David Clark

05/10/2021

The Repair of Early Trauma: A Bottom Up Approach

‘Told to us through the voices of children, this unique animation teaches us that by putting together the seven-piece jigsaw puzzle of ‘Developmental Trauma’, we can understand how a child’s adverse childhood experiences have shaped their emotional world and outward behaviour. Once we understand this, we can then […]
04/10/2021

Development of the Carrolup Children’s Art: Noel White’s Role

It is important to emphasise again that teacher Noel White was not teaching the children of Carrolup to draw from his own skills as an artist. He did not paint or draw. However, he no doubt influenced the children, as both Sammy Crabbe and he describe. The following […]
01/10/2021

The Politics of Belonging: George Monbiot

I love the writings of George Monbiot and look out for his articles in the Guardian.  I enjoyed reading his new book Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis and it made me reflect upon the way that western society has been going. […]
30/09/2021

Factors Facilitating Addiction Recovery: A Summary

Some of you will know that I run two other websites, one of which, Recovery Stories, focuses on addiction and mental health recovery. Over the period from March to August I posted about 100 articles on my blog, but had to stop for a time while I was […]
29/09/2021

Revel Cooper’s School Science Note Book

The Aboriginal children of Carrolup Native Settlement received their first newspaper coverage when Max Praed published an article entitled Aboriginal Children Show Amazing Skill in Art in the Sunday Times of 13 July 1947. The reporter first became interested when teacher John Placid Stokes showed him some of […]
28/09/2021

Stress, Trauma, and the Brain: Insights for Educators – Bruce Perry

One of the most amazing things that happened at Carrolup Native Settlement was the ability of Noel White to create an environment in his classroom that literally transformed his Aboriginal pupils. Quite simply, their behaviours and emotions changed markedly in a positive manner and their creative abilities were […]
27/09/2021

Marion’s Film Story, Part 2

I continue the series of films made by Mike Liu and I when we spent a day with Professor Marion Kickett, Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University, in York in September 2103. Marion is a Noongar from the Balardong language group. The first six […]
23/09/2021

Aims – Approach to School Work: Noel White

In a previous blog, I provided a list of basic needs that we as humans need satisfying in order to function normally. These needs were not satisfied for the children of Carrolup in the environment created by the Department of Native Affairs prior to the arrival of Noel […]
22/09/2021

Marion’s Film Story, Part 1

I first became interested in Aboriginal culture and in Indigenous healing after reading Judy Atkinson’s wonderful book Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines – The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. I developed the educational initiative Sharing Culture which aimed to help Indigenous peoples heal from historical trauma. That website […]
22/09/2021

On Relationships and Connectedness: Bruce Perry

In two previous blogs, which you can find here and here, I have described the book What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, written by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey. It’s one of the most important books I have read in the many years I’ve […]
21/09/2021

Facilitating Healing at Carrolup, Part 2

I continue my article focused on the process of healing that occurred at Carrolup Native Settlement. These sections are taken from my eBook Connection: Aboriginal Child Artists Captivate Europe. ‘Prior to November 1946, the children had been closeted away on the Settlement. However, they were taken to the […]
20/09/2021

Facilitating Healing at Carrolup, Part 1

Some of you will know one of the main reasons I became involved with the Carrolup story was because of my interest in the healing of trauma and its consequences (e.g. mental health problems, addiction). I was looking for a story about the healing of trauma amongst Aboriginal […]
15/09/2021

Oprah Winfrey & Dr. Bruce Perry in Conversation: SXSW EDU 2021

‘Oprah Winfrey and leading child psychiatrist and neuroscientist Bruce Perry, MD, PhD explore the impact of childhood trauma on who we become, the decisions we make, and how healing must start with one question ‘what happened to you?’ in anticipation of a new co-authored book of the same […]
14/09/2021

Learning About Noel White: A Shock

In a previous blog post, I described the pivotal role that teacher Noel White played in the development of the art of the Aboriginal children at Carrolup Native Settlement. I have also written about Noel White’s life from the time he came to Western Australia from the Eastern […]
13/09/2021

Carrolup Child Artists Make History

Some of you may remember that I gave a talk at the Royal Western Australian Historical Society on 11 September 2020. I was also asked to write an article for Early Days, the Annual Journal of the Society. Last month, John Stanton and I attended the Launch of […]
18/05/2021

Achievements of Carrolup Artists

Here is part of a chapter from my book Connection: Aboriginal Child Artists Captivate Europe which focuses on a newspaper article written by John Stokes after Carrolup Native Settlement school had been closed. “In Perth, John Stokes, the teacher and headmaster who has done so much to promote the […]
13/05/2021

Healing Section of the Recovery Stories Website

I have another website, Recovery Stories, which focuses on recovery from addiction and mental health problems. One section of the website, labelled Healing, takes you on a journey that focuses on the healing of intergenerational trauma. I have arranged this section so that a person can start with […]
10/05/2021

Development of the Carrolup Children’s Art

In a previous blog, I described how the children’s art was initially just one aspect of a school curriculum that used drawing as the necessary means of communication in almost every subject. Early in 1947, Noel introduced a scheme where he and his wife spent time with the children five […]
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