Stars in the Sky
“How many stars are in the sky?” Mr. Nolan White Nolan’s traditional people are traced back to the southwest clan groups of the Noongar Nation of Western Australia. Having been raised on the Gold Coast, he has the honour and privilege of being accepted and welcomed by the Kombumerri Saltwater people. Nolan has committed much of his working life, both in government and NGOs, to improving the lives of First Nations Peoples in criminal, child protection, and domestic and family violence matters. He is a senior facilitator in Men’s Behaviour Change Programs having been trained by founders and mentors in the Duluth model and is experienced in both court-mandated and non-mandated program delivery. Nolan currently works for YFS at Logan for their Responsible Men Program and is one of the very few First Nations facilitators currently engaged in mainstream program delivery across Australia. Nolan is married with two teenage children and spends most of his free time attempting to keep up with his children’s sporting and artistic endeavours. When I was asked by the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research to contribute to the Reader, immediate trepidation surfaced. This trepidation was mixed with the archetypal attached emotions that most First Nations Peoples suffer in many aspects of life – emotions attached to the notion that “nothing will ever be good enough measured against mainstream society”. This was compounded somewhat in my case because I never had the opportunity to attend university and I speculated that people from academia will be reading my text. I have been fortunate, however, to have exemplary support from the QCDFVR staff who continue to ensure that First Nations Peoples’ perspectives hold integrity in their practice especially in the Domestic and Family Violence sector. When I’ve been asked to deliver presentations, write articles, provide First Nations Peoples’ perspectives or Acknowledgements of Country, I’ve been quietly amused to be also asked to provide a ‘Bio’. To truly know Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, a forum in which we tell you how good we are is something that sits quite uncomfortably and is culturally inappropriate. Of course, you will have met many First Nations Peoples who will happily rattle off a list of accomplishments, ensure you know the seats they hold on boards and whose “ears” they have to influence and persuade - but I encourage you to consider that this is a learned behaviour for a variety of reasons ranging from the admirable through to the utterly distasteful. 13 . QCDFVRe@der, March 2021
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are, by traditional values, modest, unassuming, and humble people. What elevates our people in community is the respect community hold in us, not the western-learned notion that we must self-promote to achieve success. In my writing, there will be acknowledgments of some of my work, but I do not do so hypocritically. Rather I seek to indicate and share some learnings I have come to know in my own journey especially in respect to facilitating Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCP) with First Nations participants, within a larger cohort of non-Indigenous participants. As a facilitator in MBCPs, many industry professionals ask me “What do we do with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?” The question alone is interesting enough and would be great to explore given so many First Nations Peoples are asked this question. However, unfortunately, this would side-track from the intent of my writing. The answer to the question is akin to asking me to answer “How many stars are in the sky?” and along with it, “How do you explain unknown galaxies beyond our own?” One comment I usually make is that it would be ruinous practice to assume any non-Indigenous person, professional or otherwise has any real concept or deep understanding of the lived experience of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander participant, and equally disastrous to presume any comprehension of the layers of complexity associated with, and impacts of, what the participant, his forebears, and ancestors have endured in the past two hundred and thirtythree years. The following is an excerpt of a cultural awareness presentation I deliver to final year law students in considering First Nations Peoples clientele:
…Colonisation has disrupted the knowledge pathways and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have endured systemic disconnection from traditional ways. Past government, education and church policies have prohibited the conducting of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ceremonies and the speaking of traditional languages. There was also the wholesale
