David Clark

10/11/2021

The Carrolup Story Website: Our 3rd Birthday

Three years ago today, John Stanton, Ash Whitney and I launched The Carrolup Story online storytelling, education and healing resource. The resource now comprises over 320 pages, including 270 blog posts. How did The Carrolup Story website come about? Our story begins 45 years ago, when John Stanton first […]
09/11/2021

‘What Happened?: What mental health is really about’ by Bill Saunders

Some of you will will know that I believe that the biomedical approach to mental health—using drugs to treat what are considered to be biochemical disorders—causes more harm than good. I have previously recommended the book What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. […]
03/11/2021

Parnell Dempster Writes to Mrs Rutter

After Mrs Florence Rutter returned to the UK after her second visit to Carrolup Native Settlement, she received letters from 22 of the Aboriginal children. In one of those letters, Parnell Dempster described how the settlement supervisor, Mr Sully, had stopped Noel White taking the boys to the […]
02/11/2021

Belonging and Being Loved: Bruce Perry

Here is what Bruce Perry has to say about ‘belonging’ and ‘being loved’ in What Happened To You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing, the excellent book he wrote with Oprah Winfrey. ‘Belonging and being loved are core to the human experience. We are a social species. We […]
01/11/2021

Noelene White Interview, 2005

Noelene, along with her siblings Janette (Jenny) and Ross, went with her parents Noel and Lily White to Carrolup Native Settlement in May 1946. She was 12 years old at the time. John first met Noelene in 1985 and learnt a lot from her about the Aboriginal children […]
29/10/2021

Some Favourite Carrolup Story Blog Posts: Part 1

I thought I’d upload a second blog post today to celebrate John’s talks at The Kodja Place, Kojonup this afternoon. We now have 172 posts on our Carrolup Story Blog. Here are links to ten of my personal favourites. A Long Way from Home: But for the three […]
29/10/2021

Healing Blog Posts: A Kojonup Celebration

This afternoon, John Stanton will be giving his and my talks about the Aboriginal child artists at The Kodja Place, Kojonup, {while I recuperate at home}. One of the aims of these talks is to highlight the legacy of the Carrolup Story, in relation to how it speaks […]
28/10/2021

John Stanton in Kojonup and Albany

I’ve just talked to my colleague John Stanton on the phone, just as he was heading off south to Kojonup. He will be giving talks there and in Albany in the next days. I should have been travelling with him, but I’ve been laid low for the past […]
19/10/2021

New Additions to Memorabilia Gallery

I have today added another 18 items to the Memorabilia Gallery, which now contains 66 items (newspaper clippings, letters, items from Noel & Lily White’s personal collection of memorabilia, examples of the children’s schoolwork, art prints and official documents). The items I have added today are: Letter from Stephen […]
18/10/2021

Carrolup Artworks Displayed in India

On the 19th of August 1949, the following article appeared in the Great Southern Herald newspaper: ‘The art of Carrolup native children is to be shown at exhibitions in various countries arranged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Through the Education Department, 28 water colours, […]
15/10/2021

Dr Bruce Perry on How To Transform Pain Into Power

‘I think of the most transformative people I have ever known, every single one of them had personal pain and traumatic experience that was a core element of who they became. And it didn’t crush them… Those people tend to have tremendous empathy for others who are struggling […]
14/10/2021

John Stanton Interview, Part 1

Here are three film clips from the interview I did with John Stanton about the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup on the 6th of October 2017. Why the Carrolup Story is so Important: Teacher Noel White created a different atmosphere at Carrolup so that the Aboriginal children, who […]
13/10/2021

Letters from Two Royal Houses

In the second half of the 1940s, the artworks of the Aboriginal children of Carrolup captivated audiences in the south-west of Western Australia and then in cities around Australia and New Zealand. In the early 1950s, audiences in the Netherlands, England and Scotland were captivated. Amazingly, staff from […]
12/10/2021

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD): Nurture Development

I believe strongly in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) as a powerful way forward for communities. I’ve written about this invaluable approach in three blogs on this website: Community Building: ‘Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: […]
11/10/2021

Development of the Carrolup Art: Charles Crabbe’s Letter

I first wrote about local Department of Education school inspector Charles ‘Sammy’ Crabbe back in March 2020. He played a pivotal role in helping Noel White connect with the Aboriginal children of Carrolup, and in the development and promotion of the Carrolup children’s art. Noel was a close […]
07/10/2021

Revel Cooper’s Reflections on Carrolup

One of the most important resources I have found during my research of the Carrolup story is a ‘letter’ written by Revel Cooper where he reflects on his time at Carrolup Native Settlement. Back in 2015, my close friend Michael (Mike) Liu and I were researching Revel’s life, as […]
07/10/2021

Community Capacities & Community Necessities

I have previously posted articles about Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) entitled Community Building and Sustainable Community Development: From What’s Wrong to What’s Strong – Cormac Russell. The ABCD approach focuses on a community’s assets, capacities and abilities. Historical evidence indicates that significant community development takes places only when local community […]
06/10/2021

Our 250th Blog Post… A ‘Random’ Celebration

Last week, when I posted the article Factors Facilitating Addiction Recovery: A Summary in our Healing Blog, I did not realise that it was the 250th blog post on our website. I thought we should have a belated celebration of this milestone today. To do something different, I decided […]
Translate »