April 2008 Newsletter from didjshop.com

Editorial

After last month' extra large newsletter, this newsletter might look small. However if you compare it with the typical length of our newsletters only one or two years ago, this one is longer and if you compare it with our newsletters four or five years ago, this one is about double as long.
It's because we get so much wonderful feedback about our newsletters that I am inspired to spend more and more time on researching and writing them. So you can thank all those readers who have shared their appreciation with us.
And how many commercial websites can you find that spend so much time and energy on writing a newsletter that sometimes (like this one) does not even push their products for sale? Well you all know how passionate we feel about Aboriginal and didj issues and we appreciate that over ten thousand of you are interested in those issues.

This month newsletter has a special section giving a voice to just a few to the many Aboriginal elders and stolen generation members who witnessed the historic 'Sorry' speech by new Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. Reading those comments might help you to understand the importance of this first step on the long road to reconciliation, a small step that the previous prime minister refused to do for over a decade, causing added grief to millions of Australians.

Next there is a small article by Garth Stone from Melbourne about the valuable didj work he is doing followed by readers sharing their experiences about didj healing and didj meditation. Then you can see where the price didj for our customer competition went to and last not least you can read over half a dozen Aboriginal news items, including the boomerang that did come back and proved me wrong :-).

The last equinox didgeridoo meditation was like a huge sound tsunami going around the world thanks to the many hundreds of participants in over two hundred locations in the following 43 countries and 32 US states:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia (FYR), Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Peru, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Venezuela as well as in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, all in USA.
Some participated by themselves and others organised events with over one hundred people. Check out the full list of participants including the map of the world showing all the locations!
We are pleasantly impressed and wish to thank everyone who participated.
Since this is a regular event you can already register for the next meditation event on the solstice of June 21st. We hope that this will allow more of you to didj together. Together we can make that Worldwide Didj Circle even bigger and stronger than the last one. So please help to spread the word and encourage all of your friends to participate and register at http://www.didjshop.com/contact_us/meditation.php.
Together we can make the world sing :-). Thanks

I have stumbled upon a website petitioning the Australian film industry to make a movie about Pemulwuy. I first learned about Pemulwuy about twenty years ago when I found a book in a secondhand store called 'Pemulwoy The Rainbow Warrior', written by Eric Willmot. It is a fascinating book telling the story of this historic figure who fought a guerrilla war against the first British colonialists in the Sydney area. Few people are aware that there was a sizeable resistance to the occupation of Australia, mostly because the British governor did not want to admit to any problems towards the crown. It is because of the then governor declaring Australia as "terra nullius" (empty land) despite clear evidence to the contrary, that Aboriginal people now can lodge land claims.
Anyway we wholeheartedly support this call to make a movie about Pelmulwuy, as long as it is done with the cooperation of Aboriginal elders and in a cultural sensitive way. Please support this call by signing this petition, thanks.

Throughout this newsletter you will find some images of the caterpillar, pupae and butterfly of the Cairns Birdwing, a magnificent large butterfly that regularly visits the flowers and vines in our garden, isn't nature just wonderful?

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter....

Svargo

Saying Sorry - Aboriginal voices

In last month newsletter, we reported on the historic "Sorry" speech by new Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Please find below the voices of a few Aboriginal elders and members of the 'Stolen Generation' from across Australia commenting about Prime minister Kevin Rudd historic 'Sorry' speech:

• Bella Cooper from Geraldton in Western Australia was eight-years-old when she was taken from her mother: "I guess it means a lot, it's a start. See this is something we've been waiting for for a very very long time. It hasn't happened in the past and Mr Rudd, I just congratulate him for what he's doing for us Aboriginal people and that's a start."
• Beryl Gambrill, Cherbourg, Queensland: "It brought back memories of what happened to our people when Kevin Rudd was talking about saying sorry to families. I didn't think it was going to be that powerful. But I thank Kevin Rudd for what he said in his speech and thank him for all Aboriginal people."
• Cathy Freeman, Australian gold medallist, was taken from her mother (who is from Palm Island, off Townsville, North Queensland) and put in a church-run dormitory: "I will never really understand what it is like for a mother to have to protect her child and being unable to do it. It was disgusting. Horrible."
• Dallas Wellington - Jerringar near Jervis Bay in the New South Wales: "The apology is necessary for future generations. Everything is connected in our culture for Aboriginal people, the acts of the Stolen Generations have affected us so much that it will also affect our younger ones, it's not just in the past, it's here with us today"
• Janice Walker was taken from her family at Daintree River north of Cairns in the 60': "This is the first step in the right direction in bringing healing about in Australia"
• Jude Kelly, taken from her family near Geraldton in Western Australia: "It's an emotional time but it's a good time because there's lots of support around the place"
• Marjorie Foster was removed as a three year-old from her family in Daly River in the Northern Territory: "One day my brother come along to me and he said to me, 'Are we going out to see our mother?' I said, 'Our mother? I didn't know I had a mother'."
• Mary Terszak was taken from her family when she was two yeas old: "It's so important to me to see something so significant in our black history. Finally somebody recognised the fact to say sorry to the first peoples of this land. That in itself, i'm not going to see it again."
• Maureen Riches, from Shepparton, Victoria: "It is by far the most momentous day in Australia's history. I've been working for this for 11 years, ever since [John] Howard refused to apologise. I was thrilled with what Mr Rudd said, I fully support and agree with it, and I'm really encouraged that we now have a Prime Minister that thinks that way."
• Pat Dodson, founding chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation: "To those who participated in the removal process and who have looked into their own hearts and found that their intentions were good, I thank you for the care and the love that you showed to those in need. But to those whose intent was malign and motivations racist, your actions have now been exposed and repudiated."
• Radayne Tanna's great grandmother was removed from her family in Maytown north-west of Cairns: "She climbed up a tree to escape but the officer who was chasing her smashed her in the face with the butt of his rifle and she had a crooked eye for the rest of her life"
• Sam Watson, Brisbane based Aboriginal leader: "This is a very significant day in the history of Australia, in the history of race relations, the history of Aboriginal people" he said.
• Steve Renouf, former rugby league star from Murgon: "I think the compensation thing shouldn't come to the fore. I think the majority of Indigenous Australians are happy with the formal apology, and that means we can get on and work towards the more positive things with the Indigenous people across their country."
• Ti Hannah, of the Gunditjmara people in western Victoria: "I hope the apology signals a new beginning for Koori people. We're not going to stop suffering just because of what was said today. It's just good to know that the Government and the nation have seen what has gone wrong, and are trying to move forward and rectify that."
• Virginia Hickey's mother was removed from her family at Walgett in New South Wales: "I'm already very emotional. Just to see the old people, the elders, wish my mum was standing with them, get a bit of peace and justice for their sorrows, their troubles, their hardship, in their own country."
• Zita Wallace, Eastern Arrernte elder and chairwoman of the Central Australian Stolen Generations and Families Aboriginal Corporation: "I still remember the day I was taken from my family at Arltunga, west of Alice Springs." Ms Wallace was taken and raised on a Tiwi Islands mission, before becoming a nun and a prison officer. Aunty Zita's story was told in the 'Beyond Sorry' documentary.

Let us hope that a new leaf in has been turned in Australian history and we will witness a new era of cooperation and reconciliation.

Spreading The Word

Garth Stone has done a lot for all things didgeridoo in Melbourne and we are thankful not just for what he is doing to promote didjes but also that he shares it here with all of you. Garth is the blond guy in the middle of the photo, next to well-known Aboriginal didgeridoo player Mark Atkins with his big black hat.

"After being a passionate didgeridoo player for a few years now, I became frustrated with the lack of didgeridoo events or network of players in Melbourne. After hearing that Melbourne used to host didgeridoo workshops and that we have an abundance of professional players hiding around this city, I decided to organise a Melbourne network of didgeridoo players once again.
With a little help from professional didgeridoo player Bruce Rodgers and fellow didgeridoo enthusiast Peter Matic, the new Melbourne didgeridoo circles are now underway and growing rapidly. Each month we have a guest professional didgeridoo player help facilitate a workshop designed for all levels and abilities. So far we have been lucky enough to have didgeridoo makers and performers such as Bruce Rodgers, Eddy Halet (GER), Mark Atkins and Stax.
We aim to evolve into the new year with more players and professionals joining us for our workshops and assisting the Didjshop Worldwide Meditation in the future so that the sound and knowledge of the didgeridoo may be heard and felt by many people for years to come.
I feel I was blessed to be introduced to meditation in my younger teenage years and to also spent time working in the music industry. It was not until I picked up my first didgeridoo and perfected some breathing techniques and rhythms that I realised these two interests would join together to bring me into the field that I am in today. I now organise and facilitate sound meditation events using a variety of didgeridoos and other meditation inducing instruments such as crystal bowls, flutes and the harp. My sessions have an attendance of up to 80 plus people who are all in awe of the sound of the didgeridoo and are seeking more information on this evocative instrument. Every time I play the didgeridoo I have a huge appreciation for this countries ancestors for allowing such an amazing instrument to manifest into this world, the didgeridoo inspires me everyday and helps inspire many people that attend my performances.
If anyone is in Melbourne or coming to Melbourne and would be interested in my didgeridoo workshops or meditation events please feel free to contact me through www.onevibration.com.au.
Happy didj vibrations…
Garth Stone!"

Thanks Garth for sharing your experience and work and for making Melbourne such a strong participant in the Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditations.
If anyone reading this has a good didj story or does anything to help promote didjes and you would like to share your story, please email us, thank you.

Didgeridoo Healing and Meditation

In our 2008 visitor questionnaire we ask people to share their experiences with didj meditation and healing and many have been kind enough to do so, providing valuable and interesting insights into didgeridoo healing and mediation. We have now published these comments where permission has been given and wish to share just a few of them with you here.

Didgeridoo healing experiences:

• Steven Furman from USA: "My Mom has a very bad back. I took her to the doctor one time many years ago and I had a T-shirt on the had a funny Didj logo on it. The Doctor asked if I played and I told him. He suggested that I try playing over my Mom's back. I did not think much of it but I went to the Library (remember when we had to go there to look stuff up?) and read a little on it. We tried it and she says that it does loosen her lower back up when it is tight. We have found that the best is a slow with a little vocals (i just do the Vowels) "
• Jerome from France: "My girlfriend had her back aching. So I placed my didj on her and played a drone for a while until she told me it had passed. It was something like magic!"
• Raffaele from Australia: "I have had many comments after I play from the audience that they have felt a healing affect from the sound of the Didj. I also play in old peoples retirement homes and the most moving experience I have had was when an old lady got up to thank me and said "Thank you for coming you have just given us new life". I still cry about that !!!"
• Travis Morgan from USA: "Experiencing noticeable reduction in snoring after playing regularly for 1 month."
• Tommy Dyett from New Zealand: "My lady is pregnant and i love to play my didges to her belly it loves it and moves around lots and i will keep playing my didge to my baby after it born to keep it happy.it also makes my lady feel really happy too.for some reason I play different when playing to my baby than when i have a session by myself"
• Nigel Mason from United Kingdom: "My wife hurt her foot a number of years ago and every winter it used to ache I heard of didge healing and then tried playing on her foot. her foot is now problem free summer and winter"
• Blake from USA: "I heal myself for headaches to fight colds and flu and I have advised people with asthma and breathing problems to take a look at the latest studies on the health benefits of playing Yidaki."
• Rowena from Australia: "Insane out of this world nothing like it anywhere the whole experience was electrifying I felt exhilarated and renewed never had any other form of healing to match the intensity and power of the didge have recommended it to all since actually cant wait to get didgyified again :-) "

You can read more healing comments here.

Didgeridoo meditation experiences:

• Chrissy from USA: "When life is too busy to find solace the meditation power of the didj can provide the stress reliever that I have always been looking for"
• Álvaro Oliveira from Brazil: "I can only meditate with didj. I pay attention to my breathing. All my cells start to shake. i forget my body. I stay very comfortable and relax."
• Anonymous from Canada: "I find Didj Meditation is really the only effective form of Meditation I've been able to achieve. After a while of playing typically 5 or 10 minutes I find my mind clears and I tend to lose track of time. I need to do this alone and without distraction outdoors works best for me. I can check my watch and realize I've been at it for 40 minutes to an hour. I feel mentally centered mentally refreshed and physically both relaxed and energized at the same time. Nothing else quite does this for me as deeply. It is a true godsend for some of the more difficult times in life."
• Rolf Hebenstreit from USA: "Calms my soulgoes very deep into my mindI sometimes get lost & go into a beautiful trance state.I feel very close to the earth & sometimes even the universe.I play outsidealone mostly I will play till the end!And the strange thing is ... Know one has ever played with meno lessonsno help !It's like the didj teaches me .........."
• John Stuart Kirkpatrick from Bermuda: "I am a Tactical Firearms officer/Tactical Team leader. I use the didge to lower my stress level when work starts to get too hairy! When I finally got the circular breathing that made such a huge difference!"
• Rafael Janczak from Poland: "Well I think playing the didge anytime basically sucks one straight into alpha brain waves :-) I've had some very deep experiences - from time warping to seeing light fractals blasting outa the didge - seriously :-)"
• William from France: "I certainly have I find it to be one of the best methods for meditation the vibrations really help in getting to a transcendent state of mind."
• Stefano Brutti from Italy: "Everybody should try it when you are tired or nervous or something like that after 20 minutes (or less) playing Didgeridoo you will feel very very good!"

You can read more meditation comments HERE.

We trust that those stories will inspire you to start using your didj for healing and meditating. The next Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation might be a good opportunity to invite some friends and give it a go :-) .
You can also read visitors comments on what inspired them to play the didj, what they tell people about the cultural background of the didj , what they tell people about didjes and what they think about Didjshop.com.
We like to take this opportunity to thank all those of you who have shared their views and contributed to this knowledge base.

If you have not yet answered our 2008 questionnaire, please do so; you will be given an entry to the monthly draws for an A$50.- shopping voucher as well as to the final draw for a very valuable and wonderful didgeridoo!

April Winner and Customer Competition Winner

April Winner
The winner of our April A$50 shopping voucher is Gerard Kennedy from Saltsjobaden in Sweden.
Here is Gerard's comment on Didjshop.com:
"It is a wealth of information. A good source of information on not only the instrument itself but on the background of it as well."
Congratulations, Gerard and thanks for your kind comment.

Customer Competition Winner
As announced in our last newsletter, Jay Laughlin was the lucky winner of our customer competition draw. Jay received his prize didj and here you can see the happy winner with his new didj and read his comments on winning the didj:
"I could not have been more delighted when I received my new Didjshop, Brad Gosam didj. It is a very beautiful piece of Aboriginal art and craftsmanship. I’ve always expected as much from Didjshop.com and have never been disappointed in the didjes that I’ve purchased from them (this one makes the fifth in my collection, but my first by Brad Gosam).
As an undergrad, I studied the many facets of cultural appropriation regarding indigenous peoples. So when it came to purchasing my first didj, an ethical approach to selling and marketing them was one of my top priorities. All of this, and more, I found at this site.
I must admit that since moving to the Seattle area, I allowed the busy city life to put my didj playing on the backburner. But winning this didj has rekindled my passion for playing. I have played it every night since I received it and I display it in a prominent place in our home. I can talk for days about how much I love this didj. Brad Gosam has a spectacular style that radiates on this piece and everyone who has seen has been in awe.
So I’d like to offer my sincerest thanks to Svargo, Brad, and the Didjshop.com crew. Once again, you have produced a true work of art.
Jay Laughlin
Bellevue, Washington, USA"

Aboriginal News

In this month Aboriginal news are some stories which expose the huge lack of justice for Aboriginal people, while some other stories are :

• Climate Change and indigenous people - at a UN meeting in Darwin on this issue delegates heard that some Inuit hunters have lost their lives due to dangerously tin ice and many indigenous islanders are suffering increased king tides washing away their land. But the conference heard there are also opportunities and a multi-million dollar project is already underway in Arnhemland involving energy giant Conoco Phillips, bush fire experts and local Aboriginal people. The idea is to reduce carbon emissions by burning land earlier and then claim carbon credits for the CO2 saved by preventing hotter and bigger wildfires later in the season.
  While I welcome any funds going to Aboriginal people, personally I find such projects very dubious. Early burning has been done by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years and should be done now (with government and industry support), but using this to justify increased emissions elsewhere is just plain wrong. Carbon trading in my view is getting misused as a cashcow without having much of an effect on carbon emissions. It seems to favour the big end of town; a carbon tax might be fairer and more effective.
• Joe Procter, Australia's only Indigenous investment banker, has just successfully negotiated a new kind of mining deal for the Martu people in the Western Australian desert. For the first time ever the Aboriginal TO's (traditional owners) will receive not just royalties at a fair value, but also equity in the mining venture. Predictably most mining companies have reacted angrily showing how little they care about giving Aboriginal people a fair share of the billions they make by removing natural resources from Aboriginal lands. To many times have those big miners misused the clout of their lawyers and the inexperience of Aboriginal people to get very cheap access to natural resources. It is wonderful not only that there is actually an Aboriginal investment banker, but that now there is a precedent for Aboriginal traditional owners getting a fair deal.
• Regular readers would be well aware of the infamous death in custody case which occurred on Palm Island on 19th November 2004. We reported extensively on the case that led to the very first court case against a police officer being charged for manslaughter. While Senior Police Sergeant Chris Hurley was acquitted despite solid evidence, the participants in the ensuing riot are still being persecuted. In Melbourne over two hundred people have just rallied in support of Lex Wotton, who will face a Brisbane court over his involvement in those riots nearly four years ago.
  To have such a huge time lag is unacceptable, especially since the accused are subject to very strict bail conditions.
  While we do not condone any violence, we have a lot more understanding for Aboriginal people rioting when they hear their friend has died under highly suspicious circumstances in jail than we have for a police officer who according to witnesses kicks a defenseless prisoner so hard that his liver splits. Apparently Mulrunji died from internal bleeding, after his cries for help were ignored.
  As long as injustices like this prevail we cannot have effective reconciliation.
• We have also reported extensively on Child Sexual Abuse in Aboriginal Communities. We said at the time that much of the problem had to do with non-Aboriginal people having easy access to Aboriginal girls, something that would only get worse with the then planned removal of the permit system. Recently two separate but surprisingly similar cases have been reported.
  In western New South Wales Aboriginal girls have claimed in interviews with ABC Lateline that truck drivers regularly offered them money and drugs for sex. While admitting that they knew about the allegations since quite some time, police described the girls as "willing participants" and claim there is insufficient evidence for any convictions.
  The second incidence are reports from Arnhemland where former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu claimed that child prostitution has been happening in Nhulunbuy since over 15 years and that he knows at least 12 girls in the town who regularly exchange sex for drugs and alcohol. The Territory's Chief Minister Paul Henderson concedes police have known about the allegations for some time but says they haven't had enough evidence to launch a formal investigation. After the major Australian press picked up the story, a task force was sent to the town to investigate. The Territory's acting assistant police commissioner Colleen Gwynne said officers couldn't find any evidence of child prostitution in the town.
  These situations would not be allowed to happen in a white community, but if Aboriginal girls are the victims of white men, it seems that police are not really interested in doing anything effective.
• While not much action seems to be taken on those issues, there is some evidence that Aboriginal teenagers having consensual sex are increasingly being targeted by the federal intervention. The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency's chief executive, Priscilla Collins, claims that consenting teenagers have faced prosecution just because hardly any evidence of the claimed abuse of Aboriginal children by Aboriginal men has been found despite millions being spent on the federal invention which was justified with such alleged abuse.
  It seems like the government bureaucrats have not changed much yet and are simply trying to 'prove' that child sexual abuse is an Aboriginal problem while continuing to ignore any evidence that the main problem is caused by non-Aboriginal men abusing Aboriginal children and teenagers.
• In the context of how these child sex abuse problems are handled, a seemingly unrelated issue is taking on additional meaning: The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is drafting a code of conduct for journalists operating on Aboriginal land, requiring all journalists to report their intentions not just with community councils but also with police.
  Paul Toohey actually handed back the Walkely Award he received in 2002 for reporting on petrol sniffing in protest. "This is just unprecedented in Australia, or in the world in fact, that journalists should be required to work in this way. I mean the notion of journalists reporting to the state is just astounding and its particularly astounding that a journalists' union should propose it", Paul said.
  We agree that such a measure would severely inhibit the freedom of the press and are likely to make reporting on anything controversial very difficult.
• As reported in our January Newsletter, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi did pack a boomerang in his personal luggage on his March 11th flight to the international space station and on 18th March for the first time ever a boomerang was thrown in zero gravity, proving my January prediction wrong - it did come back!!! "I was very surprised and moved to see that it flew the same way it does on Earth," Takao Doi said. So were we! Now we are looking forward to the explanation by a physicist as to why a boomerang still comes back in zero gravity where aerodynamics have no air to work on. Any takers?
  And if you wondered, yes a didgeridoo has also been taken to outer space. Don Pettit, a US nuclear physicist, took a didj up to the space station with him in November 2002 and played it there as we reported in our May 2003 newsletter.

Keep on didjing until next month and please play your didj with us on the 20th March at your local sunset! Thanks

from Svargo and the DIDJSHOP.COM team