Elders Group
community story·8 min read

Power out

as told by Elders Group · Palm Island, Queensland, Australia

Ruby - Power out ===

[00:00:00]

About Palm Island, you know? Yeah.

So yeah, that's us. Amazing. Thank you. Might might take a few pictures. Yep. Yeah we can we do a picture on the beach? Come on, try. I've gotta try and get some nice light. Alright then. Yeah. We were sun too. Yeah, it was cold it out on like winter. It's around that time.

Yeah, dog. The rocks. Alright. That actually be super nice if you on the rock.

Rock, it's lovely and warm out here. Look here. Like the sand though. Yeah. Oh look. Be the sea. I don't wanna go with him. No, you'll be right. Look here.

Little bit. Yeah, that's [00:01:00] only a little tiny one. All right. This good?

Alright. Stay there.

All what we have to do gonna be tricky here. Not tricky, tricky. Dicky. Um, what now? This way? Yeah. Close that way. Yeah. Do you right, sister guy? I don't know. It'd on me.

That's,

you got anything? Come this way, Morgan. Me? Yeah. You hiding behind me. Stopping, eh? There. Little bit more. Sister go, it's rockier. It's a rock fan. Don't blend a rock. You come back. Alright, that's good.[00:02:00]

Oh, come on there. All right. Thank you. Come on. Oh, I just One, one single one each. Finish the one single one. You stay there Annie. Ready? Stay there. Oh. Alright. The Rock of Alta smile. All right. Swap around. There you now. I hope I don't got no stain. Hold on.

That's it. Thank you. All done. That's good. You don't need that anymore. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I think, I [00:03:00] think one thing I'd love to do is almost, um, like I could send you back the transcript and there's some really important themes that come out of those words, please. Because we could also, we'd like to use it in our, um.

Well, they said to buy us a tv. Yeah. So that we've got things playing on there. Oh, awesome. Um, it's great mum of our services, but, um, are you doing any other services? Yeah, I'm as many as I can. Yeah. Yeah, because I, Elle did mention that, um, there is a broader project I think they're working on because they might've, um.

One this Vember thing. Funding. Ah, yep, yep, yep. And I think that's a lot of the storytelling services stuff. Okay. I'd love to work out how we could do almost like, 'cause that that story around people coming back from, um, prison is a powerful [00:04:00] story. If, if there's a, if there's a way in which you can show what was successful in that journey.

That's a very powerful narrative. I've um, I was approached by

one government department, but I think they can it now. Right. They went, um, to interview a couple of Blos from Palm Yep. That were in prison. Yep. And they came out never to go back and was shell shocked and never. To get problem with the law again. Mm. True. And where they turn their lives around, there's two that's on currently on the council.

Right. Um, one of 'em is my son. Yep. And the other one is Sina the other. Yeah. Supposed to Rina's son. Yep. And now they look at them, they're politicians up. Amazing. They turn their life around and look at, uh, my son went for nine [00:05:00] months. Silly boy did something. Assaulted someone. Yeah. He said Mum, never again, nine months.

And he was, honestly, I thought he was, I thought he spend the rest this thing away. Yeah. Oh, do you reckon he would sit down, have a yarn? I could ask him. Yeah. Yeah. It'd been an interesting conversation, I think. Yeah. Howie two eight. Um. What is it? Name? Self-employed. Mm. We've got own business. Those, those are the types of stories that need to be more talked about.

Yes. Need to be air Hey, captured and shown to young people. Yes. And young people can see him out there walking around. Yep. And he, his story here, he, he puts on every year he came back for it. Um, every year in December he puts on a Christmas cup. Yeah. A big footy carnival here. Yeah. [00:06:00] Um, he's always wanted to do that, but yeah.

Always dreamt about bringing communities, teams from the mainland and promote, um, in a positive way. Yeah. And this is running in its third year now. Awesome. So good. But all Cool. Thank you for that. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. If you can send it to me. Yeah, thank. Um, I've got a point shut up there. You can see a Palm Island's got my details.

Okay. So I can give it to you, you know. Okay. Um, you're going, when you going tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. The ferry plane ferry is cheaper. Oh, the pick plane. Oh, you, you go the eat don't have to pay.

Oh. Well that's, that's all right. Look nice.

And so how often do you get, do you go to town or? [00:07:00] Um, not as often as I'd like to. I don't I much, but, um, it's too expensive. Yeah. I be, yeah. I can't travel in the ferry. I can, but I get Really? Yeah. Nick, um, my mate went back on the ferry the other day and the whole boat. Yeah, I can't do it. Honestly. I cannot do it.

Yeah. Because my son's like, mom, come on. Just, just get on. No, no, no. I'll come. Yeah,

but yet I can jump in a T in a tinny. Go out here and some fishing. No problem. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as you put them in the ferry. Oh. Oh, here we go. Something about the rocking. Yeah. The spiel bag comes out and I just knock myself in the door. Mm. [00:08:00] Door. No, you're coming in here.

Not for me.

Is most of these houses bu type houses? Yeah. Um.

Ring it. That's a bit dangerous too. Close the road there. Where? Dropping you off? Oh, anywhere. Just in the back, in the middle, in the mall. I just, um.

Big crew. I just like hanging around talking to people. Yeah, that's, that's how you get your thing in. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Arnie, I think I've got my microphone still on you. Maybe. Hey, look at Maggie. That thing there on you. Where that microphone? Oh yeah. I can feel it. [00:09:00] Are we cla jumping it? I leave. I leave those everywhere where you look.

Slow down there. It's a, it's a, the magnet's quite hard to pull off. It's very strong. I don't wanna break. Oh yeah. Now I've got it off. And I think, I think the magnet might be still on your shirt on the inside, is it? No, no. I think it might have dropped down your shirt.

A little part to it now. Must be down the bottom somewhere.

Oh, you got it.

Alright. Thanks so much. Thank you. Let us, let us know if your son's keen to yarn. Yep, yep. [00:10:00] Have a good day.

Good morning,

brother. Yeah.[00:11:00]

Hey bro. Ben, this is Ruby. Hey Ruby. Hi. Lovely to meet you. You caught up with those EEA mob yesterday? No. Um, that's Ruby's one of them. Where's the other two this morning? Um, I, they might be last came and no one was there. Okay. Ben. Ben, Ben Ben's project, um, picked, sort of contracted in. Talk about all the big range we had earlier this year with all land slide, how off and all there.

So you're doing a special project for Pete, but he just wants to talk to general community members. But we thought it do like a group session with you. Sit down, have. He just asked four questions. Yeah. Yeah. And he's just gonna compile a resource for us and you'll explain more. Yeah. And, um, but what time can he catch up with you?

Um, I'm not sure. We, um, what are you doing? How long are you for prior till Friday arvo? Tomorrow. Oh. Yeah, because I'm going on a boat tonight. [00:12:00] We got that thing at 11. If he wants to do it now, you free or? Yep, I can do it now. Go here. Can you go see gd get to fill out, um, product I-B-E-E-A-I, yeah. Forgetting?

Yeah. Yeah.

And what, what's, what's your, what, who do you work for? The main sector you do? Um, where? For the NIA? Yep. They, you know everybody? Yep. And then. We were like the artists, like we still pick up kids and take to school and come back. Oh, cool. But we, they changed their room Yeah. To be. Yep. Cool. We sort of still do the same, but we haven't got a bus yet.

Oh. Yep. And we still wait for our vehicle to come. Yep.[00:13:00]

It's alright.

We could, we could just sit down at a yarn. Yeah. Yeah. I Cool. But she usually got there, smoke them all.[00:14:00] [00:15:00] [00:16:00] [00:17:00]

Hi. Hey, so this little.

Elders Group

Elders Group

Palm Island, Queensland, Australia

The Elders Group, guided by Ben, serves as a vibrant conduit for preserving and sharing the profound stories of Australia's Indigenous communities. Rooted in the rich tapestry of places like Palm Island, Calcadun country, and beyond, Ben's journey is defined by heartfelt yarning sessions with elders like Ethel and Frank, capturing the essence of life through storms and celebrations. His collaborations with the Elders Justice Group and on projects like Orange Sky weave together narratives that reveal the nuanced, dynamic lives of these communities, aiming to create publications that reflect their resilience and wisdom. Engaged deeply in the art of storytelling, the group is dedicated to illuminating the myriad voices and experiences that shape their world, fostering understanding across Australia.

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