Edwin "Guboo" Ted Thomas (29 January 1909 – 19 May 2002), a
Yuin
The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...
man, was a prominent
Aboriginal leader. He toured Australia with a
gumleaf
The musical leaf is one of any leaves which is used to play music on.
It goes by many names, including leaflute, leaf flute, leaf whistle, gum leaf, and leafophone.
In Cambodia it is called a ''slek'' () and is played by country people in Cambod ...
orchestra during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
of the 1930s, played
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
and became a respected
elder who campaigned for protection of
sacred sites
Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...
on the South Coast. He went to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and urged the
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...
to accept Indigenous religions, and also met the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
.
Early life
Guboo Ted Thomas was born in 1909 under a gum tree at
Jembaicumbene
Jembaicumbene (pronounced Jemmi-c'm-bene) is a locality in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, located 8 km (5 miles) out along the Braidwood– Majors Creek Road. Once a thriving goldfield, it is now a peaceful val ...
in the
Braidwood area of the South Coast of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. He was born into the
Yuin
The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...
people, which he always maintained was a Nation made up of many individual tribes. Ted is a contraction of his birth name Edwin; and Guboo, the name he was best known for, was his tribal name meaning "good friend". Guboo was son of William "Bill" Iberia Thomas, a tribal elder, and Mary Gwendoline "Linno" Ahoy, a woman of Chinese descent.
Although he was the third of ten children, he was recognised as a future spiritual leader by the elders of the Yuin before he was ten years old.
Thomas knew most about his father's family, and it was from his father's family that he drew his strong bonds with the Aboriginal community. His father William "Bill" Iberia Thomas (1888-?) and his grandfather Peter Thomas were both tribal elders. His grandmother Hannah (Nyaadi) McGrath was a
medicine woman
A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
who took him along on her healing rounds, and told him Dreamtime stories. His father, grandfather and uncles instructed him in sacred rites, male ancestral laws and Yuin customs . He was eventually chosen by them to be given special knowledge and to become the future elder and spiritual leader of the Yuin Nation.
His part-Aboriginal mother Mary Gwendoline "Linno" Ahoy (1887–1959) had a Chinese father. Thomas also knew that she had French blood as her mother's surname had been de Mestre; his French great-great-grandfather
Prosper de Mestre
Jean Charles Prosper de Mestre (15 August 1789– 14 September 1844), known as Prosper de Mestre, was a French-born prominent businessman in Sydney from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was a "citizen of the world", (His citizenship was li ...
(1789–1844) was a prominent businessman in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
from 1818 to 1844, while his Chinese grandfather James Ahoy was a
market gardener
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
in the
Braidwood area at the time of the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
, who moved back to China leaving his family behind.
Thomas grew up on the
Wallaga Lake Aboriginal Station
Wallaga Lake is an estuarine lake in Bega Valley Shire in New South Wales, Australia, the largest lake in southern NSW. It is located between Bermagui to the south and between Tilba Tilba to the north, situated beneath Mount Gulaga, in the tra ...
, an
Aboriginal reserve
An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...
run by the New South Wales
Aborigines Protection Board
Aboriginal Protection Board, also known as Aborigines Protection Board, Board for the Protection of Aborigines, Aborigines Welfare Board (and in later sources, incorrectly as Aboriginal Welfare Board), and similar names, refers to a number of hi ...
, where he attended the tiny local school until he was eight. Thomas would say of this time: "All I was taught at school was to knit, sew, make little johnnycakes and tend a garden. In those days, no-one bothered to teach the Aboriginal children the three Rs". Withdrawn from school by his parents, his education in
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...
culture then began. When he was nine, his father, uncle and other Yuin elders took him on their Dreamtime
walkabout
Walkabout is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society, during which males undergo a journey during adolescence, typically ages 10 to 16, and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months to make the spiritual and traditiona ...
from
Mallacoota
Mallacoota is a small town in the East Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Mallacoota had a population of 1,063. At holiday times, particularly Easter and Christmas, the population increases by about 8,000 ...
on the
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
n border to the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...
and showed him all the sacred sites for which he would later be responsible. During his early years he also watched as his grandfather called in
dolphins
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...
to help them catch
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
, and called in
killer whales
The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pat ...
to help them catch whales,
[Indigenous kinship with the Natural World in New South Wales (for which Thomas was interviewed just days prior to his death)](_blank)
/ref> his grandfather even being called by the killer whales at night to join a hunt.
Musical career
As a teenager he toured with a Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
an performing troupe, and later was a member of the Wallaga Lake Gumleaf Band that toured southern New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, and performed at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...
in 1932. The Gumleaf Band played at football dances, and on the back of trucks at district shows, gymkhana
Gymkhana () ( ur, جِمخانہ, sd, جمخانه, hi, जिमख़ाना, as, জিমখানা, bn, জিমখানা) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to den ...
s, and sports picnics on the beach. He used these trips to visit Aboriginal missions from Victoria, up the New South Wales coast into Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, and inland over the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
. He would visit the old people to learn more about their customs and beliefs, tour their sacred sites and talk to them about protecting the land and the Great Spirit that sustained it.
The band included seven of Thomas's family, including his father and uncles and three of his brothers. It performed traditional dances with sticks and spears, and also did step dancing
Step(s) or STEP may refer to:
Common meanings
* Steps, making a staircase
* Walking
* Dance move
* Military step, or march
** Marching
Arts Films and television
* ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong
* ''Step'' (film), US, 2017
Literature
* ' ...
, tap dancing
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...
, hula
Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of t ...
dancing, burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. , clowning
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in t ...
, and singing. They made music with gum leaves, an accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
, ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
s, guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
s, fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
, and drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s. Thomas played the guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, so very different from the traditional instruments that he played in his later years of the clapping sticks
Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony ...
and didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
.
Land rights and cultural work
After his music career Thomas then took work on various jobs around New South Wales including jackarooing, collecting shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and ...
, cutting railway sleepers, working in the timber industry, as leader of an Aboriginal work-crew at Warragamba Dam
Warragamba Dam is a heritage-listed dam in the outer South Western Sydney suburb of Warragamba, New South Wales, Warragamba, Wollondilly Shire in New South Wales, Australia. It is a concrete gravity dam, which creates Lake Burragorang, the prima ...
, and as a union delegate at a Botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
foundry. Most of his working life, however, was spent as a commercial fisherman on the South Coast applying that special knowledge given to him by his elders, except that "the middleman made all the money".
He spent some time at the Salt Pan Creek
Salt Pan Creek is an urban watercourse of the Georges River catchment, located in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
Salt Pan Creek rises west southwest of the suburb of Mount Lewis, wi ...
camp in the 1930s, and later, in the 1970s, he and other elders like Jacko Campbell
Jacko may refer to:
People First name
* Jacko Eisenberg (born 1980), Israeli singer
* Jacko McDonagh (born 1962), Irish footballer
Nickname
* Jacko Barry (born 1975), Irish darts player
* Jacko Fossett (1922–2004), English clown
* Jacko Gill ...
explained the importance of the free community at the refugee camp there, which been a centre of Aboriginal rights activism.
After the 1967 referendum, which changed the Australian Constitution so that Aboriginal people would be counted in the Australian census
The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census nig ...
, and hereafter be subject to Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
laws rather than state laws, he sold his fishing-boat after 25 years, to devote himself to the responsibilities handed to him by his beloved elders. He moved back to Wallaga Lake
Wallaga Lake is an estuarine lake in Bega Valley Shire in New South Wales, Australia, the largest lake in southern NSW. It is located between Bermagui to the south and between Tilba Tilba to the north, situated beneath Mount Gulaga, in the tra ...
with his family.
In the early 1970s Thomas and his wife Ann and other tribal Elders joined Pastor Frank Roberts' New South Wales Aboriginal Lands and Rights Council. This experience strengthened Thomas's commitment to Aboriginal land rights
Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...
and culture. "Land rights, self-determination, and cultural identity" became his catch-cry. His activism began by hitchhiking to Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
to urge the Government to make the Wallaga Lake Aboriginal Station into a reserve and to seek protection of the sacred sites. Before long he began working with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
(now AIATSIS), recording all the Aboriginal sites in coastal New South Wales. His work with the Institute of Aboriginal Studies was ground-breaking, and became the basis of all future land claims along the South Coast. He attended land rights marches in Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...
, and land rights meetings in Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. In 1977 he played a significant role in the establishment of a New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council
Land councils, also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians ...
to co-ordinate the land rights campaign. In 1978 he helped prepare land claims which were presented to the New South Wales Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...
. After five years of demonstrations and lobbying, the Wallaga Lake community received its title deeds, and he proudly accepted them. He died before the ownership of a much greater area, of the former Wallaga Lake National Park
Wallaga Lake National Park is a former national park in New South Wales, south-west of Sydney and north of Bermagui. It now forms part of a greater Gulaga National Park.
In 2001, as part of the Southern Comprehensive Regional Forest Agreemen ...
and the rest of the Gulaga National Park
Gulaga National Park is a national park on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Bermagui. The park is dominated by Gulaga, also known as Mount Gulaga (formerly Mount Dromedary). The former Wallaga Lake National Park, ...
were restored to the area's original owners, the Yuin people, in May 2006.
In 1978 Thomas became alarmed about forestry operations on nearby Mumbulla Mountain
Biamanga National Park is a protected area in New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney and north of Bega. The park forms part of the Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area because of its importance for swift parrots.
Its name derives ...
threatening sacred sites. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, with the help of Thomas, commenced an Anthropological
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
investigation of Mumbulla Mountain. This investigation supported the claims of the Yuin people, and determined that Mumbulla Mountain is significant to Aboriginal people. Several politicians still claimed there were no sacred sites and dismissed Thomas's claims. In 1979 the then seventy-year-old elder first came to public attention when, largely through his efforts, the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman ...
ordered a cease to logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
on the Mumbulla Mountain south of Bermagui. Thomas continued the fight, and after five long years the victory was a significant land rights settlement for Aboriginal people.
Around this time, he began espousing a spiritual message, believing that the noisy protests and marches only aggravated racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. He became a member of the Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
, emphasising the spiritual unity of humankind of all religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
s. In 1984 the then 75-year-old began travelling the world teaching the Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...
, the heart of Aboriginal spirituality. He wanted to build bridges, bringing people together through a mutual love and respect for Mother Earth. He wanted the Dreaming to enrich the lives of all Australians, and devoted the rest of his life to being a catalyst for a worldwide return to selfless ancient values. He went to the United Nations, and he asked the World Council of Churches to accept Indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
religions. He met spiritual and religious leaders, like the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
, who would later contact him when passing through Australia.
For the next 20 years he held "Dreaming camps" around Australia and overseas to teach and pass on his knowledge, to renew the Dreaming of these places and restore sacredness to the landscape. He spent each January at Blue Gum Flats, in the Budawangs, behind Pigeon House Mountain (Bulgarn). Thousands of people from around the world came to meet him in the deep wilderness and to seek a spiritual relationship with nature. Many non-Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
participated in these Dreaming camps.
In 1988, the year of the Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788.
History
The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...
, the 79-year-old had re-enacted his own childhood Dreamtime walk of seven decades earlier. The walk went from Mallacoota on the Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
n border to the Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...
, and took six weeks. Thomas walked with a group of Koori
Koori (also spelt koorie, goori or goorie) is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people ...
children from broken homes.
Thomas envisioned a nation that has put internal conflict between white and black Australians behind it in the realisation of a truly unified Australian identity with a respect for Aboriginal culture and love of the land as its bedrock. While Thomas went on to work tirelessly to bring black and white together, his own people mistrusted him for most of his remaining life.
For the remainder of his life Thomas held "Renewing the Dreaming" Camps around Australia and overseas, for which he was well respected. However among his own people he was not without his critics, some of whom felt that he had discovered the perks of being a new-age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
to the white community. Unfortunately he also sometimes upset the actual traditional owners of the land where his ceremonies were held, by not always respecting their sacred sites, and by violating local Aboriginal laws.
Later life and death
He shared the Dreamtime stories from his childhood with all who would listen. His birthday present for his 90th birthday in 1999 was the performance of a puppet show "Dreamtime Stories of the Yuin Tribe" performing a Dreamtime story as told to Thomas by his grandmother "Granny Tungii" the medicine woman.
Ever the gentle activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
, in February 2002 he took part in a protest at Sandon Point near Wollongong demonstrating against a development threatening Aboriginal sites and the area's natural beauty. The 93-year-old sat in a wheelchair and clapped two sticks together. He also identified some "sacred stones" in Thomas Gibson Park at Thirroul
Thirroul () is a northern seaside suburb of the city of Wollongong, Australia. Situated between Austinmer and Bulli, it is approximately 13 kilometres north of Wollongong, and 73 km south of Sydney. It lies between the Pacific Ocean ...
, but Wollongong Council took more almost two years before they arranged for him to come from Wallaga to the site and identify them in early 2002. Thomas was then too unwell to walk the site in order to re-locate and identify them and the site was later approved for residential development.
Active in what he saw as his life's work till the very end, in his last days he participated in a study about Indigenous kinship with the Natural World in New South Wales.
He died at 93 years of age on 19 May 2002, just before that year's Reconciliation Week
National Reconciliation Week is intended to celebrate Indigenous Australians, Indigenous history and culture in Australia and foster reconciliation in Australia, reconciliation discussion and activities. It started as the Week of Prayer for Reconc ...
celebrated the rich culture and history of Australia's Koori
Koori (also spelt koorie, goori or goorie) is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people ...
citizens.
Works and legacy
Thomas's work in developing mutual respect and understanding, and in the renewal of the Spirit and the Dreaming, was prolific and ongoing. In his own words: [Newstead, Adrian, ''The Dealer is the Devil: An Insider's History of the Aboriginal Art Trade'', Brandl and Schlesinger, 2014, p. 82]
''The Earth is our Mother.''
''When I die I'm going down there.''
''When you die you're going there too.''
''But what are you doing for the Earth?''
Thomas wanted Aboriginal spirituality
The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
, the Dreaming, to enrich the lives of all Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
s.[1985 interview with Gubbo Ted Thomas](_blank)
/ref> His accomplishments showed his commitment to Australia, and his Aboriginal community in particular:
* Through his work with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
, an invaluable record of sacred sites along the New South Wales coast was established.
* It was largely through his efforts that logging ceased on Mumbulla Mountain, which led to a significant land rights settlement in New South Wales.
Notes
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Guboo Ted
1909 births
2002 deaths
Australian indigenous rights activists