Bryan Clark
Web site copyright Bryan Clark © 2007 All rights reserved
When they seem to have it all, some people walk away from the rat race. We lookers-on sometimes wonder what happened but seldom hear the rest of the story. Where he went and why, in Bryan's own words:
« I was a very successful TV journalist working in all fields, in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, also dabbling in film production.
Somehow it was communicated to me that I was wasting my life, that I was not fulfilling my destiny, that I drastically needed to change ...
I resigned from everything, walked away (much to my family's disgust), and I made my way all the way up from the south to the far north of Australia to become involved with the tribal Aborigines of Arnhem Land. I lived in a tent on a river bank, ate their food, and I started documenting their culture which had never before been done - the ceremonial life, musicology, dialects, mythology, folklore, medical information related to natural plants, etc.
The Tiwi of two adjacent islands off the north-west coast of the Northern Territory were, prior to European settlement, isolated there and they did not seem to have had any connection with the mainland tribes. As a result of this isolation, they evolved culturally in quite a different manner to other Aboriginal people. When I lived there...they called me "Aligamborni," which is "crocodile" - or that was the crocodile totem to which I was allocated. One of the things I most admired about them was that when they performed the ancient corroborees (rituals), the women danced and sang alongside the men. This was unique. In all the other tribes men and women had their seperate rituals...
After some time I decided to do something to enrich their lives. They lived in extreme isolation, had no enterprises, no chance of adjusting to Australia's economy. I established training centres where the old men and women could train their youngsters in traditional art and craft and, at the same time, introduced new art-craft forms (pottery, sculpture, leatherwork, rug making, silk screen printing of fabrics), as well as setting up markets within Australia and overseas. Today these are booming industries and many of its practitioners have international reputations.
When I started I had no knowledge of art-craft work. I woke up one morning with a message in my mind - "put the tools in your hand and you will be shown how to use them" - and so I did this, and each time I instinctively understood what I was doing. A bit weird, I know, but that's how it was...
...Wunyimarra...and another young bloke, Ngulupanni, were the two lads I chose from Millingimbi, a tribal community in the far north of Arnhem Land, to come to Darwin where the University of New South Wales and the United Nations funded what we called the Ceramic Research Unit - ie., where we selected and taught young Aborigines the rudiments of pottery, a craft that was foreign to them. The idea behind the project was to give them sufficient training so that they could return to their tribal homelands and set up their own potteries.
by Bryan Clark
I was once told by academics that the principles of firing ceramic pottery could never be conveyed to semi-literate Aboriginal youths as they understood nothing of mathematics. I taught them to correctly fire pottery in a kiln by observation rather than calculation.
The same "experts" told me I could never successfully fire in a kiln clay and rock together. The rock would explode, I was told. I successfully fired clay and rock together by observing when the rock was on the point of exploding, then cut out the heat and allowed both to cool down over 24 hours to room temperature.
I used to recite a little poem that went:
Somebody said it couldn't be done, but he, with a chuckle, replied:
"Well, maybe it can't, but I will be one who won't say so till I've tried."
So be buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face - if he worried, he hid it,
AND HE STARTED TO SING AS HE TACKLED THE THING THAT COULDN'T BE DONE - AND HE DID IT!
Consequently, if anyone is fool enough to tell me something can't be done, I will make every effort to do it.
I find teaching very easy. I seem to have a natural aptitude for it. I'm very quiet how I do it. I don't stand over them like a god dispensing knowledge and wisdom. I sit alongside and very quietly observe, make suggestions, quietly encourage. Good teaching is sharing, not dominating.
I tell people I'm not an expert or a guru. I just enjoy it and I will tell them what I think of their work, if they ask. But it's only my opinion, I say. They can accept or reject it. If I ever give helpful advice, you can see the result on their face; they literally beam with happiness at something newly discovered in a most unlikely fashion and by a most unlikely person.
The first responsibility of a good teacher is COMMUNICATION. »
Other heroes
John Clark, American philosopher
Fà'iz El-Ghusein, Damascan historian
Contact
I'm available at frontender[AT]veeryani[DOT]com. Replace the brackets, and words in them, with the usual symbols.
- VEERYANI: little-known, unsung heroes and heroines
- [veeryani: language Sanskrit, meaning heroic deeds; from the word veer for brave, courageous, hero.]