Powered by Passion: Two Stories of Kimberley Aboriginal People’s Liberation from Oppression

Systemic injustice in Western Australia’s Kimberley region before 1970 saw many Aboriginal families condemned to lives of misery. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire would name their situation as oppression, a concept not often applied to a modern, prosperous society such as Australia. In 1970, two Caucasian community development practitioners adopted Freire’s interpretation of oppression and his methods to challenge it. They saw that many Aboriginal families were silenced by historically imposed government regulations of control over them. 

When the adults found the passion within themselves and the resources to break through demeaning controls leading to this silence, their bewilderment and inertia started to change. This paper draws on ideas that led to some families’ emancipation from oppressive circumstances, recorded at the time by one of the community development practitioners. It describes the process and a particular difficulty arising from complex intercultural communication. Freire’s theory of liberation necessitates people enunciating their deep-seated desires; their ‘word’ that generates reflection and action. This was problematic for the community development workers since English was a common language, but its cultural use was not. 

These stories of early community work come from an era no longer conceivable in a modern society. However, principles of community development that include the concept of oppression are relevant to adults trapped in circumstances they perceive as immutable. They show that people experiencing hopelessness and despair can, through action and reflection, radically change their world within a framework of cultural difference.

This paper is published in the Australian Journal of Community Work, edition 4, which can be accessed below.