Aboriginal Healing,
Sharing Culture |
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"Kanyini is best expressed in English as the combination of the two words ‘responsibility’ and ‘love’, but it is actually a relationship; it is an enormous caring with no limit - it has no timeframe: it is eternal.
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Kanyini is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning inter-connectedness; to care for, to support, to nurture and protect. Please check out the Study Guide for Kanyini, developed by Marguerite O'Hara, which is an invaluable educational resource.
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Kanyini, made by Melanie Hogan, is a story told by an Aboriginal man, Bob Randall, who lives beside the world’s greatest monolith, Uluru, in central Australia.
Based on Bob’s own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush, Bob tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for them to move forward. A tale of Indigenous wisdom clashing against materialist notions of progress, this is not only a story of one man and his people but the story of the human race. |
Kanyini: The four dimensions of aboriginal life
'The word Kanyini means responsibility and unconditional love for all of creation and it envelops the four principles of aboriginal life:
Tjukurrpa - Creation Period (or what non-aboriginals call ‘dreamtime’) Kurunpa - Spirit, Soul, Psyche Walytja - Family, Kinship Ngura - Land, Home, Place or Mother Kanyini is best expressed in English as the combination of the two words ‘responsibility’ and ‘love’, but it is actually a relationship; it is an enormous caring with no limit - it has no timeframe: it is eternal. Our purpose is to live with the Kanyini principles of unconditional, unlimited love. After all, that is what we get from Earth Mother; that is what we get from Sun Mother (female energy) and that is what we get from Moon Father (male energy). They look after everything - in the realm of caring by these two mothers, all are brothers and sisters! It makes everything so easy and so natural.' Read more... |
Personal Statement from film maker Melanie Hogan
"In late 2003 a tourist travelling in Australia once said to me, “You're just like most Australians, you know next to nothing about the history of your own country and the plight of the Aboriginal people.”
Thus the first seed for 'Kanyini' was planted and I became engrossed in Australian history. The results of my research horrified me. Massacres of Indigenous people and a generation stolen from their parents were just some of the wrongs that leapt out from the pages. I also soon realised that I did not have one Aboriginal friend. I wanted to rectify this. One of the first people I wished to meet was an Aboriginal leader named Bob Randall. During my research I came across his revelatory book entitled “Songman”. Here was an Aboriginal man, articulate in the ways of my world but also strong in the traditions of his own. His wisdom I thought had the potential to unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. I contacted Bob in 2004 via his publisher and he warmly invited me to his home beside Uluru. Within an hour of my arrival, I was listening to his songs of sadness and hope and his explanation of 'Kanyini'. I felt very blessed learning from him face to face and had no intention of making a film at all..." Read more... > The Importance of Land |