David Clark

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 […]
02/04/2019

Tony Davis, A Carrolup Story Advisor

One of the great pleasures I’ve had since starting this project several years ago is meeting Tony Davis from Albany. In 2016, I was working very closely with my close friend Michael Liu on a Revel Cooper project. Revel was one of the Carrolup child artists and it […]
26/03/2019

The importance of safety and reciprocity in mental health

In my last Healing Blog, I recommended highly a book by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz entitled The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories From a Child Psychiatrists Notebook. Another seminal book about the healing of trauma is The Body Keep the Score: Brain, Mind, and […]
20/03/2019

Cheryle Jones’s Mother, Mildred Jones, at Carrolup

One of the aims of our project is to connect with families of the Aboriginal children who were at Carrolup. We want them to be able learn about what we have discovered about Carrolup and the people who were there – if they so wish – and hopefully […]
13/03/2019

Relationships, Connection and Healing from Trauma

For anyone interested in the healing of childhood trauma, I strongly recommend you read, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories From a Child Psychiatrists Notebook by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz. Here is a description of the book from the back cover: ‘What happens when […]
12/03/2019

Revel Cooper’s Early Life

Revel Cooper became one of the most famous, if not the most famous, of the Carrolup artists. However, he lived a troubled life, despite his success as an artist. Revel spent many years in and out of prison in Western Australia and Victoria. He also suffered from a drinking problem, […]
05/03/2019

The Impact of Colonialism on a Young Aboriginal Australian

Here is an excellent description of how colonialism impacted upon a young Aboriginal Australian as summarised by Richard Broome in his seminal book Aboriginal Australians: A history since 1788. ‘In Dareton, new South Wales, In 1965, eleven-year-old Malcolm Smith and his brother ‘borrowed’ pushbikes leaning against a bus shelter and went […]
27/02/2019

Katanning Celebrates Children’s Art Return

One of the main reasons we have developed this website and are working on a book about the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup is that it is essential that this story does not wither away or become distorted. You might think that this is unlikely, but many important […]
26/02/2019

Mrs Florence Rutter Visits Carrolup

One of the fascinating elements of the Carrolup Story is that the Aboriginal child artists had an ‘ambassador’ for their work, a 71-year old Englishwoman, Mrs Florence Rutter. Mrs Rutter was given permission by the Western Australian government to exhibit and sell the children’s art, first around Australia […]
21/02/2019

Factors That Facilitate Recovery From Addiction

Here’s an article I wrote for my Recovery Stories website almost six years ago. The factors facilitating recovery from addiction described here are also important for helping people recover (heal) from mental health problems and traumatic experiences. I hope you found the article of value: ‘There are a […]
20/02/2019

Importance of the Carrolup Story

“The first step in re-establishing healthy communities is to acknowledge and understand the impact of the colonial legacy on the lives of Aboriginal people today and the various pathways necessary for healing from historical trauma, using both cultural and contemporary understandings and processes.” Pat Dudgeon, Helen Milroy and […]
19/02/2019

The Meaning of Healing

In 2008, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation of Canada published an important report, Aboriginal Healing in Canada: Studies in Therapeutic Meaning and Practice, based on research in five healing programs across Canada. One of the aims of this research was to gain an ‘understanding of the meanings and processes […]
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