Someone Else's Country: A fearless, funny and profoundly moving Australian story

By Peter Docker, Fremantle: Curtin University Books, 2005, 416 pages, paperback, $24.95. Reviewed by Jeannie Herbert in the October 2005 issue.

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Fast moving, full of action and energy, Someone Else's Country enables the reader to get a 'taste of life' as it really is for many Indigenous Australians. The author has chosen to structure the book using short chapters and a sparse, almost staccato style of writing, providing a series of brief glimpses into modern Aboriginal lifestyles. The ease of reading enables the reader to make rapid progress into the book. Initially there is an impression of skimming across the surface of life, not unlike the way in which many of us increasingly live our lives -- our knowledge of others being gleaned from the impressions we form during brief, often unrelated, interactions. Interestingly, having become caught up in the action, the reader suddenly realises that the book provides very valuable insights into Aboriginal lifestyles, worldviews and the realities of where Aboriginal people have been positioned within this society. In taking the reader on a journey through the realities of everyday life for many urbanised Aboriginal Australians, Docker suddenly confronts the reader with the ultimate understanding of where our racialised history has taken us in this country. It is a sobering revelation but nevertheless a truthful one for in exploring his own relationships with the many Indigenous Australians who inhabit his life, Stephen Motor, the narrator, reveals how many Aboriginal peoples have dealt, and continue to deal, with the often oppositional factors that continually impact upon their well-being both in an individual and a collective sense -- visibility/invisibility; acceptance/harassment; interest/disinterest; belonging/exclusion; joy/grief; and so on. In revealing the continually fluctuating emotional pressures placed upon people through their engagement with the wider society, the author highlights the fragility of both the concept and process of reconciliation in this country. At the same time this engagement with the emotional side of peoples' lives, serves to emphasise the way in which extended families work and their centrality within the holistic framework within which many Aboriginal people live their lives.

But the real value of this book lies in the use of language and culture to highlight the differences that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The use of Aboriginal English in the narration; the explanations provided for specific words such as, 'Moorroops are ghosts or spirits' (p 211); use of body language 'He exclamation marks it with his lips' (p170); cultural insights -- 'In indigenous societies there are two types of families, blood, going up and down like a tree, and skin, going sideways like many tributaries from a river' (p 96); the unresolved struggle for the soul of our nation . . . an equal place in our society' (p 225) with the use of military metaphors and language because there is a war to fight. War of attitude (p 233); and reference to cultural protocols 'King's eyes are on the ground. He is married-up' (p 116); the complexities of learning to communicate in a different language 'there's a lot to see if you really look'. (p 289) And woven into the fabric of the narrative are the dilemmas Stephen must deal with as he is tested by his Aboriginal 'brothers', as he reveals on (p 215) when he realised that Henry had 'wanted me to be hungry for the cross-cultural friendship . . . not content in it'; and struggling to understand spirituality because 'We gubbahs aren't used to moving in such a spiritual landscape', (p 250) need to learn 'to look with my heart'. (p 248) And this book continually challenges the reader for, in the same way as Stephen is constantly confronted with his own acts. Just as he thinks he is getting there, some event will happen that will make him despair that he is: 'Just another useless wadjula ... I'll always be the invader. Soldier. Trooper. Prison guard. Cop. Teacher. Welfare worker. Killer. Rapist. Gubbah motherfucker' (p 321). But this is also a story of hope for as Stephen argues: 'We gotta stop thinking it's either-or, us wadjulas. No people want what is ours. Just what is theirs'. (p 405)

In my opinion, this publication would be of interest to all Australians who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the cross-cultural nature of Australian society, in particular those who have a commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, I would highly recommend its use in senior secondary and tertiary educational institutions. In analysing the language, both vocabulary and structures, this book will enable professionals to contextualise Aboriginal English within an historical framework while also providing an excellent insight into the language that is the home language for many of the Indigenous peoples with whom they work. Hence, I would argue that this publication will make a valuable addition to a range of courses offered within the arts, education, social sciences and health disciplines.

Citation

• Jeannie Herbert. 'Review: Someone Else's Country: A fearless, funny and profoundly moving Australian story by Peter Docker' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), October 2005. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 06 September 2010].

Back Cover Blurb

• 'Wurrung (crow)! You my Wurrung-boy!'
  
  On a remote cattle station a small boy begins a profound journey into an Australia few whitefellas know. The Country inside our Country. And outside and all around at the same time. Aboriginal Australia.
  
  With Someone Else's Country Peter Docker tells a remarkable, gripping story - devastatingly real, painful and deeply moving, yet also joyful, intensely compassionate and absolutely hilarious. And ultimately, this is a journey into another place - a genuine meeting ground for Black and White Australia, a place built on deep personal engagement and understanding.
  
  Someone Else's Country is a journey we feel privileged to share.

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