David Clark

11/06/2019

Carrolup Drawings Return to Katanning: A Story of Stories

The blogs that John and I write for the website are stories that form part of the fabric of the story of Carrolup, past and present. In our early days of development, John wrote a number of blogs about the ‘rediscovery’ of Mrs Rutter’s collection of Carrolup drawings […]
06/06/2019

An Extraordinary Human Being: Jan James R.I.P.

I am still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my close friend Jan James is physically not with us anymore. Jan passed away last Friday night, the 31st May 2019. She was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known. Here is a […]
06/06/2019

Aboriginal healing practices for loss and trauma: Bruce Perry

Examination of the known beliefs, rituals, and healing practices for loss and trauma that remain from Aboriginal cultures reveal some remarkable principles. Healing rituals from a wide range of geographically separate, culturally disconnected groups converge into a set of core elements related to adaption and healing following trauma. […]
04/06/2019

Silencing the Doubters

In June 1948, three of the Carrolup boys caused a sensation in the south coast town of Albany. Here is what happened, as described in our forthcoming book The Aboriginal Child Artists of Carrolup. “Education Inspector Charles ‘Sammy’ Crabbe organises a Convention of Departmental Teachers in Albany in […]
30/05/2019

Describing Healing: Helen Milroy

I came across a beautiful description of healing by Helen Milroy in the Forward of the fascinating book Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkari. I quote this description here, although I have made the paragraphs shorter for online reading. ‘Healing is part of life and continues through death and […]
28/05/2019

Noelene White’s Memories: Life at Carrolup

I’ve included two sections so far that focus on the memories of Noelene White – daughter of Noel and Lily White – as described in our forthcoming book The Aboriginal Child Artists of Carrolup. You can find those blogs here and here. I now include some further memories, related […]
23/05/2019

Healing Trauma: Overlooking Fundamental Truths

Over the past fifty years, psychiatric medications have become a mainstay in our culture, with dubious consequences.  The theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs has become accepted by psychiatrists, doctors, the media and the […]
22/05/2019

Story and Community Engagement: Healing Trauma

As John reported in yesterday’s blog, he and I gave presentations at the Centre of Native Title Anthropology (CNTA) Workshop at St. Catherine’s College, The University of Western Australia, on 8th May this year. This is the first time we have spoken together about our Carrolup project. Here […]
13/05/2019

The Healing Forest

Here are some wise words from someone I hold in very high regard, Don Coyhis. Don, who grew up on a Mohican reservation in Wisconsin in the US, spent over 25 years developing The Wellbriety Movement and White Bison, spreading a healing message amongst Native Indian communities, based on cultural principles, laws […]
10/05/2019

The Carrolup Story: Six-Month Anniversary

It’s hard to believe that six months have passed since John and I officially launched The Carrolup Story website on the 10th November 2018, the 85th birthday of Noelene White, daughter of Carrolup School teachers Noel and Lily White. Looking back, we feel that we’ve achieved a good deal of […]
09/05/2019

Community Building

Here’s an article on asset-based community development (ABCD) which I wrote some time ago for the Kinship Connections WA website. This approach can facilitate healing in a community. “Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: it is […]
07/05/2019

Carrolup Art Reaches Europe

Just a reminder that you can find links to a summary of the Carrolup Story in 12 parts here. These summaries start with the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people and end with the ‘missing’ Mrs Rutter collection of Carrolup art being permanently returned to Noongar Boodja (Country) […]
01/05/2019

The Healing Power of Story: Lewis Mehl-Madrona

Lewis Mehl-Madrona is a man I greatly admire and his book Healing the Mind Through the Power of Story is well worth a read. Here is an interesting section from the book: ‘The narrative movement in psychiatry is concerned with understanding the stories of pain and suffering told […]
30/04/2019

Noelene White’s Memories: The Art

Noelene White, daughter of Carrolup teacher Noel White, has worked closely with us on our project. In fact, John and Noelene have known each other for nearly 35 years. In an earlier blog, we included a section from the chapter Noelene White’s Memories in our forthcoming book which focused on […]
24/04/2019

Intergenerational Healing: Joe Solanto

Putting the finishing touches to this blog in a hotel in Reading, UK, before returning to Australia tomorrow. It’s been a wonderful month seeing my children, grandchild, brother and family, cousin and his wife, and close friends. It’s back to working on the Carrolup project next week, after […]
16/04/2019

‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari

Some of you will know that I was a neuroscientist for nigh on 25 years, working in the field of the brain neurotransmitter dopamine. I was fortunate enough to work with one of the world leaders in neuroscience, the late Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson, and to run my […]
10/04/2019

Our Visit to Kojonup, March 2019

On 21st March 2019, John Stanton and I, along with my close friend Mike Scott, travelled down to  Kojonup to meet local farmer and long-term shire councillor John Benn at The Kodja Place. Mike and I, along with filmmaker friend Phil Strachan, had first met John two years ago […]
03/04/2019

Can a Cambodian Cow Facilitate Healing?

I’ve just finished reading an excellent book, Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari. I can strongly recommend the book, which focuses on a ‘radical’ – and very sensible way – of viewing depression and overcoming the problem. Depression is […]
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