The Ghost of the Billabong Speaks

The voice of the invisible Australian Cultural Narrative

An exposé of Australian culture and multiculturalism based on the true story of the

Townsville Cultural Fest 1995 – 2016

Dr Farvardin Daliri OAM

 

To find out more about this book
or to contact the author, please visit:

www.vividpublishing.com.au/theghostofthebillabong

 

 

Copyright © 2016 Dr. Farvardin Daliri OAM

Cover art by Dr. Farvardin Daliri OAM

ISBN: 978-1-925515-97-8 (eBook)

Published by Vivid Publishing

P.O. Box 948, Fremantle Western Australia 6959

www.vividpublishing.com.au

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Author Contact:

Dr Farvardin Daliri, PO Box 1858 Townsville Qld 4810

About this Book

Passing through Boundary Rd at West End, a Brisbane suburb, is not an ordinary experience.

As opposed to the larger world—where due to differences in religion, culture, language or social class, pools of blood have coloured the streets and the sacred threshold of family homes have been turned to crime scenes and rubble—you get to see an immense diversity of food, shops, retail stores, cultures, costumes, religions and music, all within a stretch of 500 metres.

In such a place, you may see many different shades and colours of human flowers in the garden of humanity. All happily following their Australian dream and proudly expressing their way of life, cultures and values—without being interrupted by any one. Like a supreme pizza, you may see every nice and tasty form of topping and flavour, so colourful and tasty.

It is heaven of humanity. Yet something is missing, rather, rendered invisible – the base of the pizza, the one which makes this pizza possible, the one that allows all these colours and flavours to shine. What is it that is missing and often goes unnoticed in West End and in all similar situations? That is the Australian Cultural Narrative that, like the pizza base, has been rendered invisible and not worth mentioning, it is the Ghost of the Billabong.

In this book, Dr Farvardin Daliri OAM has endeavoured to bring to light the missing ghost of Australian culture with the warning: If we don’t recognise the base of this multicultural pizza, we can’t go too far with it before the pizza of our wonderful Australia disintegrates and the wonderful individual flavours of the topping are lost.

Yes, multiculturalism is important, but more importantly is that which holds it together and sustains its development, the Australian Culture. Come a Waltzing Matilda with Farvardin Daliri and bring to light the Ghost of the Billabong, with its unifying and healing message for all who made Australia home.

 

It’s time for the ghost to be heard – the voice of reason – the Australian inclusive, fair-go-mate culture where there is Unity in Diversity. If given the chance, equal protection and opportunity with dignity and compassion, all human beings are capable of being noble and peaceful. Stop the wars based on the false assumption that if we don’t get them they will get us. Give humanity a chance with democracy and equality and see how noble they are. Do not allow extremist individuals to define the features of the entire people of Australia or the world.

Look at the Townsville Cultural Fest and see how diversity can be peaceful, joyful and a means of unity.

—Dr. F. Daliri

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my son Erfan Daliri, who helped and inspired me during the most critical times of the Townville Cultural Fest development and saved the festival with his tireless efforts and creative mind. He is currently serving the festival as Director, and he loves and is passionate about his work, irrespective of whether there are adequate, sustainable wages for him. He sees the vision of Unity in Diversity and aims for blurring self-imposed human boundaries with music, dance, art, fun, food and friendship. As a young Australian he sees the vision that I saw and he is capable of showing, sharing and realising this vision within his generation.

Forward

This book portrays the important history of the well-known Townsville Cultural Fest, the biggest festival of its kind in Queensland and a highlight of the year for Townsville’s diverse community. But it is much more than that. It provides some crucial insights into the meaning of ‘multiculturalism’ in Australia.

The four narratives described by the author are well illustrated through his reflections on the development of the festival, from its humble beginnings more than 20 years ago to Australia now, where notions of multiculturalism are confused, misunderstood and set against a backdrop of political correctness, divisive politics and the conservative polemic around migration, refugees and terrorism. Unless we have a new way of thinking about this issue, there is the potential for Australia to become further divided.

Farvardin has woven his personal experiences of his flight from persecution, his early days of settlement in Australia, and the establishment and growth of the Townsville Cultural Fest to illustrate the narratives. As you will read, it is the Australian Cultural Narrative that has the potential to reframe how we view what it means to be an Australian, so that this country can grow beyond divisiveness to become the harmonious and inclusive nation it is destined to be.

The Townsville Intercultural Centre is proud to have been able to support the development and publication of this book.

Jeremy Audas

Chairperson

Townsville Intercultural Centre

CONTENTS

Introduction

Background – Snapshot of the 4 Narratives

1   Heading North to Townsville

Multicultural divides in Melbourne

My Indigenous experience

Working with the Migrant Resource Centre

2   Vision of a Cultural Fest

Getting the name right

Welcomed to Tasmania

Multicultural evening and media projection

3   First Townsville Cultural Fest

A question of cultures

The dual narratives speak

4   Silent But Important People

Professor Gracelyn Smallwood

William (Bill) Pike

My Aboriginal brother, Mr Tonky Logan

Conflict between the four narratives

5   Misrepresented Voice of Australia

Diffusing conflict

Ken Turner

Festival funding and community expectations

6   2000 – Ironing Out Some Issues

Inherent contradictions of multiculturalism

National flags issue

Festival promotion

7   Year 2002: A Crucial Decision

The DIMA bows out

The Fest must go on

8   Aussie Culture at Work

Pimlico-Mundingburra Scout Group to the rescue

Adaptability and acceptance

The 1001 Night Party for ALL Australians

9   Sustainability, Love and the Spirits

Spiritual crusade and an angel

Sustainability and charging at the gate

Not giving away the Fest

The voice of the Ghost

10 History of the Narratives

Emerging Australian Culture

British Narrative versus Australian Cultural Narrative

Multiculturalism, inclusivity and reverse racism

Australian inclusivity

11 2014 – 20 Year Anniversary

Storage and disappointments

Generating support

Steve Price’s nose snubbed by the media

Broken promises and preparations

Connection on Castle Hill

Parade and Dinner: Let’s party!

The rain came too

Weathering the storm

The wet Fest sustained through love

12 Our 21^st Birthday

VP70 and the Jolly Swagman

2016: Onwards and upwards

13 Final Word: A Vision for the Future

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Introduction

Australians! Here is a book that holds a mirror up to modern Australia to remind us of the real Aussie Culture—the Australian Narrative of our history and the way we arrived at this point in time. Yes, Australia does have a culture, but it has been rendered almost invisible, like the Ghost of the Billabong in Waltzing Matilda. This book is a humble attempt to give a voice to the Ghost of the Billabong, the voice of the Australian Culture—that of freedom, egalitarianism, inclusivity and unity within diversity.

This voice has revealed itself to me throughout my life and work in Australia over the past 30 years in the areas of multiculturalism and reconciliation, since I was accepted as a refugee to this generous nation. At the core of Australian Culture are its cultural standards of coexistence, mutual support and giving each other a hand. This was typified by Brendan Farrell’s Burrumbuttock Hay Runners initiative, which, since 2014, has seen nearly 20,000 free bales of hay delivered to drought-stricken Queensland graziers. Reaching out to fellow Australians with personal resources and supporting the salt and soul of our nation, our farming communities, is a unique cultural narrative encoded within the ‘cultural DNA’ of this land.

All the wonderful social and cultural developments that have happened in the past 150 years in Australia were only possible due to the moving breeze and fertile field of the Aussie Culture, which I call the Australian Cultural Narrative. Aussie Culture is fused with egalitarian aspirations and the ideal of ‘a fair go for all’. It is imprinted with the joyful dancing of the Swagman with Matilda, erected on the bedrock of the uncompromising call from Ned Kelly for social and economic justice, decorated with the blood, sweat and tears of its inhabitants, and crowned with progressive values of gender equality and social justice.

From the arrival of the first convicts and settlers to their descendants and millions of migrants and refugees since, Australians have turned this land of banishment into the land of opportunities, enriched by moral codes of equality, inclusivity, oneness and teamwork – regardless of cultural background. This is the Australian Cultural Narrative at work. But it has been overshadowed by the dominance of the perpetuation of neo-Colonialism under the banner of capitalism and international corporatism. I call this narrative the British Colonial Narrative – the voice that harkens back to the British Empire establishing a penal colony filled with exiled criminals, setting in motion two centuries of colonisation of the Australian land mass, where the voice of the Indigenous people were not included, with attempts to render the existence of the First Nation invisible to the world.

During the course of Australia’s cultural evolution, and as a result of Australian cultural values, two other important narratives were empowered and emerged: The Indigenous Narrative of the subjugation and dispossession of Indigenous Australians and their subsequent long-term suffering as victims of colonisation (which is not recognised by the Colonial Narrative), and the Australian Multicultural Narrative, which developed with the emergence of multiculturalism, initially with the goal of the integration of the whole Australian community and a massive immigration and refugee settlement program.

I have recognised these four narratives throughout my personal and professional life in this nation and, in particular, through my involvement in establishing and running the Townsville Cultural Fest for more than 22 years. This book shares the story of the Townsville Cultural Fest and our work towards bringing unity to the many diverse cultures in our region and nation. This festival now draws more than 40-50,000 people from all over Australia, including at least 250 to 300 different intercultural groups (ethnic, religious, sporting, community, art, school, performing) based on a vision of Unity through Diversity. But the journey hasn’t been easy. I will share the touchpoints and playing out of the four narratives with you throughout this journey, which has brought challenges and blessings. Overall, it will reveal the unifying voice of the Ghost of the Billabong – the Australian Cultural Narrative. The people of Townsville and Australia need to know this story. And for all those who have been involved in this festival and its challenges, their story deserves to be told.

Woven throughout this story will be explanations of the four narratives, past and present and discussions on the tough issues – the inherent problems with current divisive multicultural policies, the painting of everyday Australians as racists with the ‘brush’ of the past that had arisen due to the policies of the British Empire in the past, the silencing of the true Aussie Cultural Narrative, which is about a fair go for all and more, the shortcomings of the Indigenous Narrative.

I am introducing a new and fresh perspective in talking about Australian culture, racism, multiculturalism and reconciliations. Why? Because my vision for this nation that embraced my family and I so long ago, is one of unity and cohesion within diversity. That is the Australia I know.

I will offer an even deeper analysis of the four narratives—culminating in my vision for this nation, based on the Australian Narrative, which I know many, many Australians share and which holds the key to our future. It is, I believe, the voice of reason.

You will find a term in this book that may evoke a plethora of reactions: ‘One Nation’. We originally chose ‘Many Cultures One Nation’ as the theme for the Townsville Cultural Fest but it was renamed to avoid confusion with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, which was generating negativity. However, I will use the term ‘One Nation’ in this book, which to me means a nation with a common thread, commitment, vision and aspirations, where multiculturalism is based on the principle of the Australian Narrative of cohesion, which respects individual expressions of cultures of origin.

And I share all this with the risk of being labelled a racist myself—me, a former refugee to this land of opportunity. My lifetime commitment to multiculturalism and reconciliation and my lengthy record of community service and direct personal support to many Indigenous communities as well as thousands of newly arrived refugees, is public knowledge. Indeed, many would say that it was not expected from Farvardin to challenge current multicultural practices. However, I feel compelled to share my thoughts and experiences. I love this country and do not wish to stand by and watch the social ills that I left behind, when I ran away as a refugee, emerge like mushrooms around my neighbourhood. Writing this book is the least that I can do.

After 34 years of dedicated work towards social cohesion, multiculturalism and reconciliation in Australia, I have come to realise that, regardless of our cultural orientation, we cannot go on forever as a divided community. The current style of multiculturalism, with its related policies from both sides of politics, does not have any commitment to reuniting and reconciling all Australians. In Australia we can have differences not division. This book attempts to address what is missing within today’s multiculturalism discourse and policies and provides a fresh, unifying and common ground for all to share and be proud of.

Those who cherish multicultural ideals and stand for its support should be able to critique its development with a detached and honest mindset. Otherwise, once the general mainstream public support is diminished, the baby, ‘multiculturalism’, will be thrown out with the bathwater.

Today the word ‘multiculturalism’ brings up various feelings and perspectives in Australians. My experience as a former refugee and ‘New Australian’ is that where there is Australia, there is multiculturalism and reconciliation. My personal story of migration and settlement in regional Australia is one of having been touched with gratitude by the Australian Narrative, with its naturally inclusive multiculturalism.

Millions of immigrants and refugees, like my family, came to Australia for the social justice, equality, human rights and democracy that are on offer and mostly did experience it. Values, I have discovered, are at the core of the Australian Narrative but are being suppressed by the media and in political and educational sectors. And often, to the contrary, we hear complaints about racism and inequality from certain sectors and we are led to believe that many Australians do not accept multiculturalism.

What is not talked about enough is that Australian culture is about inclusion, a fair go, equal rights and acceptance regardless of culture and race for all living here, which is at the core of a healthy multiculturalism model. Perhaps what some are reacting to is a multicultural model which has developed over time in the political arena and that doesn’t lead to unity in diversity and integration, but rather to segregation and separateness.

This direction arose as a result of the Multicultural Narrative being influenced by the British Colonial Narrative of ‘separate, divide and dominate’ and, together with the Indigenous Narrative, detached from the grand narrative of the evolving Australian Culture. In the process, many aspects of Australian Culture have been rendered invisible and, in fact, worthy of shame and criticism because of what happened as a result of being brushed with the same colour as the British Colonial Narrative. That is, the dispossession of the Indigenous people and the development of the White Australia policy.

The biggest challenge that the Australian Cultural Narrative has faced is due to the consistent media projection of Australia as a British backyard, reinforcing the British Narrative. As a result, even many Australians do not perceive their cultural identity as being independent from Britain. This confusion has led both the Indigenous Australian and migrant communities to miss the point and confuse the Colonial British Narrative with the Australian Cultural Narrative.

Discussion about the Australian Cultural narrative is bound to raise questions about Australia’s colonisation and the subjugation, displacement, genocide, suppression and subsequent Stolen Generation that the Indigenous Australian people have been subjected to since the first European contact and up until recent times. That is why the historical context of the British and Australian cultures are confused and contemporary Australians can be led to feel the shame, regret and guilt for the Colonial crimes committed against Australia’s Indigenous people.

Furthermore, often the voice of Indigenous Australian activists stereotypically portrays contemporary Australian culture as an extension of the Colonial British, which potentially sets up Australians as suspected racists hence, denying any cultural or historical pride on the part of mainstream Australians. For example, Australia Day is often labelled as ‘Invasion Day’ or ‘Sorry Day’.

In my opinion, without a shadow of doubt, the voice of Indigenous Australians that is calling for justice and recognition of their historical perspective, modification of the constitution and their land ownership struggle has to be recognised and respected. Australia’s Indigenous peoples, the original inhabitants of this land, suffered enormously during the process of British colonisation and were indeed often brutally displaced, killed, imprisoned and deprived of basic human rights by the Colonial British. The point that I am making here, however, is a different one. Much of the Indigenous Narrative is based on an identity of being oppressed and displaced in their own country through the racism of Australians, but my point is that it was the British who colonised Australia, playing out the British Colonial Narrative, and not the Australians.

The often-untold story is that the exiled convicts who were brought to Australia by the same Colonial British suffered as well. Many died as slaves and suffered as labourers, often brutally killed by the British soldiers when they challenged their authority. Therefore, the discourse of racism directed toward Australians is by and large misdirected.

The fact is that Australians, inspired by the ‘fair go’ and commitment to justice and inclusion that bonded them together as survivors, were a major force in undoing some of the cruelties of Colonialism and putting a hold on the process of the long-term genocide of Indigenous Australians. It was the majority of Australians who rallied behind the referendum that changed the constitution in the favour of Indigenous Australians in the 1960s. It was Australians who reversed the British-favoured ‘White Australia Policy’ and developed multicultural policies, provisions and pathways. Therefore, there is multiculturalism and reconciliation where there is Australia and Australian Culture.

By understanding this narrative, we can learn from it for a stronger and better Australia with no divides, no cultural or religious boundaries, no community inner conflicts and ‘no worries’ at all. Then only can we say about Australia that ‘she’ll be right, mate’.

I believe the invisible Australian culture holds the key to our future peace and cohesion as a nation. This book is dedicated to giving a voice to the Australian Cultural Narrative, its direct influence on, and support of, the emergence of the Indigenous and multicultural narratives, and its detachment and independence from the British Colonial Narrative.

I hope this book serves to show Australians that they do, indeed, have a culture to be proud of.

When I chose Australia as a place of refuge for my small family, I admired it as a safe nation, that had one of the best records for peacekeeping and commitment to social justice, all that I was deprived of in Iran.

It was after being involved in setting up and staging the Townsville Cultural Fest that I realised how complicated the Australian cultural identity is and how much pain and shame surrounds the topic. For example, the Aboriginal people I met had resentment about ‘multiculturalism’ that excluded them; the Torres Strait Islanders did not want to be mixed up with Aboriginal people within the term ‘Indigenous’; and well-established ethnic groups were not keen on the inclusion of Indigenous people in the festival.

Furthermore, newly arrived refugees from conflict areas initially did not like to mix with the other groups; migrants usually complained about racism; Australians with strong ties with England were concerned about the absence of their cultural flavour within the festival … and among all of this, average Australians looked to the left and to the right and could not make any sense of the lot, and sometimes they walked away from the whole drama, saying ‘bugger it’. Even sadder is that some mainstream Australians didn’t even recognise that they have a culture to be proud of and were welcome to join with all the other cultures at the Townsville Cultural Fest.

After years of working hard towards the vision of the festival message ‘Unity in Diversity’ and having faced many hard and challenging obstacles, I found that Unity in Diversity was not only my vision and that of my festival team and family, it had been encoded within the DNA of the emerging and evolving Australian culture, just as Aussie Rules came about and Banjo Patterson wrote Waltzing Matilda. Like any other evolutionary process, the Australian Culture evolved along with the celebration of life, friendship and equality.

Through my experience in establishing and developing the Townsville Cultural Fest, I have gradually arrived at my vision of the Australian Culture and discovered its inherent invisibility. Through a course of events, real community engagement and lived experience I have come to know that no individual cultural values, religious practices or ethnic groups have the demonstrated capacity to enhance Australian community cohesion and bring about unity in diversity.

The only chance for Australia to be united and harmonised as a nation, is in upholding and celebrating the core Australian Cultural Narrative and values.

That is because the British and corporate interests are best served through a divide-and-conquer mindset; the Indigenous people have strict racial boundaries between various tribes and families; ethnic groups are more interested in their own group issues and challenges; and religious groups have unsurpassable boundaries beyond which they don’t encourage their members to dwell.

Burdened under the label of racist, disappointed with the load of guilt for what was done to the Indigenous people in their name and silenced by political correctness, the average fair-minded, easy-going Australian often feels confused, helpless, disappointed, misjudged and disempowered. Yet they hold the key to Australia’s gloriously free and united future.

The story of the Jolly Swagman, and the invisibility of his ghost, resembles the situation in which many decent Australians find themselves. I was inspired by the Ghost of the Billabong, through my own spiritual experiences when facing the challenges of the Townsville Cultural Fest, and chose to shed light on this invisibility and expose the ghost of Australian culture in the interests of all those who seek more from Australia and look forward to a better and more just and equitable future.

Within this context, I feel that I speak on behalf of the Ghost of the Billabong—the Jolly Swagman who wants to tell us why he jumped into the billabong. Through the analysis of the stories of the Swagman from Waltzing Matilda and Ned Kelly, in this book I am attempting to project on to these pages the independent Australian Cultural Narrative and its contribution to the development of a future global community, where there is a sustainable ‘Unity in Diversity’ with justice and a ‘fair go’ for all.

It is but expected that many readers will cherry pick a few paragraphs here or there, make up their minds, rush their comments and flag their reaction. Habits are hard to break. I only hope that my readers will go through the whole book before judging my intent or commenting on my approach.

This is my personal invitation to the Australian cultural community to view Australian culture from a fresh perspective, as a unifying and inclusive culture, and to bring it back to the discussion table. It is an invitation for all narratives in this great nation to coexist in harmony, within the inclusive umbrella of the Australian Cultural Narrative.

I wish for all Australians to feel proud of who they are and I wish to see a society where there is respect and unity amongst the diversity of cultures, that doesn’t equate to a collection of isolated, segregated and independent cultural and religious groups. Rather, I envision we become one Australian nation with a common thread, commitment, vision and aspirations, where individual expressions of cultures of origin are also respected.

The Australian Cultural Narrative is indeed an invisible reality, like the Ghost of the Billabong. This book, and the Townsville Cultural Fest, is dedicated to bringing the Ghost to light and showing it to Australia, not as a thief, but rather as a unique and mystical cultural icon that speaks for social justice and equity for all Australians.

Let’s celebrate Australia for the opportunities and safe home that she provides to all of us. This is what we have tried to achieve during the past 22 years of staging the Townsville Cultural Fest with the theme of Unity in Diversity, and we hope to carry on this beautiful Townsville tradition forever.

I invite everyone, from every perspective, regardless of his or her politics, cultural orientation and ideology, to understand, appreciate and support the Australian Cultural Narrative. That is because the Australian Cultural Narrative is the only narrative that has the capacity to include, respect, sustain and engage all other narratives.

Please, read on and hear the journey of the Townville Cultural Fest through the years, and the lessons gleaned that can only benefit this great nation.

But before the story begins, please bear with me to read some background information on the Four Narratives as this is the lens through which to read this book. They are the lenses through which I perceive the journey of, not only the Townsville Cultural Fest, but the story of this great land of ours—Australia—towards the dream of Unity in Diversity.