AustraliaQuest is an interactive expedition developed by Classroom Connect. For five weeks a team of scientists and explorers will examine the ancient culture of the Aborigines and attempt to determine how it affects their modern existence.

Aboriginal adaptations

Two Aboriginal girls walk past a mural in downtown Alice Springs that depicts the arrival of white Australians, and their technology, in the Outback

Alice Springs was the proverbial "middle of nowhere" for a century, after telegraph superintendent Charles Todd first chanced upon the freshwater spring and named it after his wife. A thousand miles from any sea, it loomed large as an oasis in the Outback. Its history is richly peopled with explorers, horse thieves, Afghan cameleers, and a variety of Aboriginal groups. It was where you went to get away from it all.

Today, a Kmart is the first thing you see when entering the town.

We arrived in Alice Springs this weekend, exhausted, un-showered, and smelling like a municipal zoo. We were hoping to find food, rest, and a taste of local culture. At first we delighted at the broad lawns, manicured parks, and uniquely Australian ghost gum trees that line the streets of Alice Springs. Then we hit the stretch with a McDonalds, a Blockbuster, and KFC -- all on the same block.

Against this backdrop of Americana is the highest concentration of Aborigines in Australia -- some 22 percent of the population. Many of them have integrated themselves into white society. But to the newcomer, the contrasts stick out like a nose zit. Some whites in Alice Springs live in suburban-type houses with outdoor swimming pools and SUVs in the driveways. Meanwhile, some Aborigines live in squalid housing projects or roam the streets barefoot, with greasy clothes and matted hair. At night, while a few whites sip Chardonnay in tony restaurants on Todd Street, a hundred yards a way in a dank riverbed a few Aborigines sit in dark huddles and guzzle cheap boxed wine.

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Similarly, ancient Aboriginal sites clash with modern development. Outside of Pinky's Pizza is the Dingo Ancestor stone, which some people regard as more holy than Uluru. Fifty feet from a playground's jungle gyms, a mound marks the spot where the mythical Two Sisters rested. And the "Beau Repair Body Shop" will forever separate the two hills that represent the mother Dingo Ancestor looking down on her pups. To an outsider, the sites may appear insignificant, but to the local Arrernte Aborigines they are as sacred as the Sistine Chapel is to Catholics, or Mecca is to Muslims.

Bruce Chatwin wrote the most famous book about this area. Songlines tells a story of Chatwin's time in Alice Springs and his interpretation of Aboriginal myths. You see the book everywhere --in gift shops, books stores, and tucked under the arms of countless tourists. Most people love it for its finely chiseled prose, vivid descriptions, and easy definitions of Songlines. Most locals, however, bad-mouth it. They say it treats a very complicated subject in simplistic, sometimes inaccurate terms.

Anatoli Sawenko dislikes the book as much as anyone. Chatwin fictionalized him in Songlines, gave him the made-up name Arkady Vochok and put words in his mouth. Chatwin described Anatoli like this: "His hair was thick and flat and the color of straw ... he had a flattish face and a gentle smile, and he moved through the bright Australian spaces with the ease of his [Russian] forebears."

When I met Anatoli today, he wasn't moving anywhere easily. He'd mangled his foot in a forklift accident and limped painfully. The straight, straw-colored hair has grayed and the experience of appearing in the book has somewhat jaded him. "I'd prefer if I was never involved," he said bitterly. "Chatwin didn't do the work of learning the bigger social issues. He was like a kid who takes the cherry off the cake."

A rock, sacred to Aboriginal Peoples, rests in front of Pinky's Pizza in Alice Springs

Anatoli has been working with Aborigines for over 20 years. He now works on Aboriginal economic development -- mainly agricultural projects. "The world has changed for Aborigines," he told me. "They've become part of the cash economy and the school system. The old ways alone won't work for them anymore."

I mentioned alcoholism and the poor Aborigines I saw on the street.

"Most of those people aren't as bad off as they seem," he replied. "Most of them have a support system of family they can turn to if they need to ... these people have a strong sense of mutual support, emotionally and practically."

"They've embraced change," Anatoli continued. By way of example, he told me about Aborigine's view of cars. "They view them as expendable. They'll use a car for hauling wood, carrying their whole families to rituals. If it breaks down in the desert, they'll turn it on its side and work on it. If it's running too hot, they'll take off the hood and throw it away."

Anatoli was making sense to me. It occurred to me that adaptability is the key Aboriginal quality. For thousands of generations, Aboriginals struck out into the desert carrying nothing but a throwing stick. They adapted to the melting of an ice age, changing seasons, and animal migrations. Tall order though it may seem, perhaps the white man's world of McDonald's and Kmart is just another change to which they can adapt.

Pedals Up!

Dan

AustraliaQuest
Classroom Connect