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In this article Australian actor Jack Thompson reprises his speech made at the Tamworth Indigenous Cultural Awareness Day, January 2012 Thank you, its wonderful to be here today and to see all the fabulous Aboriginal talent on display at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners here, the Kamilaroi and Gomeroi people. Thank you to Roger Knox for his warm welcome to Country. I am honoured to have been invited to talk briefly today because as some of you might know, working with Aboriginal communities is something that is close to my heart. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with a lot of different Aboriginal projects throughout my life and I have grown as a man because of it. I love the richness, the depth, the colourfulness and the humour of the Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal people. My passion for Aboriginal people and Aboriginal culture started when I was at primary school, and over the years as I travelled through Australia, first as a station hand, then later as an actor, that passion has remained and I have taken every opportunity I’ve been given to become involved with Aboriginal communities and work alongside them. It’s taken me to some great places. In 2008 I established the Jack Thompson Foundation and through that I’m strongly involved in sustainable housing projects in remote Aboriginal homelands through the Foundation’s Building Program. The Homelands Building Program works with Aboriginal communities to build housing from local materials “gathered from the living ground.” That program is about communities building what they need, where they need it and doing it their way. It’s about strengthening and empowering communities. Over the years I have also had the opportunity to work alongside both communities who live their culture very strongly, and to work alongside others as they revive stories and ceremonies that had been mostly lost, and in both these ways to celebrate and be part of culture with communities. Language is an important part of that, and while its sad that so many indigenous languages have been lost since invasion, it’s also great that there are still 145 Aboriginal languages still furiously kept alive and being spoken today. I am honoured and pleased to be a part of the celebration and richness of Aboriginal culture where ever I find it, and the Cultural Showcase here at the Tamworth Country Music Festival is just another example of Aboriginal people coming together and making their own opportunities. I thought that for my contribution this afternoon, I would introduce a bit of language that while it’s not an Indigenous language, it is also only spoken in Australia. You probably know it, though it has no official title, but I’m sure you’ll get the drift once I start. There’s a very good example of it in a poem written by a man called John O’ Brien. It’s called The Integrated Adjective. I was down the Riverina, knockin' 'round the towns a bit, And occasionally resting with a schooner in me mitt, And on one of these occasions, when the bar was pretty full And the local blokes were arguin' assorted kind of bull, I heard a conversation, most peculiar in its way. It's only in Australia you would hear a joker say: "Howya bloody been, ya drongo, haven't seen ya fer a week, And yer mate was lookin' for ya when ya come in from the creek. 'E was lookin' up at Ryan's, and around at bloody Joe's, And even at the Royal, where 'e bloody NEVER goes". And the other bloke says "Seen 'im? Owed 'im half a bloody quid. Forgot to give it back to him, but now I bloody did - Could've used the thing me bloody self. Been off the bloody booze, Up at Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin' kanga-bloody-roos." Now the bar was pretty quiet, and everybody heard The peculiar integration of this adjectival word, But no-one there was laughing, and me - I wasn't game, So I just sits back and lets them think I spoke the bloody same. Then someone else was interested to know just what he got, How many kanga-bloody-roos he went and bloody shot, And the shooting bloke says "Things are crook - the drought's too bloody tough. I got forty-two by seven, and that's good e-bloody-nough." And, as this polite rejoinder seemed to satisfy the mob, Everyone stopped listening and got on with the job, Which was drinkin' beer, and arguin', and talkin' of the heat, Of boggin' in the bitumen in the middle of the street, But as for me, I'm here to say the interesting piece of news Was Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin' kanga bloody-roos. Jack Thompson Jack Thompson Jack Thompson
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