Roy Barker interviewed by Rob Willis in the Bringing Them Home after the Apology oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 4939769
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Barker, Roy, 1928-2012, interviewee
- Online Access:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2010
- 1 sound file (ca. 62 min.).
- Series:
- Bringing Them Home after the Apology oral history project.
- Technical Details:
- Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
- Summary:
-
Roy Barker, born 1928 at the Brewarrina Mission, N.S.W. talks about Aborigines being separated from family through the apprenticeship system; the 3 distinct groups of housing for Aborigines; types of workers on the mission; the Stolen Generation; girls being sent to Brewarrina mission before being sent out to work; life on the mission in 1930's; the disappearance of Corroborrees; emergence of hillbilly music and old time dances taking over; Country and Western music; assimilation; removal from tribal lands pre WWI to 1930's; the loss of Aboriginal land; making a one string banjo using a Caltex oil tin; Aboriginal musicians, claypan dances and gum leaf players; songs sung at this time; recites the words to a song in language and translates the meaning in English; sings song in language; his knowledge of Aboriginal language; Aboriginal Control Board; the role of inspectors; the ignorance of managers in regard to Aboriginal culture.
Barker discusses, attitudes towards half caste Aborigines; distribution of rations to the Aboriginal people, becoming dependent on government handouts; Tribal culture; Aboriginal lore, belief in mythical creatures; Aboriginal astronomy; his father Jimmy Barker's stories, his relationship to the Irish and Scottish; racial attitudes and the White Australia Policy; the Aboriginal form of democracy; his thoughts on the official Government Apology; the Referendum of 1967; Census of Aborigines in 1938; remembrance of Aborigines; Aboriginal deaths after colonisation in relation to Australian war deaths; changes after the Apology; problems with drugs and alcohol in the community; the meaning of words; country music and its importance to the Aboriginal people; marriage lines, intermarriage, blood lines; the future for Aboriginal people.
- Biography/History:
-
Roy Barker is an Elder in the Koori community in far western N.S.W. He was raised at the Brewarrina Mission and is the son of Jimmie Barker. He has established himself as a maker of traditional Indigenous weapons and conducts a tourist complex in Lightning Ridge, N.S.W.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded by John Harpley.
- An interview with Roy Barker was conducted in 2000 and is held at ORAL TRC 5000/202.
- Recorded on 17 June 2010 in Lightning Ridge, N.S.W.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (3 p.)
- Subject:
-
- Barker, Roy, 1928-2012 -- Interviews
- Brewarrina Mission (N.S.W.)
- Artisans -- New South Wales -- Interviews
- Aboriginal Australians -- Missions -- New South Wales -- Brewarrina -- Social life and customs
- Aboriginal Australians -- Missions -- New South Wales -- Brewarrina
- Apprenticeship programs -- New South Wales
- Apologies -- Australia
- Occupation:
- Artisans
- Other authors/contributors:
- Willis, Rob, 1944-, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Bringing Them Home after the Apology oral history project.
This collection contains 31 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2080 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2010
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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