CNN.com - Nature - Meet John Spencer, your new teammate
AustraliaQuest is an interactive expedition developed by Classroom Connect. For five weeks a team of scientists and explorers will examine the ancient culture of the Aborigines and attempt to determine how it affects their modern existence.
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When John Spencer bolted into the snake-infested bush, arms waving wildly, I figured he might have a screw loose.
But his wild undulations weren't in vain. Two hundred yards off the road, at the top of a mulga tree, sat a flaming orange-bearded lizard. By the time the team trudged to the tree, the lizard was long gone -- or so we thought. Then, swift as a cat, John rummaged through the weeds and yanked out the glorious 2-foot-long reptile by the tail. If it hadn't been for John's eagle eye, our group would never have spotted the shy lizard.
John's an Aboriginal man, but you'd never know it. With silver hair, a ruddy complexion, and square jaw, he looks more like Will Rogers than the dark-skinned stereotype we've come to expect.
But in Australia, it doesn't matter that John looks like a "whitefella." Everyone in Alice Springs knows that John, who has owned a cultural tourism business since the late '80s, has a grandfather from Scotland and a grandmother who was full-blood Arrernte Aborigine. This combination automatically classifies John as Aboriginal, which means, at times, a second-class citizen. Case in point: For all John's years in Alice Springs, not one of his white "friends" has ever invited him into their house for a meal.
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With typically keen insight, our newest team member tells us about his dual heritage and gives us his impression of the team.
"I grew up in the 1940s after the second World War. I was the third child of William John and Hilda Mary Walsh. The old man disappeared during the war and Mum had to bring us up. Mum died of cancer when I was nine. My great aunt and uncle then adopted my older sister and me.
My grandfather, he told me to never be ashamed of my mixed Scottish and Aboriginal heritage. But I get sad today because racism is more apparent. People have become very jealous of what Aboriginal people are starting to get -- things like jobs and education.
I feel sorry when I walk through town because when we were kids, Aboriginals would come into town once a year and do their Christmas shopping, buying new hats and clothes. Their mouths used to smile and their eyes used to twinkle. But today, the old people's eyes are so sad. I'd hate to be a young Aboriginal kid growing up today. There's so much pressure: drugs, alcohol, peer pressure.
Today, a lot of people are ashamed of the Aboriginals in town because they've lost all their self-respect and pride. The worst part is that most people coming through Alice Springs only see the small minority of drunks down by the riverbed. But most of those people are outsiders, not Arrernte people.
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In 1988 I started my own tourism business, called "Akaltye Antheme." It means, "I am a teacher" in central Arrernte. Over the years, I've hosted the presidents of Sweden and Switzerland, Burt Lancaster, "The Fonz," and the Rockefellers. I've made many friends throughout the world.
Still today, I believe that to learn, you must sit, look, and listen. Then you start to see it, you start to hear it, you start to feel it. I've been a great watcher for many, many years. It must be the Aboriginal in me.
I have to admit, setting up your trip to Alice Springs was a bit of pressure, but I think the Quest is one of the greatest things that has ever happened in this part of the country. You American school kids will learn more about the Aboriginal way of life than you ever could have before. I'm enjoying it more and more, getting to know everyone, but I'm still a bugger for learning names!
I just like to sit back and watch the Quest team. I like to watch how disorganized you are, walking around all sleepy-eyed all the time. I get a good chuckle out of your mob!"
Sharing Tales,
Stephanie and John
RELATED SITES:
AustraliaQuest
Classroom Connect
