Where now for reconciliation

In a photographic exhibition of Aboriginal faces at Melbournes Museum, I was struck by the remote look in the eyes of older Aboriginal people photographed in the early 20th century. In 1999, a young Aboriginal colleague and I interviewed a dignied Gippsland Aboriginal woman in her eighties whose eyes had that same watery sadness. We were asking this woman about her earliest memories, experiences and aspirations for the future. When we touched on her early history and cultural experiences, she would not discuss these issues because, she said, it was shaming. Immediately, my colleague and I jumped to the conclusion that she was speaking of a cultural taboo or secret womens business.