Photographing people was very different at Lajamanu during Milpirri that it is in Australian cities. Many of the young Milpirri wanted to have their photos taken, and they often presented themselves in front of the camera. Then they would ask their friends to be part of their performance. Often they would direct in the sense of presenting themselves for the camera.
From what I could see on the night the photographers at Milpirri were non- Aboriginal people (kardiya). This was another indication that the reality of life in Lajamanu is that Warlpiri culture is being overwhelmed by a pervasive and powerful Euro-Australian culture.
Most Warlpiri feel trapped between two cultures. Young people particularly feel that engagement with the mainstream organisations that run Lajamanu requires too great a departure from their Warlpiri life, while on the other hand the culture of their elders seems increasingly irrelevant. The result is that many people are in a kind of social no-man’s land where the values of neither culture are learned deeply. In some cases the young Warlpiri now know so little of their own culture that they do not even have the luxury of choosing which culture they want to follow.
Some of the older people who have belonging (yapa) now have little confidence in themselves and their own ideas that they are afraid to speak:
Milpirri, which finds the relevance of Warlpiri culture to modern community living, says that it is okay to be Warlpiri in modernity. It helps to highlight the essential features of being Warlpiri against the deafening background noise of mainstream Australian culture in order to help support the health of people and country.
The Long Road to the North 
Leave a Reply