Bringing New England's Aborigines alive

Thinking about the issues I discussed in Issues raised by Bolt, Aboriginal culture & the nature of Aboriginality and its precursor posts I keep coming back to this fact, at least fact as I see it: people simply don't know. They see things in terms of abstracts - symbols, problems, responses. They don't see things in living terms.

I am especially interested in the Aborigines of Northern NSW, my New England. This is my country. I am also interested in the Aborigines as people. I want to bring the complexity of Aboriginal life in my area, present as well as past, to life.

Introducing New England Aboriginal life marks the start of a new series. Given the way that the normal pressures of day to day life keep stopping me delivering, it would be absurd to launch major new writing. I won't deliver.

What I can do is to take some of my past writing plus material that flows across my screen and use it to tell you some stories, to try to create a living picture.

Like NSW itself, New England is a European construct. However, New England has the advantage of possessing a certain geographic unity. This makes it easier to tell an integrated story.

The target audience for the new series is non-Aboriginal, although I hope that Aboriginal people will find it of value. I commend it to you.