The Great Anzac Day Pilgrimage of 2011

It was the journey I had to have. A “back to your roots” sort of journey. Anzac Day 2011, my sons Gavin and Dion and I drove to Badjaling Noongar Community, about 200 km east of Perth. The railway siding and Aboriginal mission were closed down in 1954, but in recent years a few people have moved back to their birthplace. Situated about 12km beyond the tiny wheatbelt town of Quairading, Badjaling is the spiritual home for many Noongar people and I felt something of the same spiritual attachment this week.



My mum, then an 18 year old girl, went to Badjaling in 1930 to be the housemaid for two Irish missionaries, Mary Belshaw and May McRidge. The mission house where she lived for two years was a disused railway cottage, and the bough shades that had previously been used for school and church had been replaced by a building made from flattened kerosene tins and wheat sacks sewn together. The Noongar people lived in humpies.

Dad went to Badjaling in 1938, a young 21 year old with no high school experience. Within days he was left in charge of the mission and running a school of 38 Noongar children. Having come to Australia at the age of 12 to live at Fairbridge Farm School, Badjaling was the only home he had, so when he was called up to join the army (this is the Anzac Day connection!), that was where he went every time he had leave. In 1944 he was manpowered out of the army and was transferred to a mission in Gnowangerup. The following year he was married, and he and mum were transferred back to Badjaling as a married couple.

This week we met some of the schoolchildren in Dad’s school, now elders in their community, and it was a great privilege to be shown around their home. We saw the well that was the only source of water for all Badjaling residents, and the site of the hospital that was set up because Noongars were not allowed into the hospital in town. This became the birthplace of many infants who have become known as the “bush babies”.

I had a strong sense of connection with the people of Badjaling community, but with it a sense of sadness that their parents had not been considered worthy to have their babies in government hospitals, and these proud elders were once in fear of being snatched away from their parents.

I'll tell you more about the great pilgrimage later.

An Easter Parable

Check out this Easter Parable, thanks to Sheridan Voysey.

Holiday .... or Holy Day?

Life seems pretty busy for most people. For some the idea of having five days off at the end of this week is pretty appealing. For others having that amount of time off when there is so much work to be done is more of an annoyance than a benefit.

I suspect that when a public holiday was first suggested at Easter time there was some thinking about recognising the importance of the event, and taking the time to honour the One who we remember at this time. Instead of it being a holy-day, it became a holiday, or a day when we could indulge ourselves in more food, more recreation and more “me time”. I have this funny feeling that this wasn’t the intention of Easter.

Instead, the holiday – or should I say holy-day – was established to remember One who gave up his own benefits for the good of others; whose sacrifice was not giving up eating meat or chocolate, but giving up his own life for the good of humanity.

Yes, I would like to enjoy myself this weekend, and I’m planning to spend some time with the family, and plant the winter veges. But I’m also going to take the time to hear again the story of Jesus and to ponder what his sacrificial love means to me. If going to church is not your usual practice on a weekend, I can think of no better time than this weekend to make the effort to visit your local church and reflect on the true meaning of Easter.

Odds are the roof won't fall in!

I'd rather be a spider than a fly

We have a spider in our backyard that spins its web across a path between two bushes every night. The web it weaves is a piece of engineering excellence; intricately designed, it glistens in the moonlight and attracts any unsuspecting insects that happen to be passing that way. In the day time the spider packs up its finely woven trap so that it can sleep peacefully, or enjoy the fruits of the previous night’s bug trapping expedition.

I am amazed at the way this spider does not simply string a couple of webs across from one bush to another, but each night creates a massive booby trap that could win awards from the architects’ association, the mathematics’ institute and the artists’ guild simultaneously, so beautiful and so precise is the structure. Then every morning it packs it all up ready to start the process again in the evening.

Spiders don’t tend to get very good press in most homes where they usually suffer at the hands of those who either feel the need to remove their webs in the interests of cleanliness, or who unceremoniously dispatch them with a squirt of Mortein or a thump of Adidas. However, I’ve become quite fond of the little fellow (sorry, he’s not so little now) in our backyard and I look forward to seeing his nightly constructions.

It seems that each day we have a choice of how we are going to go about our work. We can follow the example of the spider and take our work seriously; attempting to do the very best we can and producing high quality results even in the knowledge that few people other than ourselves will appreciate the quality and intricacy of our work.

Or we can take short cuts, set ourselves lower standards and achieve less.

I think I would rather be a spider than a fly.

Fair Trade Easter Eggs - now that's an idea!

It’s April and it's likely you’ll be doing your Easter Egg shopping soon. What are you going to buy? Lots of little eggs, or a couple of really big ones? Cadbury’s, Red Tulip, light chocolate or dark chocolate, an egg, or a rabbit or a bilby?

You may well choose not to buy an Easter egg at all, but most of us seem to fall into this annual indiscretion. Here's an idea to ease your conscience (although I hope it's more than that): Look out for Fair Trade chocolate. Reaching out with the love of Jesus means many things, but one of those things is to treat people fairly and with justice.

By buying Fair Trade chocolate this Easter you can play a part in ensuring better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.

By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses injustices against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

This Easter, play your part in achieving a fairer, more just society. There’s information available about where to buy Fair Trade chocolate this Easter at www.fairtrade.com.au

Go Slow

I was reading the other day about the new project of the Office of Road Safety, called “Enjoy the Ride”. The creators of the promotion believe the way we drive is a symptom of the way we live; Too fast. They claim that research confirms that 70% of people who say they live hectic lives, admit to speeding on the road, while only 40% of people who say they live more balanced lives admit to speeding.

It got me thinking about Baptistcare’s vision: “To transform and enrich lives”. Mostly when I ask someone about their day, the answer is “busy” and I wondered if perhaps it is possible to be too busy to be able to make a difference in people’s lives.

Baptistcare staff drive a fair bit, and traffic infringement notices come in quite regularly. I have to admit that I am not without fault in this regard. If the advice of the Office of Road Safety is correct, our lives are too hectic and it is showing in the way we drive.

How can we join the slow movement so that we can be more effective in transforming and enriching lives? It may be in the way we drive, or about leaving your mobile phone on your desk while you go to lunch and letting it ring. For that matter just making sure you have a lunch break and not eating at your desk.

Take the pace of life quiz and share your thoughts about how you have learnt to slow down so that you can improve your capacity to bless the people around you.

Two Special Days This Week

There’s no end to the number of special days we can celebrate in Australia. I don’t feel particularly stressed from having missed Data Protection Day and Library Lovers’ Day this year, but this week there are two days that I don’t think should go unnoticed.

Today, March 21 is Harmony Day which was established to recognise the multicultural nature of our society, to recommit to tolerance, goodwill and understanding for people from all groups in our community and to say no to racism.

Also this week, on March 24, we celebrate National Close the Gap Day which acknowledges the need for us to close the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are still dying 10 to 17 years younger than other Australians.

Such special days are an opportunity for us to pause in the midst of our busy lives to think about the great things that are a part of living in the lucky country, but they also give us cause to reflect on those aspects of our society that need significant change. I have to say that my life has been enriched by relationships with people of many different cultures, but even as I give thanks for those relationships I have to hang my head in shame as I think about injustices that have been experienced by the original Australians and may yet be experienced by those who are finding their way to Australia in rickety boats as we speak to escape hardship, poverty and war.

To gain a better understanding of the issues raised through these two special days this week I encourage you to find out about Harmony Day at http://www.harmony.gov.au/ and Close the Gap Day at http://www.socialinclusion.gov.au/initiatives/pages/closingthegap.aspx.