margaret barstow

clifton Beach, Australia

I am a retired school teacher WHO HAS HAD AN INTERESTING LIFE . I WORKED TEACHING IN THE BUSH IN AUSTRALIA AT A TIME WHEN WE WERE ACTUALLY PRETTY REMOTE FROM THE WORLD.I HEARD STORIES OF MY GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER WHO HAD STARTED SCHOOLS IN 1874. SHE WAS AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER FROM ALL ACCOUNTS LIKE MANY PEOPLE IN THOSE EARLY TIMES WHEN WE HAD TIME AND SPACE TO DEVELOP INDIVIDUALITY AND TOLERANCE IF WE SO DESIRED.
THE INTERSTING THING GROWING UP WAS SEEING ALL THESE MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES AND CULTUES COMING TO aUSTRALIA AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR. IT SEEMED AN EXCITING AND DIFFERENT TIME AS THESE PEOPLE WERE QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE WE HAD KNOWN GROWING UP.
I WENT OVERSEAS IN THE EARLY 60S TRAVELLING ON A BOAT THROUGH THE SUEZ CANAL. IT ALSO WAS A SIGNIFICANT AND EXCITING TIME. I PLAYED TENNIS THROUGH EUROPE AND WAS GIVEN A HOME AT CHELSEA SQUARE CHELSEA. IT WAS SWINGING LONDON AND CHELSEA SQUARE WAS ONE OF THE EPICENTRES OF THAT SWINGING TIME.
ARISTOCRATS, COLONIALS, RICH AND POOR ALL BROKE DOWN THE TRADITIONAL BARRIERS OF CLASS AND CULTURE AND LOOKED FOR AN ALTERNATIVE WAY OF LIVING AND COMMUNICATING.
IT WAS IN LONDON I MET MY HUSBAND WHO WAS A GRAD STUDENT AT LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. HE HAD BEEN A GRADUATE OF BERKELEY AND INTRODUCED ME TO THE CONCEPTS OF CIVIL RIGHTS THAT HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN DURING THE 64 FREEDOM OF SPEECH MOVEMENT AT BERKELY .
THIS WAS ANOTHER BREAKING DOWN OF BARRIERS, SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT FROM THE COLONIAL AND POST COLONIAL BREAKING DOWN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. WIHIN THE EMPIRE HE DIVISION WAS INTO SELF GOVERNING COUNTRIES OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS RACE AND CULTURAL PRACTICES DENIED IN THE HEIGHT OF THE BRITISH EMIRES DOMINANT CULTURAL SUPERIORITY.
WE WENT BACK TO CALIFORNIA AND LIVED AT 49 SUNSET AVE VENICE BEACH. ANOTHER TIME OF CHANGE AS THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT WAS BEGINNING. GOING FROM PARTIES IN WATTS TO BEVERLEY HILLS THE WORLD I WAS SEEING WAS MOVING IN DIRECTIONS I HAD NEVER SEEN IN THE COUNTRY BUSH TOWNS OF AUSTRALIA. IT WOULD SWEEP PEOPLE OFF THEIR FEET AS THEY WORRIED ABOUT VIETNEAM, DRUGS WITH THE TURN ON TUNE IN AND DROP OUT MESSAGE AND THE SHUNNING OF MAINSTRAM CULTURE.
IT WAS AN AMAZING TIME AND THINGS WERE CHANGING.
STILL I FELT HOMESICK FOR AUSTRALIA AND THE CHANGES ESPECIALLY IN RELATIONSHIPS WERE TOO CHALLENGING FOR ME WHO HAD BEEN BROUGHT UP IN SUCH A FREE TO ROAM THE COUNTRYSIDE BUT BUT CONVENTIONAL LIFESTYLE. WE LEFT VENICE USA FOR ANOTHER COUNTRY BUSH TOWN IN AUSTRALIA. WE HAD CHILDREN .THE CHILDREN STARTED TO GROW UP BUT OUR LIFE WAS NOT SO SIMPLE. WE INHERITED THE RACIAL CONFLICT OF USA IN THAT SHEEP DOMINATED COUNTRY TOWN OF HAMILTON. OUR BABY NIECE OF BLACK AND WHITE AMERICAN PARENTS CAME TO SEEK REFUGE AT OUR HOME.FROM ORANGE COUNTY AND THE RACIAL CONFLICT OF FULLERTON HER ORANGE COUNTY NEIGHBOURS CERTAINLY DID NOT WANT THE STRING OF BLACK MEN WHO WERE VISITING MY SISER-IN- LAW. MY HUSBANDS SISTER AND HER DAUGHTER ESCAPED FROM A RACIAL HOTSPOT AND CHAOS THAT THESE NEW VIEWS WERE CREATING .THE CHILDS FATHER A BLACK MAN RECENLY RETURNED FROM MILITARY SERVICE IN GERMANY DID NOT WANT THE BABY.
MY SISTER-IN LAW AFTER A BREAK DOWN BECAME AN EXCELLENT NURSE MARRIED A CHINESE DOCTOR AND SET ANOTHER CULTURAL INGREDIANT INTO OUR LIVES. hOWVER MY MOTHERINLAW IN CALIFORNIA WAS NOT DOING TOO WELL ,THUS LIFE BROUGHT US BACK TO CALIFORNIA, LONG BEACH, THE GHETTO AREA , THE NEW IDEAS OF INCLUSION AND THE EXCITEMENT AND VIOLENCE OF INNERCITY LIVING.

MY HUSBAND WENT TO LONG BEACH STATE TO COMPLETE HIS TEACHING CREDENTIALS AND I BECAME INVOLVED IN THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNTY PROGRAM TO HELP THOSE WIHOUT THE OPPOTUNITY TO GET TERTIARY QUALIFICATIONS. A LEARNING TIME AND INSPIRATIONAL AND FULL OF HOPE. I ALSO COACHED TENNIS AT COUNTRY CLUBS WHICH WAS ANOTHER WORLD CLOSE TO BUT LIGHT YEARS IN DAY TODAY SURVIVAL FROM EACH OTHER.
WE RETURNED TO AUSTRALIA BUT THIS TIME TO INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA -A MISSION SETTLEMENT AT THE VERY TOP OF AUSTRALIA. THIS WAS OR HAD BEEN RUN LIKE A FEUDAL PRISON WITH TRIBAL AFFILIATIONS , CULTURAL ACTIVITES TO GAIN FOOD AND RESTRICTIONS LIKE I COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED . THIS WAS HAPPENING OR HAD HAPPENED IN MY OWN COUNTRY BY MY OWN PEOPLE TO THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS WHO LIVED THIS REMOTE RESTRICTED SIMPLE BUT OFTEN PLEASANT LIFE. I WAS TOTALLY SHATTERED BY THE REVELATIONS AND THE DISTURBING HISTORY THAT HAD BEEN SO WELL COVERED UP.
THIS WORKING AND LIVING WITH INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS FOR 30 YEARS NOW HAS TAUGHT ME SO MUCH AND MY HUSBANDS HIDDEN OSAGE INDIAN HERITAGE SHOWS HOW SIMILAR AUSTRALIA AND USA -CALIFORONIA AND THE MIDWEST OF USA IS IN ITS CULTURAL PRIORITIES AND RECOGNITION OF ITS CROSS CULTURAL HERITAGE.
MY LIFE HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF EPLORATION AND MY GRANDCHILDREN NOW ARE IN THE CULTURAL CHAOS OF CROSS CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS AND MAINSTREAM LIVING- NOT SO IDEALISTIC BUTMORE UNDERSTANDING OF THE REALITIES THAT FACE THE WORLD THEY LIVE IN AND THE PLANET THEY INHABIT.
FROM THE PIONEERING SPIRIT , TO THE CULTURAL INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION , TO THE SPACE AGE AND HOPE OF SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT OUR WORLD TODAY IS A DIFFERENT PLACE AND THE STRUGGLE HAS DIFFERNET DIMENSIONS AND PLAYERS WITH STRATEGIES, COMMUNICATION AND LIFE SO DIFFERENT FROM THE PIONEERING DAYS BUT STILL LINKED BY INHERITANCE AND BEHAVIOUR SO OFTEN SHAPED BY THE PAST AND CARRIED THROUGH BY FAMILIES AND SOCIETIES. IT IS THE UNTANGLING OF THESE HISTORIES THAT IS MY INTERST AND PASSION. .
THAT STARTED ANOTHER 30 YEARS OF EXPLORATION THAT HAS MADE MY LIFE SO RICH EXCITING BUT AT TIMES THE TRAGIC THREAD HAS UNRAVELLED MY CONSCIUOSNESS AND I HAVE SEE THE DESPAIR AND DARKNESS THAT CAN ENCLOSE A BEING AND STOP THE CREATIVE AND FULL LIFE THAT CAN BRING SO MUCH JOY , COMPASSION ANS LEARNING