We are saying au revoir to Perth for now - but we’re returning in a few weeks before making our way home.
It’s a four hour bus coach travel ride to Busselton only 225 km south of Perth on the West coast - lots of quirky stops. Craig is a bit sceptical of this adventure. Why Busselton? Unfortunately our tour throughout south Western Australia was cancelled and the alternative tours involve camping and sleeping on the ground - ah we’re in the Australian outback. 🐍 🐜 so no thanks. We’re hoping this beach town of 40k population, near Margaret River will make for some lovely R&R before our time in Fremantle which we always enjoy. Wondering what awaits.
In the meantime, we used the extreme 34° heat 🥵 to visit the library, museum and art gallery again. We had a tour with Isabella of her fellow Frenchmen, Henry Roy’s photos. Below is my attempt at channeling his techniques.
And in the Balancing Acts exhibition, we were again struck speechless by the killing, incarceration and forced assimilation of the aboriginal people who are so knowledgeable about this continent. And it continues today.
Each aboriginal child is assigned an animal, plant, bird or fish to care for, much like some of our Canadian indigenous peoples and spirit animals. They are also given a scent to activate/rub when they are anxious, scared, lonely. I wonder about the immediate impact if each one of us took responsibility for the care of our assigned living entity and had our own safety scent.
We also watched a very sad short film about a family writing to the government about how they are impacted by the Serbian Bosnian conflict. The mom was forced into premature labour at 7 months resulting in her son needing to be in an incubator. Then the power supply to the hospital was disrupted and her son was left with cerebral palsy. The husband was shot in the stomach and had to use graphs from his legs to repair his injuries, limiting his lifting ability. And his brother was killed. Just recently the government stopped the son’s disability pension when he reached 30 (he’s now about Colin’s age) even though his condition is permanent. They have no real means of income and raise chickens for food and eggs to sell. The son is limiting his diet so he doesn’t weigh more than 60 kg or his now 60+ year old father cannot lift him. Closing shot was of the dad carrying the son upstairs. The son was hopeful the film may draw attention to his dire need for continued support. That was a heavy.
And that made me wonder what did that conflict accomplish? What does any war accomplish except useless losses? Seems so primal to kill or indefinitely impact a human over arbitrary border lines or political and religious differences or simply for power hungry leaders, when we are equipped with supposedly evolved brains and emotions and even AI to solve conflicts.
Below is the beautiful crosshatching of a shark dream on an old metal sign found on Country.