Comments on: On a roll in the Todd

By: Susan Sidler

Susan Sidler — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 01:18:28 +0000

@ Frank Baarda: A prominent notice at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre stated “Humbugging is Violence.”
Best to focus on illegal acts rather than launch a full scale attack on Aboriginal traditional cultural practices.
Prison Super at the time was shadow minister Bill Yan.

By: Frank Baarda

Frank Baarda — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 08:35:05 +0000

Ralph, I recall card games which dragged on until there was one winner. The winner would then head to town with the losers to buy a car. The car would be registered in the winners’ name but all got to use it.
Both Mal Brough and Jennie Macklin demonized “humbugging” and made no distinction between stand-over tactics and generous sharing.
Sadly such deliberate politically opportunistic obfuscation has not been consigned to the dustbin of history. The Intervention you speak of is still with us.

By: Ralph Folds

Ralph Folds — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 01:16:50 +0000

Was there anything more reviled over the past decades than card games on Aboriginal communities?
Under the Intervention there were even attempts to stamp them out.
Now there is a greater awareness of their role in redistributing money within the community, usually to fund the purchase of a vehicle.
The winner would escape to town and come back with a prized car and then take off with family to visit far flung relatives.
For a very low income people focussed on maintaining bonds with extended family card games served an important purpose.
But just as often these days, the winner heads to town to lose the lot at the Casino or on the pokies just introduced to the two hotels with mainly Aboriginal patrons.