A Trip to the Loo

Here is the blog post that I wrote for the group blog at http://lcaustraliaprogram2011.blogspot.com/

Greetings from sunny Sydney,

As we are well into our third week here in Australia, I feel that I can say with some confidence that we are all starting to get into the rhythm of Sydney life. This past weekend we had three free days, which were full of many new experiences. However, much of this time was spent working on our independent projects.

Throughout the semester, each of us will be doing individual research on a topic of our choice that addresses people and their relationship to the environment. Because all of us come from different backgrounds and are interested in different things, the variety of topics is extensive. Some people have chosen to take a scientific approach, while others have elected more of a humanities or social approach. On Friday, we spent some time all together discussing our projects, and many interesting questions were brought up.

Here are a few examples of project topics: Emily will study how human relationships with whales have changed through Australian history. Whaling has been very popular in past years, although I found it interesting that whales are nowadays more profitable alive than dead due to the tourism of whale watching. Other people hope to take more of a biological approach; Katy will study the epidemiology of skin cancer and how the social practices of skin care have impacted today’s statistics on skin cancer. Jared will look at the introduction of invasive species and their impact on Australia. Rebecca will study the ecological and social implications of logging in Tasmania. Some members of our group want to focus on the Indigenous populations of Australia; Aboriginal people are often stereotyped as having poor health, and Allison will study how diet and environment directly affect diseases in indigenous populations. Delaney will learn how the environment is depicted through contemporary Aboriginal art. The floods in Brisbane have also brought up some interesting topics; John is going to study the effectiveness of the social response and recovery with regards to the floods. For my project I will try to understand how the built environment has adapted to Australia’s harsh and varied climate. For example, I have learned about one opal-mining town called Coober Pedy whose residents live almost entirely underground in converted mining shafts due to unbearable daytime temperatures.

Everybody’s project is fascinating and I look forward to hearing the final products. Most of all, what this weekend showed us is that there are many ways to approach our chosen topic and we all have a lot of work ahead of us. In the end we will hopefully have gained an understanding of how people relate to their environment in Australia.

Speaking of the environment, on Friday night many of us had our first big spider sighting! We saw a Huntsmen spider in the lounge room at the Arundel house. Huntsmen spiders, which are also called Giant Crab spiders because of their large size (the one we spotted was about as big as the palm of a hand), are not poisonous and are commonly found in homes and buildings. As adults they do not build webs, but rather hunt and forage for food. One startling thing about Huntsmen, that we learned first hand, is that they are able to travel extremely fast, often using a springing jump while running. They also tend to cling onto things if they are picked up, which makes them very hard to shake off (luckily none of us had to experience this). Seeing the spider jump towards me touched a full range of emotion.

In addition to our independent project we are also doing group projects about neighborhoods in Sydney. Each group will be giving a walking tour of a Sydney neighborhood later this week; during the weekend many of us prepared our tour. My group visited our neighborhood, Woolloomooloo (which is often just referred to as “The Loo”). The Loo is located along the Sydney Harbor and is one of the first places that was settled when Europeans first came to Australia in 1788. Woolloomooloo (which could get its unique name from Wallabahmullah, an Aboriginal name for a young black kangaroo) has gone through many phases as a working class suburb, but recent gentrification has made it into a very affluent part of Sydney. The Loo’s main attraction is the Finger Warf, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest wooden structure in the world. The Warf was once used as a deployment point for troops joining the World Wars but today it has over 300 apartments, a hotel and many very high-class restaurants. The famous Australian actor and musician Russell Crowe lives at the end of the Warf in a $14 million penthouse.

On Monday we visited the Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. At the museum we spent a couple hours in the Indigenous Australians exhibit, which was put together with the help of many Aboriginal people. When we first walked in, there was a sign directed towards Aboriginal people that warned them that there might be content that will upset and offend their culture. Any museum that depicts stories of deceased Indigenous people must put up this sign because in Aboriginal culture it is disrespectful to talk about people who have passed away. The exhibit focused on themes of spirituality, culture, heritage, the land, family, health and social justice. It covered Aboriginal art and history from before Europeans arrived to present day. Because aboriginal culture is so distinct from my own, I found it difficult to fully grasp the concepts and stories that were told.

One interesting thing about the art was that much of it depicted themes of European culture and religion through traditional Aboriginal styles. This is an example of how missionaries changed and contributed to the suppression of Aboriginal culture. Mostly what all of this art showed us is that it is very difficult to define what is Aboriginal art. Aboriginal art can be classical Aboriginal designs created by native people but can also be created by non-native people. Sometimes Aboriginal art is created for a more utilitarian purpose, to tell a story or as a weapon, while other times it can be created for solely viewing purposes. There were also periods of time where Indigenous people were forced to create art for European intentions. Is this also Aboriginal art?

At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, an aboriginal woman named Emily McDaniel, who has been our lecturer in the past, gave us a tour of the Aboriginal art gallery. We saw Indigenous art created traditionally on tree bark, using ochre as paint. Shades of red, yellow and brown were common in these paintings. They had many themes of animals and landscape and always told a story. At the gallery we also saw contemporary aboriginal art on stretched canvas using acrylic paint and varied bright colors. This art is equally as “Aboriginal” as the more traditional-looking art and conveys many of the same messages. No matter how it is presented, Aboriginal art serves many different functions and is often used to pass on messages from generation to generation.

The last few days have been amazing. We have learned a lot and still found some time to spend lounging at Manly beach in this hot, sunny weather.