October 2008 Newsletter from didjshop.com

Editorial

Welcome to another big newsletter. When I look back at our newsletters three to four years ago, they were only about half as long, so I hope you'll appreciate the extra work going into making our newsletters much more diverse detailed and informative. It actually takes me several days to write each one, but it is a service I gladly provide.

As promised last month we are taking a close look at deception in the Aboriginal art industry and especially at the recent conviction of a Kuranda and Cairns shop for selling 'white fella' art as Aboriginal art; they even gave customers a fake certificate of authenticity to go with the fake art. (read more...)

We also extensively report on the review of the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities which was recently published and confirmed many of our concerns. The other big story in our monthly Aboriginal news section is the court case against Lex Wotton, the alleged ring leader of the Palm Island riot in 2004 which followed the death of Mulrunji from massive internal injuries in the Island's watch house. Related news to both of these main stories and this years 'Deadlys' winners round this month Aboriginal news section off (read more...)

Regular readers will remember that we uploaded over one hundred new didjes to our online virtual Didjshop. So you might be surprised to hear that we have just uploaded another one hundred new didjes! - so while everyone else is talking about recession we have expanded our stock more than ever. But then this is not the first time we swim against the trend :-). (read more...)
Part of these new didjes are what we used to collect on the side because they were to good to be sold. They now form our new Didjshop Collection department.
At the same time we offer you a 15- 25% discount on 100 didjes to make your Christmas shopping a bit cheaper!
And for those who are not interested in didjes we also offer 15-35% discount on all canvas paintings, covering our wide range of Small Canvas Art, Medium Canvas Art and Large Canvas Art. We also give a 25% discount on all shields, 20% discount on all Aboriginal jewellery and 15-50% discount on videos, DVDs and CDs!
(read more...)

Since this is such a long newsletter and I need to go to the Yungaburra Folk Festival very soon, I will leave the editorial part a bit shorter than usual and conclude with a little nature adventure I had last week:
Hearing the sound of dry leaves being shuffled on our front lawn, I went to check in the hope to see a goanna, which have become very rare since more and more dogs are in our neighbourhood. To my surprise I saw a butcher bird swooping around in the dry leaves. A butcher bird is a kookaburra sized black bird that as its name suggests lives off other birds, small mammals and reptiles. The bird is all black except the blue base of its big beak. Soon I realised that it was attacking a snake, which tried to hide in the thick layer of leaves. The butcher bird used its wings to sweep the leaves away and as soon as it could see the snake it pecked it again. I got my camera, but just as I got back, the butcher bird picked up the about one meter long snake and flew off with it. Since the snake was bigger than what the bird could carry, the butcher bird did not get too far before the snake dropped back to the ground. So he pecked it a bit more and once I got closer the bird tried again to carry the snake from me, but dropped it again after a few meters.
I was soon right where the dazed and injured snake was laying half under leaves and recognised that it was 'Grumpy', a non-poisonous yellow-bellied tree snake and one of our resident house snakes. As the name suggests, 'Grumpy' is not the most friendly of our house snakes and quickly adopts a threatening posture if he encounters anyone. Not being of the xxxxxxx kind I ensured that 'Grumpy' could get to a safe spot without further attacks from the butcher bird. I am not sure whether 'Grumpy' fully understands that I saved his life and I am curious to see whether he will be more friendly in future. There is a picture of him in the newsletter below as he makes off, still clearly alarmed from the terrible encounter he just had and you can see how they flatten themselves to look bigger. The body is blurred because it is moving away pretty fast.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter...

Svargo

New Didjes, Many Specials and New Type Department

We are proud to announce the arrival in our virtual shop of yet another over one hundred new didgeridoos! Yes that is another one hundred new didjes and yes that is on top of the over one hundred new didgeridoos we gave you last month. Where else can you see over two hundred new didjes in two month?!? We are fairly certain that there is not even any other website offering two hundred didjes in total.
And many of these are no ordinary didgeridoos, they were collected by us over the past sixteen years. Back in the nineties when we were only wholesaling, we put the nicest didjes to one side as we did not want to sell them for the rather low wholesale prices. These didgeridoos are some of the very best we have ever seen among the tens of thousands of didgeridoos we have handled. They were collected because they are either unique or simply outstanding. Many didgeridoos in this collection are at least ten to fifteen years old. You will find rare didgeridoos made from dead trees, many extremely light didjes which make the best healing didjes you can find, some unusual shapes and all of these have great sound quality.
We are proud to announce the new Didjshop Collection Type department. Check it out.

While nearly half of the new didjes belong into the new Didjshop Collection department, there are also many new painted didjes and cheap learners and a range of other new didjes. Over one quarter of the new didjes are high concerts and another quarter are medium concerts so this is one of the highest quality new batches we ever uploaded. BTW our medium concert didjes represent the 'sweet spot' for didgeridoos. Since many people want the best, our high concert didjes are high in demand and command premium prices. Often our medium concert didjes are just a little bit lower in sound quality, but a lot cheaper on price. Just like in computers you get the best value for money if you do not buy the very best and in our case that is a medium concert class didgeridoo.

There is also good news for all of you who like our special offers. They do not come often but when we make a special offer we usually do so with a generous discount and for a fair few didjes.
We are proud to offer you between 15% and a massive 25% discount on one hundred didgeridoos!
These discounts are for didgeridoos of all types, sound qualities, length and artists to ensure that everyone, no matter what they are looking for, can find a bargain.

We also offer a whole range of discounts up to 50% on a whole range of products:
25% discount on all shields
15% discount on all small canvas paintings
25% discount on all medium canvas paintings
35% discount on all large canvas paintings
20% discount on all Aboriginal Jewellery
15-50% discount on Laura DVD and teaching videos and CD's

All of these discounts are valid until 10th December. You might not want to wait for the last day though....

Considering that the Australian dollar has reached historic lows (from 97 US cents only four month ago down to under 70 US cents now!) this is the best opportunity ever to get yourself a cheap didgeridoo or any of the other discounted products!

Don't miss this opportunity, these discounts will be valid until 10th December or until items are out of stock.

Worldwide Equinox Didj Meditation

The last Worldwide Didgeridoo Wave on 23rd September 2008 was like a giant sound tsunami going around the planet. We are pleased to announce that our global didj community, which makes this regular event a reality, has grown to over 1000 participants in over 250 locations in 49 different countries spread over 20 different time zones.
This is simply awesome! THANK YOU to everyone who participated and especially to those of you who organised events, some with over one hundred participants.
Thanks also to everyone who has helped to spread the word and tell more and more people about this regular event.
This really shows how from small things big things grow...., especially if everyone helps to invite more and more people to participate.

Here the list of all participants who registered online for the last Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation:
Peter in Te Anau, New Zealand; Phillippe Dorio in Noumea, New Caledonia; Raffaele in Newcastle, James Mitchell in Lightning Ridge, Patrick in Grafton, Janawirri in Junee, Joe Hagarty in Spring Creek, Owen Norris in Noosa Heads, Greg in Yeppoon, Svargo in Kuranda, Peter Murley in Noosa Heads, Malcolm, Lyn Wain, Ray in Melbourne, Australia; Rob McGuinness in Asaka, Saitama, Japan; Arun in Bali, Indonesia; Ravinderjit Singh in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Pernille Torben in Pattaya, Thailand; Manas Chowdhary in Assam, India; Ugen L Dorji in Phuentsholing, Bhutan; Deshapriya Sam Wijetunge in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; Reza Ghased in Tehran, Iran; Oscar in Nairobi, Kenya (Oscar emailed me, but is not on the map); Alex Antipin in Moscow, Fairugr Dmitry, Nikita Malov, Pavel Ragozin, Elena Enkova in Saint Petersburg, Russia; Anatoliy Savchenko in Kiev, Ukraine; Agnes in Nicosia, Cyprus; Triinu Guerrin in Võru, Estonia; Andrey Garbuzar in Riga, Latvia; Arkadiusz Buczek in Krosno, Poland; Petri Aitta-aho in Hämeenlinna, Robin DeWan in Helsinki, Tero Karvinen in Tampere, Finland; Jostein Wold, Ruby Elisabeth Skatvedt, Jostein Wold in Stavanger, Norway; Peter in Stockholm, Sweden; Martin Soerensen in Odense, Lasse in Rønde, Denmark; Eleftheria in Heraklion, Greece; Irene Nikoloski in Struga, Macedonia (FYR); Szabolcs friends in Budapest, Adam in Szikszo, Hungary; Sven in Zagreb, Croatia/Hrvatska; Jan Stanek in Havířov, Jakub Eifler in Veseli, Jiri Heller, Linda Novakova, Ondrej Smeykal, Petr Kralik in Prague, Czech Republic; Klaus Wintersteller in Salzburg, Austria; Stephan Horisberger in Bern, Willi Grimm in Berne, Marie-Theres Wellinger in Biel, Samuel Fluekiger in Solothurn, Felice Limacher in Zurich, Laszlo Prucz in Hinterkappelen, Peter Ammann in Niederlenz, Bernhard Gaertner in Seewen, Michel Balogh, Michel Balogh in Aurigeno, Francesco Aiello, Francesco Aiello in Mugena, Germany; Michele Mancusi in Piombino, Matthew Coplan in Rome, Mario in Salerno, Ilce Ce in Segrate, Stefano Crocelli in Terni, Moreno in Torino, Diego Pangolino in Acqui Terme, Luca Recupero in Catania, Federico in Merano, Claudio Ricciardi in Rome, Dr. Colonna in Siena, Matteo B in Trieste, Paolo Sanna in Sardara [Ca], Zoe in Trento, Andrea Giacomo Grigolo in Padova, Marco Paoletti in Acquapendente, Switzerland; Klaus Burger in Baden-Baden, Thomas in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Oliver Heltewig in Wuppertal, Jutta Reichert in Offenburg, Sven Apenburg in Erlangen/Nuremberg/Fuerth, Philipp Gerisch in Schneckenstein/Klingenthal, Italy; John in Brest, Fab in Laval, Carol Alton, Tripault Fabrice in Paris, Abraham Michel in Rouffach, Olivir Labrevoir in Pierrerue, Elisa Swagemakers in Anglet, Frank Ahaw in Antibes, France; Lars Ley in Dudelange, Luxembourg; Giulio Minguzzi in Brussels, Bart and Els in Heverlee, Roel adriaensens in Stabroek, Damien Fastre in Tongeren, Bart Devroey in Waanrode, Geert Vercauteren in Nieuwkerken-Waas, Bart Devos in Kortrijk, Belgium; Bart Vrancken, Clemens Brunschot in Eindhoven, Ian Hollanders in Maastricht, Emanuel in Purmerend, Marcel Kelders in Utrecht, Mario Peters in Heerlen, Anu van Leeuwen in The Hague, Netherlands; Bill in Aberdeen, James Lewis in Berkshire, Mark and Peter in Durham, Eduardo, John Elliott in London, Andy in Margate, Tony Morris in Wallingford, Simon in Bedford, Rob in Keynsham, Jim Ryan in Birmingham, Dean Archer in Cirencester, Rolf Neugebauer in Bramhope, Kev Bates in Lincoln, Savannah Clark in Monmouth, Keith in Buckie, Didgeridoo Pete in Northhampton, Neil Wakeling in Aviemore, Alan Cocker in South Cadbury, Andy Wood in Haworth,Marcus in Padstow, United Kingdom; Arpad Toth in Ibiza, Ivan Matamoros in Madrid, Juan Diaz in Malaga, Juan in San Isidro de Níjar, Josep Jansa in Mont-Roig del Camp, Juan Antonio in Cadiz, Spain; Sandra Fernandes in Figueira da Foz, João Saldanha, Luis Figueira in Sintra, Sebastiao in Leiria, Portugal; Stuart Kirkpatrick in Hamilton, Bermuda; Deva Shandro, Laura Pimas, Matias in Buenos Aires, Martin in Merlo, Argentina; Julio Pena in Asuncion, Paraguay; Edna Spennato Spennato in Maceio, Thiago Bolivar in Campinas, Brazil; Darline Guerra, Santiago Rojas in Santiago, Chile; Sergio in Bucaramanga, Alberto Clavijo in Bogotá, Colombia; Richard in Cusco, Max Renato Rivera Pantigozo in Lima, Arequipa, Peru; Steven Lloyd in Brantford, Dave Nelson in London, Michael Prayag in Newmarket, Geoff in Toronto, Craig, Jeremy Baldwin in Winnipeg, Canada; Caspa Harris in Blue Ridge Mountains, Edward Weber in Clearwater, Adam DiIulio in Monroe, Gary B in Sterling, CT, Matty in Edgewater, Jeannie in Jacksonville, Steve Hardman in Key West, Steve Eliot in Fort Lauderdale, Kerstin Eskeli in Key Biscayne, Henry Matutino in St. Cloud, Fred Ashplant in Stuart, Stephen Bowen in Tallahassee, Gilberto Ramirez-Pinheiro in Winter Park, Florida, Dustin Camper in Brunswick, Eric Haney in Cave Spring, Jim Smelcer in Ellijay, Jason Wynn in Grovetown, Marc Del Santro in Roswell, Dovin Herring in Thomasville, Georgia, Dr. Boys in Plymouth, Indiana, Matt LePage in Chicopee, Ralph Ray in Shady Side, Maryland, Le Perkins in Howell, Cliff Mortimer in White Lake, Steven Williams in Clinton Township, Peter Richards in Kalamazoo, Paul, Ronald Jensen in Royal Oak, Michigan, James in Hernando, MS, Steav Bates-Congdon in Waxhaw, NC, Mike Driscoll in Derry, Julia Passamonti-Colamartino in East Wakefield, Joseph Carringer in Ordiorne Point, Rye, New Hampshire, Paul Cyr in High Bank, Suzen Vizzoni in Lavallette, Shelly in Ogdensburg, Bill Hahn in Pittstown, Terry Brown in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, Christopher Weber in Owego, Tom Maucher in Rosendale, Charlie in Sanborn, New York, Steve O'Neil in Zirconia, North Carolina, Bart Reinier, G Reinier in Harrod, Marceau James in Bedford, Jeff Harris in Canton, Jon Reams in Cincinnati, Geoff Todt in Columbus, Dave in Hiram, Michael Eastlake in Sardinia, Ohio, Keith in Barnesville, Linda Butterfly in Collegeville/Evansburg, Robert Heller in Honey Brook, Sherwood Probeck in Lansdale, Ron Greenberg in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, Andrew Laird in North Scituate, Rhode Island, Laura Phillips in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Shoshana Boar in White River Junction, USA; Gabriel Solis in Heredia, Costa Rica; Marcela Pazmino in Quito, Ecuador; Rhonda in Fayetteville, AR, Jim Cote in Chicago, Tim, Chicago in Chicago, Eric Knapp in Decatur, Illinois, Ian Rich in Cedar Falls, Iowa, James Lopez in Topeka, Kansas, Leo Desmond in Brainerd, Minnesota, Jeff Houston in Greenwood, Patrick Bodine in Wiggins, Mississippi, Carol in Maplewood, Missouri, Steve Jones in Oklahoma City, Curtis in Perkins, Jackie Molloy in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Peggy Adams in Memphis, Tennessee, Loping Buzzard in Austin, Devlin Niles in Corpus Christi, Arlie Everett in Point, Texas, Peggy Adams in Memphis, TN, Nick in Beaumont, David Klein in Lubbock, TX, Connie, Connie Petruskevich in Lytle, David Klein in Plano, USA; Jay Rechner in Jasper, Ann Vandrick in Vancouver, Angus Liedtke in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada; Paul Bishop in Rimrock, Allen Smith Rainbow Didge Music in Tucson, Arizona, John in Colorado Springs, Josh Kamien in Denver, Matthew Medeiros in Fort Collins, Gusty Christensen in Longmont, Rod Krug in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Zack Lessley in Bozeman, MT, Kim Spensley in Albuquerque, Ceki Marriott in Clovis, Tomas Bown in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rolf Hebenstreit in Moab, Utah, Lou Farley in Laramie, USA; Tanya Kendall in Victoria, Ric Bivar in Nelson, Eric Boucher in Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii, Denis Gagne in Terrace, Adisa in Parksville, Vancouver Island, Canada; Kevin Huston in Alpine, Micah Hagan in Calabasas, Edward Bishop in Hanford, Jeff in Hollister, David Peterson in Hopland, Tony Kiser in Stockton, Ed Steever in Ventura, Calfornia, Cheryl in Berkeley, Andre Driscoll in Carmel-By-The-Sea, Mario Gonzalez in Daly City, Joey Moseanko in Davis, Ken in Huntington Beach, Andjru Werderitsch in Malibu, Joy Hughes in Middletown, Shaun Starr in Novato, Penny Jones in Oceanside, Jerry Destremps in Pacifica, Jeff Bottjer in San Francisco, Mike Harges in Santa Monica, California, Blake Simpson in Sanders, Idaho, Jackie in Las Vegas, NV, Kathy in Portland, Oregon, Jay Laughlin in Bellevue, Jeff Nelson in Federal Way, Michael in Bellingham, Kerry Hufford in Edmonds, Scott Fischbach in Vashon, Washington, Curtis Weber in Wasilla, USA

Check out this world map showing all of them, it looks really cool!

And yes, you can already register for the next meditation event which will be at your local sunset time on the 21st December 2008. We hope that we will have at least a thousand people again and if you can please help by inviting all your friends to participate, we might even create an even louder didj wave circling this beautiful planet then last time.

Deception in the Aboriginal Art Industry

We have often written about authenticity issues affecting the Aboriginal art industry as you can see in our newsletter archive. We have also pushed for compulsory labelling for all Aboriginal arts and crafts and warn our readers and website visitors about dodgy practices in the didgeridoo and Aboriginal art industry and will continue to do so.

Which is why we share this story of one Aboriginal art business that finally got caught after selling 'white fellow' Aboriginal art for over fifteen years. It is not the first one to get caught, but considering the huge anecdotal evidence it is less than the tip of the iceberg. As far as we know the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) previously charged only two other businesses with similar deception, in 2003 one of Australia's largest Aboriginal souvenir manufacturers, Australian Icon was wound up before the final court hearing and in 2004 Australian Aboriginal Art Pty Ltd settled out of court, so this case involving Doongal Aboriginal arts might actually be the first prosecution, but as we said we are not sure on that, we just have not found any other on the ACCC website.
First let me clarify that we have no issue or personal vendetta against either of those Aboriginal Art businesses. The sole reason we tell this story here is because it is so rare to have a government agency act on the very wide-spread practices of consumer deception in the Aboriginal art and didgeridoo industry.
In our view Doongal is no better or worse than probably most Aboriginal arts and crafts dealers.

As mentioned in our last newsletter, a large Cairns and Kuranda Aboriginal art dealer was charged by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for wrongly stating artwork at their store was "Aboriginal art", "Aboriginal artefacts", "authentic Aboriginal art" and "Aboriginal art in the traditional sense". The ACCC alleged that Farzad and Homa Nooravi misrepresented three of the artists whose works Doongal promoted and sold as being of Australian Aboriginal descent when in fact those artists are not of Aboriginal descent. Those artists are Mr Stephen McLean (who uses the tribal name Duk Duk), Mr Paul Whiteman (who uses the tribal name Kulangu Balanda) and Ms Diane Sharp.
In an initial hearing on 28th July, Doongal Aboriginal art owner Farzad Nooravi in his defence claimed that he removed the art in question from his stores about three months earlier, and that "testimony from Aborigines, giving permission for the artists to paint in traditional Aboriginal Arnhem Land style, was the only signage near the artwork". "People knew what they were buying," Mr Nooravi said "The testimony was under the painting but it never misled the customer (and said) that they are not white. With McLean, his art is very fine art. Any other Aboriginal can not do it."
We find these statements very revealing. Mr Nooravi claims that he has done nothing wrong, but withdraws the work of those non-indigenous artists from sale when he learned of the ACCC inquiry into his business.
He further claims that it is not misleading to hide the artists non-Aboriginal heritage as long as he does not outright claims them to be Aboriginal people (which the ACCC proved he did anyway). Potential customers definitely did not know that they were buying fake Aboriginal art produced by non-indigenous people as is the case in most Aboriginal art shops in Australia.
Nor does permission by elders to paint Aboriginal designs mean permission to do so commercially and it definitely does not give permission to sell such art as 'Aboriginal art'.
Mr Nooravi used the terms 'Aborigines' and 'Aboriginal', which is culturally insensitive. Out of respect, one should always use 'Aboriginal people' and 'Aboriginal person' instead.
Finally Mr Nooravi goes as far as claiming that Aboriginal people could not produce fine art as Mr McLean does. Not only is this totally irrelevant to the issue of authenticity at hand, but it is actually an insult to all Aboriginal people, the very people Mr. Nooravi relies on to give his business the Aboriginal marketing flair that allows him to make huge profits. His statements can only be seen as an indication of his attitude to those of his suppliers which are Aboriginal people.

On 29 August 2008 the Federal Court in Brisbane declared that Mr and Mrs Nooravi engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by:
- representing that products Doongal offered for sale were 'Aboriginal Art' or 'Aboriginal Artefacts' where some of those products were produced by people not of Aboriginal descent,
- representing that certain artists whose work Doongal offered for sale were of Aboriginal descent when in fact those artists were not of Aboriginal descent, and
- affixing cards bearing the words 'Certificate of Authenticity of Original Aboriginal Art' to artworks painted by persons who were not of Aboriginal descent.

Sounds good so far.
What is not so good is the lack of any real deterrent for other Aboriginal art dealers: Doongal did not even receive a fine, just a slap on the hand and a "don't do it again for a few years"
The Court granted injunctions restraining Mr and Mrs Nooravi, for a period of 5 years, from engaging in similar conduct and ordered them to pay the ACCC's costs.
Mr and Mrs Nooravi were also ordered to write to certain purchasers of artworks produced by any of the three non-Aboriginal artists, advising them of the court proceedings.
Last not least the Nooravis had to agreed to implement a 'trade practices compliance program' to "minimise Doongal's risk of future breaches of section 52 of the act."

This case shows that certificates of authenticity can be made up by anyone and we have heard of other instances of them being used to deceive customers.
We are not sure whether anyone who has been sold any so-called Aboriginal art made by DukDuk, Balanda or Diane Sharp can ask for their money back, but if any of you have ever bought such art, please feel free to ask Doongal to refund your purchase. We'd be interested to know what happens...

Many questions remain in this case:
Does the five year clause mean that the Nooravis can do the same deception again in five years time with impunity?
Why was there no fine or an obligation to pay a percentage of past sales to an Aboriginal organisation or charity? After all Doongal has sold this fake Aboriginal art for over fifteen years, making tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits until they were finally convicted deceiving their customers. We doubt that this slap on the wrist will encourage anyone else in the business to be honest about their fake Aboriginal art to their customers.
Why has the ACCC not demanded that Doongal publish a prominent statement on their website informing their visitors and customers of their deception and the court ruling, especially since it will be impossible for Doongal to contact all customers they sold this stuff to over the last fifteen plus years.
We also wonder why Doongal has removed almost all content from their website if the issue is only with three of their allegedly many Aboriginal artists.
Last not least we wonder whether didgeridoos made by non-indigenous persons and then painted by Aboriginal artists can be sold as "Aboriginal artifact' with impunity. We challenge Doongal Aboriginal art and all other didj sellers to come clean on telling their customers not just who painted their didjes but also who made them. And we challenge the ACCC to investigate all didgeridoo traders who claim their didjes are "genuine Aboriginal artefacts" or "Aboriginal didgeridoos" or something similar, but source those didgeridoos from white or Asian cutters. It is simply impossible that all those shops sell Aboriginal made didjes, so there is clearly a very high level of deception going on. ACCC did not even investigate that misleading aspect of Doongal's didj sales.

In our opinion any store advertising "Aboriginal art" anywhere on their website, shop front or in their store are deceiving their customers if they fail to clearly identify any Aboriginal looking artifact or art designs in their shops which has not been made by Aboriginal people. This is the usual situation where customers are mislead to believe that what they buy is made by an Aboriginal person. Most of this deception is by association or verbally and only a strong prosecution by the ACCC could send a strong enough message to affect any change.

It is very disappointing that the ACCC investigates Aboriginal art sellers so rarely and that they fail to apply significant financial penalties even if the evidence is as overwhelming as in Doongal's case.

Clearly what is really needed is tough legislation requiring retailers and wholesalers to inform their customers whenever any Aboriginal looking art or artifact is not made by an Aboriginal person as outlined in our proposal for compulsory labelling.

Didj Healing and other Visitor Experiences!

This month I would like to draw your attention to some of the many frank and informative comments from visitors sharing their experiences of using the didj for healing. We all know by now that the didj can significantly improve sleep apnea and snoring, however we would love to see more medical trials done on the various health effects of didj playing as well as having the played onto one's body. If you are aware of any such studies, please do let us know, thank you. In the meantime, enjoy some of the anecdotal evidence.

• Bill Woodward from Canada: "I introduced the didj to the Chronic Pain Clinic to help with breathing to control pain. It is quite successful as the circular breathing helps in the way abdominal breathing does. The rich vibrations produced also alleviate pain spasms in muscle and bone."
• Anonymous from USA: "I have had trouble sleeping my whole life and since i learned to play and strengthened my muscles in my neck I sleep much better."
• Anonymous from Belgium: "I have used 3 times or something it when my wife had pain in her belly so I just did the drone and soft vocals while the didge was lying on her belly. I played 15 minutes like this. She became very relaxed - this relaxed she almost fell asleep and amazingly the pain almost totally decreased every time."
• John Mason from Canada: "I really enjoy the didj. the sound and tone is awesome and I can now play it pretty well. I have absolutely no dislikes whatsoever. I have had lots of complements on it and I referred everyone to your site to check it out"
• Chris Glover from United Kingdom: "A friend who once fell and hurt his ankle and as my didj is low resonance i played over his ankle and it relieved the pain he was feeling"
• Malcolm from Australia: "Yes - I snore and the Didj helps me with this"
• Susan from USA: "I need and know the power of vibration. The power of breath and calm can make room to heal. I have survived a rare and aggressive acute leukaemia two times. It took many years and a few miracles to be here on earth."

If you are interested in didj healing, there are hundreds of experiences retold in our healing comments section.

We have also uploaded many more comments on didj meditation.

And here just a tiny taste of the over one hundred wonderful comments left by visitors to Didjshop.com during last month. We are honoured and blown away by the solid appreciation shown by so many people of our website, products and services:

• Suzen Vizzoni from USA: "Didjshop is the only place where you can be guaranteed to get an authentic termite hollowed Aboriginal made didj. I wouldn't consider buying anywhere else. In fact while I was in Australia I was dismayed to see all the places selling imitations or inferior didjes. Your ethics and concern for the Aboriginal people along with the excellent grading system of your didjes keeps me coming back again and again to your website."
• Ann from Canada: "One of the many things I love about your website is the PASSION that radiates from it. It is a masterful blend of fact fun and professionalism. If anyone is serious about the wonderful world of didjing your site is where they should turn! Thank-you!"
• Olivier Labrevoir from France: "Didjshop has a very nice web site with a great choice of didge in the respect of the Aboriginal culture and respect of environment. the didge are very well handmade with really great sounds i enjoy every day to use mine."
• Ray Higgins from Australia: "An excellent site for new players and experienced alike with new didges on a regular basis.it is always up dated and very interesting and informative it keeps abreast of the didge scene"
• Jose Luis from Spain: "It is since almost a decade THE site for getting the best didjes and also a lot of information and cultural background about them"
• Jeremy Erb from USA: "I really love this site I plan to purchase another didj soon I know exactly what I'm buying and the craftsmanship of your products is amazing the layout of the site is great too it is very easy to get around"
• Frank Eisenblätter from Belgium: "Your service and and dedication to excellence are a pure marvel. You have my greatest respect for the level of integrity and authenticity that you apply to all that you say and do."

There are many more Didjshop comments which will give you a good idea how our visitors think about us.

Thanks to all of our visitors for their wonderful and valuable feedback and for sharing such intimate issues as didj healing and didj meditation.

If you have not yet answered our 2008 questionnaire for your chance to win a very valuable didj, please do so. If you are not sure whether you already entered or not, just try as you will be told if you already entered previously.

October Winner!

The winner of our October 2008 draw for a Didjshop.com $50 shopping voucher is Guenter Keusen from Stuttgart in Germany.

Congratulations Guenter, your winning ticket was among those allocated for your second didj purchase from Didjshop.com earlier this year.

After receiving his first Didjshop didj, Guenter rated our service as ten out of ten, while commenting: "Great and professional service. Very friendly. Short e-mail response times."
He rated the sound quality of his first didj as much better then expected and gave this feedback on Didjshop.com: "Good sound examples and quality rating. A pleasure to stroll through the pages."

Thanks Guenter for your positive feedback and we are looking forward to hear from you when you redeem your shopping voucher.

Aboriginal News

This month our Aboriginal news section is full of interesting stories:

• We are pleased to hear that the report by the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) Review Board has vindicated many of the issues we have previously raised about the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities.
  The report found that while there are more police stations, better housing and improved health and alcohol management as a result of the intervention, the circumstances which caused the intervention (a child protection crisis) are still a national emergency.
  The report highlighted that resistance to the intervention in many communities, triggered by deep hurt and anger about the way community members were treated, have significantly reduced its effectiveness.
  "In many communities there is a deep belief that the measures introduced by the Australian Government under the NTER were a collective imposition based on race," the report said. "There is a strong sense of injustice that Aboriginal people and their culture have been seen as exclusively responsible for problems within their communities that have arisen from decades of cumulative neglect by governments in failing to provide the most basic standard of health, housing, education and ancillary services enjoyed by the wider Australian community."
  The report recommends that the intervention continue; that state and federal governments should support local community governance (rather than imposing governance from above); that the permit system should be re-instated; that compulsory income management should be stopped, except in cases of child protection; that alcohol bans stay in place and alcohol management be finalised; that more female police officers should be recruited; that the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) shall be reformed to provide better employment prospects and that the Racial Discrimination act shall be reinstated.
  We very much hope that the new Rudd government is going to adopt those recommendations and starts realising that effective change needs to come form the communities themselves and cannot be imposed from above as this pretty much failed billion dollar intervention has shown.
  In news just in, the federal minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin announced that the government will ignore the advice of the review and continue with compulsory income management and it will also delay the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act for another twelve month. In our opinion this means a continuation of the top-down approach that belittles Aboriginal people by imposing measures. When will governments finally learn that real change comes only from empowering communities to implement grass roots solutions? How much more damage needs to be done? How many more billions wasted?
• In related news the family of a 20 year old Aboriginal man who killed himself after being charged with carnal knowledge of a girl in her mid-teens, who was actually his promised wife. The man's family blames the intervention for his death and claim it could have been avoided if the inexperienced police officers had gone to the local elders first.
  Glen Dooley from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency called the death avoidable and the result of misguided intervention policies. "The Government thought there were pedophiles out in the communities and that the intervention would be about flushing them out and protecting kids," Glen Dooley said. "The reality of what's happened is that such pedophiles have not been found and what police have come across are examples of young men basically having sex with their teenage girlfriends."
  We would go further and suggest that police look for the pedophiles among the white males who have access to or live near Aboriginal communities. While we are certain that most of them are not pedophiles, we do think that that is where police can find what they are supposed to be looking for, rather then vilifying Aboriginal teenagers.
• We reported extensively since nearly four years ago about the death in custody of Mulrunji on Palm Island last year. As regular readers would know, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley was the first ever Queensland police officer charged for an Aboriginal death in custody, but he was later cleared. Only now, nearly four years later, Palm Island resident Lex Wotton is facing court for his alleged involvement in the riot which followed Mulrunji Doomadgee's death in custody, when residents heard about the autopsy, which revealed that Mulrunji died from massive internal injuries including four broken ribs and a split liver. Lex Wotton has pleaded not guilty to the charge of inciting the riot, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
  The court case has already revealed lots of interesting evidence, interesting not just in the light of this court case and the events at the time, but also interesting in relation to the role played by police in the events leading up to and following the riots.
  Detective Sergeant Darren Robinson, who was sent to investigate Sergeant Chris Hurley's involvement in Mulrunji's death, also investigated his friend Chris Hurley several month before Mulrunji's death in an unrelated incident when Chris Hurley drove over Barbara Pilots foot with a police car, causing her to suffer a compound fracture. At Lex Wotton's trial Sergeant Robinson admitted that he lied in that investigation when he wrote in a report that two witnesses were unidentifiable, even though their names were on a police log sheet.
  Justice Shanahan deemed as 'irrelevant' defence videos showing several Aboriginal leaders urging the crowd to not resort to violence despite police doing so. However he did allow footage of Mr Bramwell who was inside of the Palm Island police station at the time Mulrunji suffered his fatal injuries. In the video presented by the defence, Mr Bramwell told the crowd that Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley had repeatedly punched Mulrunji who was lying on the floor, and then asked 'Do you want more Mr Doomadgee, do you want more?' "If I'd have stood up and said something they'd have took me in the cell and done the same thing to me," Mr Bramwell said. We believe this evidence was not permitted in the trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley.
  A key prosecution witness and a niece of Lex Wotton, Tiana Friday, claimed that when she signed a statement implicating Lex Wotton she was confused and in fear. On the morning of the second day after the riot, Detective Sergeant Robinson entered her house without permission with a second officer. Tiana was taken to the police station in her night gown with no undergarments on and remanded for about eight hours without any food. Tiana Friday was four month pregnant at the time and felt pressured to sign a statement in order to be released. "I'd have said anything.” Ms Friday told the court. She also outlined in her evidence that police raided several other houses without permission in search for a video of the riot, which is why they remanded her in the first place. They video was later handed in to police by Hal Walsh, when he heard that police was looking for it. Hal Walsh in his evidence confirmed Tania's accounts of police making a mess when raiding houses and manhandling him. He also told the court that Lex Wolton tried several times to calm things down, including getting kids and teenagers to stop throwing stones at police, that Lex assisted the Palm island Mayor and even asked Hal to try and get a bus to get the police to the airport before things got to bad.
  Another key prosecution witness, Terrence Kidner testified that during the riot, Mr Wotton handed him a drum of petrol and ordered him to torch the home of Senior Sergeant Hurley. However he also told the court that Lex Wotton tried to calm the crowd.
  Mr Kidner later had to correct some of his earlier statements about events at the riot, but continued to insist that Mr Wotton handed the petrol to him. He also claimed to have left the area after helping to set the police residence alight, but was identified on footage taken much later trying to stop fire-fighters from dousing the flames.
  The defence revealed to the court that Terrence Kidner was brought to court by Detective Sergeant Thomas and another officer, despite being a free man, and Mr Kidner admitted that by implicating Lex Wotton, he "would not get in as much trouble" himself.
  The jury has retired, but 24 hours later is still undecided. Lex Wotton has collapsed with breathing difficulties while waiting for the jury's verdict and is currently in hospital. More in our next newsletter....
• Meanwhile Jerry Ngakyunkwokka, who was sentenced to four month in jail for his part in the same Palm Island riots in a trial earlier this year, ended up spending actually eight month in jail, because corrective services did not follow the instructions of the judge that pre-trial custody be should be accounted for. Jerry was held in the Townsville jail for 118 days before his trial and should have been released when he had his trial, rather than being jailed for another four month. While these things are happening to Aboriginal people who were angry about their mate being killed, the police officers walk free, no matter what illegal activities they perpetrated. Unless justice is applied equally there cannot be real reconciliation.
• Luckily there are always some good news and we wish to congratulate Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu for taking top honours at the 2008 Deadly Awards. Gurrumul, who is blind since birth scooped the Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Single of the Year awards. 'Black Armband' won Band of the Year, Jodie Cockato and Andrew Farris won Song of the Year, Rohanee Cox won Female Sportsperson of the Year, Patrick Mills won Male Sportsperson of the Year, Michael Cook won Artist of the Year, Leah Purcell won Actor of the Year, Sermsah Bin Saad won Dancer of the Year, Matthew Cooke won Young Leader of the Year and 'Uncle' Peter Hill won Broadcaster of the Year.
  The Deadlys are a wonderful yearly event honouring Aboriginal Australians who prove that skin colour is no impediment to achievement.

Keep on didjing until next month ...

from Svargo and the DIDJSHOP.COM team