really used to enjoy ourselves by going out and being taught our culture by our elders. During those trips the older women used to take us girls and show us a few of the dreaming places that they said were important for us to know, see and hear the stories connected with that certain place. ...'

'I come from a family of eight, including my parents. I have four brothers, two older than myself and two younger, as well as an older sister. Throughout my life I have struggled to come to terms with my Aboriginality and most of all my relationship with my family. I grew up as the 'black sheep', constantly being ignored by my parents. ...'