Lonely Planet: Aboriginal Australia

By KATHY MARKS

TILBA TILBA - "There she goes," observed Lino Thomas, peering through the drizzle at the mist-veiled mountain rising up ahead. "Look at that grey cloak. She's wearing her possum skin again."

Ms Thomas, an Aboriginal tour guide, was pointing to one of the earliest landmarks recorded by Captain Cook as he sailed up the coast of southern New South Wales.

Cook called it Mount Dromedary, but the mountain already had a name: for thousands of years, local Aborigines had known it as Gulaga.

If the idealistic folk at Lonely Planet have their way, that is how it will be referred to by thousands of overseas tourists. The mountain, which is sacred to the Yuin tribes of the South Coast, features in a radical new guide by Lonely Planet, purveyors of culturally sensitive travel advice to two generations of backpackers.

The book gives an entirely different perspective from conventional guides on a country that is booming as a travel destination following last year's Sydney Olympics.

Three years in production and shrouded in secrecy for most of that time, Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait Islands is as much a political statement as a guidebook.

It will receive a decidedly mixed reception at home, where John Howard's government has refused to apologise to Aborigines for past injustices and some white Australians feel that too much attention is already paid to a race that represents two per cent of the population.

Large chunks of the book are devoted to history and politics from an indigenous viewpoint, and to controversial issues such as land rights, deaths in custody, racial reconciliation and the lamentable state of health and employment in Aboriginal communities.

It also highlights dozens of personal stories by Aboriginal writers about the experience of living as outsiders in their own country. Contributors do not mince their words. "This country is built on lies, massacres, genocide, imprisonment, poison, stolen children and the ongoing bullshit of Western politics," writes Jason Davidson, a young Northern Territory Aborigine.

The book's own political credentials are, predictably, impeccable. The authors consulted painstakingly with Aboriginal communities in every area in order to avoid directing travellers to private places such as burial grounds or initiation sites or to areas that could not cope with large numbers of visitors.

Towns and regions are all referred to by their Aboriginal names; Sydney, for instance, is called Yura Country. In keeping with Aboriginal custom, first names of the recently deceased are not mentioned.

Fifty-one indigenous people contributed to the guide, most of them young, previously unpublished writers who were trained by Lonely Planet specifically for the task.

Only indigenous-owned or operated tourism ventures are included, a laudable principle but one that results in some large gaps; virtually no hotels or other places to stay are listed. Nor is there any information on getting to and from locations; readers, apparently, are supposed to buy a mainstream Lonely Planet guide to find out such details.

The company's high aspirations for the book are reflected in the involvement of heavyweight public figures, both black and white. In Australia, it is being launched by Sir Gustav Nossal, an eminent scientist and human rights campaigner who was vice-chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

The text was proof-read by Mick Dodson, the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice commissioner and one of Australia's most respected indigenous leaders. Mr Dodson also wrote a section on "responsible tourism", in which he warns against stereotypes and explains the protocols for visiting Aboriginal towns and communities.

The guide is the perfect tool for tourists who want to visit Australia but feel misgivings because of its racist past and present racial inequities. Sacred sites, rock art, galleries and museums are among the places of interest listed.

Sarina Singh, the coordinating author, said that increasing numbers of travellers wanted to experience indigenous Australia, but many of them were uncertain about how to interact with Aborigines.

"Lonely Planet wants the tourism dollars to be directed to the appropriate indigenous organisations," she said. "At its best, tourism not only brings income and employment, it also helps to protect the culture, since it allows Aborigines to provide access to their sites and to interpret them."

Ms Singh said it was also hoped that the book would promote growth in indigenous tourism, which is relatively well established in the Northern Territory - the site of Uluru, formerly called Ayers Rock - but is in its infancy in other areas.

Umbarra Cultural Tours have been organising trips to Gulaga and other local sites for about five years. The company is run by the Wallaga Lake Aboriginal community, one of the oldest indigenous settlements in New South Wales.

Lino Thomas takes small groups of tourists up the mountain, following a winding, rutted track past the town of Tilba Tilba, which means "Windy Windy" in the local Aboriginal dialect. At the summit, she paints their faces with white ochre and leads the way through a grove of stringybark and scribbly gum trees to a collection of huge rocks sacred to her Djininjan tribe.

"The rocks have an invisible energy that connects Gulaga with all the mountains along the coast and across to Uluru," she says. "The rocks are like the guardians of time. If they could talk, they would tell 1,000 stories."

Back at Wallaga Lake, one of the community elders, Merv Penrith, says that tourism is vital to the perpetuation of his culture. "The more I give away of my culture, the more I keep," he says. "I hope we can also educate the wider community."

Philip Morrissey, an Aboriginal lecturer at Melbourne University who wrote Lonely Planet's history chapter, believes that the guide can transform attitudes. "I am in no doubt about the influence of popular culture," he says. "If people come to Australia and pick up this book, it will affect the way that they see the country. I think the effect will be incalculable."

- INDEPENDENT