David Clark

05/02/2019
Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c.1949. Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology. [WU7568]
Author: David Clark on 05/02/2019
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Pathways to Aboriginal Healing

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.’ Helen Milroy, Pat Dudgeon and Roz […]
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29/01/2019
Francis Galton pioneered the concept of eugenics in this laboratory in London in the late 19th century. Flickr/Science Museum London
Author: David Clark on 29/01/2019
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Racism and Social Darwinism

This is the third of a series of articles focused on the social, political and cultural context in which the story about the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup took place. [Please note, some people may find the ideas described in this article to be upsetting and offensive]. A […]
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26/01/2019
Mr. and Mrs. White with some of the Carrolup boys and the Peet family. Back row: Barry Loo, Mr. Peet, Noel White, Adrian Allen and Mrs. Peet. Middle row: Lily White and the three Peet girls. Front row: Parnell Dempster, unidentified boy and Reynold Hart. Photograph taken in 1949. Noel & Lily White Collection.
Author: David Clark on 26/01/2019
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Our Carrolup Project

I thought it particularly appropriate today, so-called ‘Australia Day’, that I re-iterate what John and I are doing and what we are hoping to achieve with our Carrolup Project. Seventy years ago, Aboriginal children of Carrolup ‘reached out’ to white society with their beautiful landscape drawings. Their efforts, […]
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26/01/2019
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 26/01/2019
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Judy Atkinson: Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Huge congratulations to Judy Atkinson, who today becomes a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the Indigenous community, to education and to mental health. This is such wonderful news, truly well-deserved.  As I have said a number times, Judy’s book Trauma Trails: Recreational Song Lines […]
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22/01/2019
Children of Carrolup with the first superintendent Mr W. J. Freyer. He was forced to resign in 1918 for chaining one of the young girls by her neck to a bed as a punishment.
Author: David Clark on 22/01/2019
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Mr Neville: Removing Aboriginal Children From Their Family

This is the third of a series of blogs that considers the social, political and cultural context existing prior to our story of the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup. I focus on the policy of removing Aboriginal people from their families, which resulted in what we now know […]
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21/01/2019
The Cockburn Range near the Pentecost River. On the right, you can see our transport and campsite.
Author: David Clark on 21/01/2019
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The Healing Power of Country

The present blog is based very closely on one I wrote in September 2018 for my website Sharing Culture. Sharing Culture is an educational resource I developed in 2014 to help facilitate the healing of intergenerational, or historical, trauma. It was inspired by my reading of Judy Atkinson’s […]
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18/01/2019
Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-founder of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study.
Author: David Clark on 18/01/2019
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How Childhood Trauma Can Make You A Sick Adult

As I described in my last Healing blog, one theme which is at the heart of the Carrolup Story involves the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents. Today, we know that adverse experiences in childhood can impact powerfully on a person’s physical and psychological wellbeing many years […]
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16/01/2019
Blackboys by Revel Cooper, watercolour on paper, 38 x 57cm, 1964. Purchased from George Abdullah, Perth, 1965. Berndt Museum of Anthropology. [WU3269]
Author: David Clark on 16/01/2019
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Carrolup: John Stanton’s 40-Year Journey

As my colleague John Stanton is away on holiday in New Zealand, I thought I’d take this opportunity to blog about John’s association with Carrolup for a period of over 40 years. That’s a serious, long-standing interest and commitment! The initial large section of this blog come from […]
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15/01/2019
Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist, is the Senior Fellow (and Founder) of the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas, USA.
Author: David Clark on 15/01/2019
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Six Core Strengths for Healthy Child Development

One theme which is at the heart of the Carrolup Story involves the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents. These children became known as the Stolen Generations. This did not just happen to most of the children at Carrolup, but occurred to Aboriginal children across Australia, and […]
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14/01/2019
Proclamation of Prohibited Area issued under the 1905 Aborigines Act.
Author: David Clark on 14/01/2019
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The Control of Aboriginal People: 1905 Aborigines Act

It is essential to consider the social, political and cultural context in Western Australia to fully appreciate the Carrolup Story and the achievements of the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup. We have devoted early chapters of our forthcoming book – Aboriginal Child Artists of Carrolup – to this […]
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10/01/2019
Author: David Clark on 10/01/2019
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The Impact of Colonisation on Aboriginal People

The Story of the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup must be told within the social, political and cultural context of what was occurring in Western Australia during the 1940s and 1950s, as well as at earlier times. The first chapters of our forthcoming book – due out later […]
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09/01/2019
Eilean Donan Castle at the entrance of Loch Duich in Scotland.
Author: David Clark on 09/01/2019
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A Journey Toward Recovery: From the Inside Out

Some of you will know that I have worked in the addiction and mental health field for over 40 years, spending the first 25 years as a neuroscientist working on the brain neurotransmitter dopamine. I eventually closed my laboratory because I: (1) stopped believing in disease models of […]
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07/01/2019
My daughter Natasha meets colleague and close friend John Stanton for the first time. I was thrilled to see them chatting away like old friends over lunch.
Author: David Clark on 07/01/2019
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Happy New Year… And Some Reflections

It’s good to be back after a long break for the Christmas and New Year holidays. I would first like to wish you all the very best for 2019. I know that John would say the same if he was here. At present, he’s in New Zealand spending […]
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14/12/2018
Some of the Carrolup young artists. Front row: Reynold Hart (Far Left), Parnell Dempster (Middle) and Revel Cooper (Far Right). Back row, 2nd Left: Barry Loo. Do you know who the other boys are?
Author: David Clark on 14/12/2018
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Thank You, A Break, Best Wishes and…

The website has been running for just over a month now and we’ve uploaded blog postings on all but three days. Our major aims in this initial period have been to: enhance awareness of the Story of Carrolup to the public and make people aware of our initiative, […]
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13/12/2018
The building that was the Matron's House at Carrolup Native Settlement. Photographer: John Stanton, 26th November 2018.
Author: David Clark on 13/12/2018
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Our Visit to Carrolup

John and I visited Carrolup—or Marribank as it later became—on the 26th November 2018, on our way down to Albany from Perth. We walked around and explored some of the buildings, reflecting on what had gone on before when Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and held […]
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11/12/2018
Screen capture of an image from the film 'We Shall Remain' by The StyleHorse Collective.
Author: David Clark on 11/12/2018
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‘We Shall Remain’ – The StyleHorse Collective

WE SHALL REMAIN was created to address the effects of historical trauma in our tribal communities. Many times, these untended wounds are at the core of much of the self-inflicted pain experienced in Native America. Much like fire, this pain can either be devastatingly destructive or wisely harnessed […]
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08/12/2018
Carrolup School, a healing sanctuary during the time that Noel White was teacher, May 1946 - December 1950. Photographer: John Stanton, 26th November 2018.
Author: David Clark on 08/12/2018
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Recovery From Trauma – Judith Herman (Part 2)

In my Healing Blog postings, I’m going to use a lot of quotes and film clips of people who I consider to be experts in the field, people like Judy Atkinson, Bessel van der Kolk, Bruce Perry, Judith Herman, James Gordon, Karen Treisman and Gabor Maté. Their words are […]
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06/12/2018
Some of the Carrolup young artists. Front row: Reynold Hart (Far Left), Parnell Dempster (Middle) and Revel Cooper (Far Right). Back row, 2nd Left: Barry Loo. Do you know who the other boys are?
Author: David Clark on 06/12/2018
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Good relationships are the key to healing trauma – Karen Treisman

In my last Healing Blog posting, I took a quote from Judith Herman’s classic book Trauma and Recovery about the importance of relationships in helping a person recover (heal) from trauma: Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation. In her renewed connection […]
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