Burning Oils • Heat & Dust

Rip It Up, Issue 124, 1 November 1987, Page 18

Burning Oils • Heat & Dust

Australia is gearing up for its bicentennial, but as the politicians begin to wave flags and mouth platitudes about the “coming of age of a vibrant young country," the musicians are beginning to ask what is there to celebrate?

Elsewhere in this issue Hunter and Collector Mark Seymour says the event is a “whitewash,” and ‘Bicentennial,’ the flipside of Paul Kelly’s new single, won’t win him any plaudits from Bob Hawke.

ence. Here, while New Zealand programmers run a mile from anything local that even hints at taking a stand, the Oils manage to break through such timidity and get a song like ‘Beds are Burning,’ demanding land rights for Aboriginals, all over radio and to the top of the charts. Break Ground ? Diesel and Dust was inspired by a groundbreaking tour the Oils made of the Australian outback to get a first-hand grasp of the Aboriginals’ struggle for land rights. They visited remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, -travelled through the desert and tropical regions of Arnhem Land, meeting with elders of the tribal groups and playing concerts to tiny settlements and communities. Although Midnight Oils’ songs are, with strict democracy, credited to all the band, the intense personality of Peter Garrett is always the dominating presence. From the band’s Sydney office, he discusses politics and Diesel and Dust with tireless articulacy, ever-ready to prosyletise. . “We’d been entranced by the whole outback area of Australia,” he says. “So when Ayers Rock was being handed back to the traditional people, and those people decided to make a film about it, there came an approach to Midnight Oil to write a song

But there is something to be said for the maturity of Australian culture. Many of their musicians, for example, eschew bland internationalism and wear their Australian-ness on their sleeves, and seem to be able to succeed doing it. Examples such as the Triffids’ woolshed recording or the very names of the Painters and Dockers or Hunters and Collectors reflect an awareness and pride in their culture, while avoiding trite patriotism or ra-ra jingoism. Midnight Oil seem to get more Australian with each album, but although their fans may throw their fists in the air, the Oils’ music doesn’t tell its audience to beat their chests about Australia, but question its faults. Their latest, Diesel and Dust, is a hard-hitting album of upbeat songs, most of which concern Aboriginal land rights. Both the music and the message are refreshingly accessible, with singalong melodies that reach back to a folk tradition, and upfront lyrics that speak with the candour of the committed. But instead of being consigned to a radio ghetto for political music, they succeed in bringing these issues and sometimes radical viewpoints to the widest possible audi-

about it, and that song was ‘The Dead Heart.’ They also invited us to Uluru — which is what Ayers Rock is now called — to play. “So after negotiations with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, we decided to do a tour called the Blackfella Whitefella tour with the Warumpi Band, to the remote areas of central and northern Australia, mostly to Aboriginal communities but also to some of the white towns. And out of that experience, which to us was fairly incredible to say the least, came quite a lot of the inspiration for Diesel and Dust. Some of the songs were half written before we went, but being out in the bush certainly brought a focus to it.” Shock While the Aboriginal communities were at first shocked by the power and force of the Oils in performance, afterwards the band and local people would settle down to share each other’s music. The band, on the other hand, were shocked by the poverty they encountered. “It was unbelievable,” says Garrett. “People are just living in shanties, they have limited supplies of fresh water. Their teaching facilities and basic standard living facilities are of a very low standard. There’s a lot of disease, especially among the kids, there’s a lot of glaucoma [the eye disease which blinded Ray Charles as a child]. Alcoholism and petrol sniffing are rife. The places themselves are incredibly remote and very inhospitable landscapes. It’s rough country — there’s no green grass or anything like you lot have got.”

Aboriginal land rights groups are becom-

ing more organised, says Garrett, but the situation differs from state to state. “In some states the Aboriginals have never lost their land, but in others they have never lived on their land. You’ve got urban Aboriginals, some of whom are relatively sophisticated educated people who are working. And you’ve got others who are bush people, who have lived out in the bush all their lives and can still remember a hunter-gatherer existence, and to whom white customs are relatively foreign. It’s an enormously complex task, and of course they don’t all share the same language either. “But I think the bicentennial is helping to come to a clearer picture. We've seen the emergence of some common claims by Aboriginal people which are being endorsed by some sections of Australian society, and that’s really their challenge: to get some kind of body that governments and white groups can talk to.” Hesitance Garrett, agrees with the hesitance expressed about the bicentennial elsewhere in this Oz-heavy RIU by both Hunters and Painters (“both bands are good value for different reasons’’): . “I think most Australians have got mixed feelings about it. But for people who have any kind of concern about the future and who are at all socially or politically aware, there’s an opportunity to focus on issues and not necessarily sailing ships and fireworks displays and statues.” One thing that strikes me about Australian bands as opposed to New Zealanders is the way they display their cultural identity. So strongly Australian are the Oils that it seems they’ve got a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to international success. “The Oils have always been primarily Australian. We've been touring overseas before and will do some more. But the band wouldn’t want people to confuse jingoism or mindless patriotism with national concern. But one vision of Australia is basically driven by the corporate desire to sell things, usually foreign products like Coca Cola and McDonalds. So probably people like Paul Kelly and ourselves and others are simply acting as either a conscious or sub-conscious creative response to that. “It’s a real onslaught here, and as you’d be aware, the Oils have never taken the subtle approach to things, we’ve always gone head on. But partly that’s because the forces we’re up against are very powerful, and we need to be like that." Unity The tact that the Oils have had very little turnover in their lineup reflects a unity within the band. “The big issues are not the kind of thing the Oils are going to disagree on,” says Garrett. And now with Diesel and Dust they’ve achieved a new level of maturity. The rich production, with strings and French horns, enhances the singalong quality of the strong, strident melodies and consistent political theme. “Jim Moginie and Rob Hirst are the Oils’ major writers, and I think that when they began writing, they were conscious of making an album that was quite focused, that didn’t go off in every direction. We thought, we want this album to be. about an experi-

ence we’ve had and to uplift people, as well as give them a bit of an insight into our own country. There was a desire of the writers to make it quite sweet, not so harsh, and to get that atmosphere of space and silence, and the earth and world that we found when we went out in the bush.”

The latest single ‘Beds are Burning’ discusses Aboriginal land rights: “The time has come / a fact’s a fact / it belongs to them / let’s give it back." Do you think your audience are taking it on board? “I hope so. I think it’s very difficult to judge or draw any accurate conclusions about what your audience does or doesn’t take on. It’s clear to me there’s a part of our audience that takes it on and cares about it and responds to it. And there’s a certain amount of the audience that doesn’t respond to it, and has their old attitudes intact. I’m not sure. But I can only comment from the mail we get, and the amount of requests for school projects."

Declaration ‘The Dead Heart’ is a song that’s central to the album. Sung from an Aboriginal's point of view, it’s a declaration of Aboriginal independance: "We don’t serve your country / serve your king / know your custom, don't speak your tongue.” “\Ne thought we were on fairly treacherous

ground, writing from their point of view. So we sent of a rough demo of it to the people who were doing the film. We got word back that they thought it was fine and that they thought it was a terrific song, and what were we worrying about, just get on with it. You’ve gotta take risks, and that’s what ‘The Dead Heart’ was, and I think it works for it.” The person in the song seems to want a completely separate existence from white Australia. Last century in New Zealand, there were thought to be three approaches to bicultural society: assimilation, isolation, and annihilation. Garrett thinks it’s arrogant to even talk about “answers” to the problems faced by Aboriginals. He makes three points, first that you can’t talk about development of a race, if they’re disadvantaged from day one. Unlike our Treaty of Waitangi, for what it’s worth, there was never a treaty made with the Aboriginal people — the only former British colony without one with the indigineous race. “The country was settled on a legal fiction — the fiction that there was nobody living there, that the land was empty.” So there was no compensation, which is now needed, plus an awareness that the land was taken by force. “Until they get a portion of it back, which would give them the ability to be economically independent, then any other question is irrelevant.”

Cultural groups can exist side by side, with tolerance, encouragement and commitment by the society for it to work. “I’m convinced that it can work because Australia is a society that in part reflects the multi-cultural aspect now,” says Garrett. “I don’t believe in separatism but I think the Aboriginal people have a right to exist separately if they choose." Cross Culture Also, says Garrett, “Aboriginal society and culture has a great deal to offer Australians. Our culture is a second hand, inherited culture, primarily from empires which are in decline. And theirs is a culture that has endured longer than any other. They have some values which we could very badly do with. Until we’ve got some kind of awareness by people of.that third fact, we won’t be able to co-exist easily.” - - > . . Some Aboriginal comrrTunities, such as those in the northern Arnhem Land the Oils visited, didn’t have their land taken off them. They’ve continued living off the land and now have mineral exploration projects happening that ensure they're in charge of their own destiny. “Those people- are quite happy. They take the bits of white they like, and leave the bits they don’t." . / . ' ’ ;•'

But in other communities where the land was taken away, the Aboriginals were rounded up and placed in what were essentially

concentration camps for 10 to 15 years, as part of the post-war assimilation policy. “Those 'people have only just gone out to their land for the first time, and most of them have been quite badly affected by living in a camp environment where there's been alcohol, where they haven’t been able to move about and live they way they have in . the past. It’s very difficult for them to reestablish that lifestyle and preserve the sacred values and the family way and the whole aspect of what is Aboriginal to them, from the . white fast-moving society — the televisions, the guitars. the petrol, the grog, the videos. It poses enormous difficulties for them, and it’s an open question as to whether they’ll survive it or not.” ' > - . . . Warning . ‘Bullroarer’ is quite a terrifying song, like a warning, but pleading "Take me back to my homeland." “The song is really just evoking: the whole feeling out there. The way the landscape and the.enormous space and brutality of the' land impinges on you. The bullroarer itself is a -traditional instrument you scare people aware with. When we went to'Kintore near the Simpson Desert, we stayed out there for some time with a group of people called Pintupi who have only just. returned and are the most ‘primitive’ group in Australia — the most traditional.’ J- “Those people gave us the very great and . rare privilege of actually sighting some of their sacred objects, particularly their lore sticks and other objects, which they’ve been carrying in their possession for some thous- < ands- of years. They’re very concerned they’re going 'to be poached, because they’d be absolutely priceless. But they took ? us to see these objects, and.l’m.not allowed - to mention anything more about that, we’re sworn to secrecy. '• “ ' v - ' v - . . “These people walk through the land and E live on the land, and they know Australia sowell.-; They've got dreaming maps and dreaming paths — everyone has some kind of internal spiritual road map of Australia, so ; old blokes can go walking back to their ancestral country, and they’ve never been there before, and yet they’ll know all the physical features of the land from the stories that have been told, from their dreams, from the enormous amount of legend and sacred history they absorb.” z .- Eviction While in the outback, Garrett visited an American intelligence base ‘near Alice Springs, delivering a “termination of lease” from the Australian people. He was invited in for a.chat, whereas when an Australian.senator visited recently he was arrested. Gar- ' rett’s public profile means he’s in a powerful position, but also in danger of being used by politicians — remember how David Lange made sure he got his photo taken with Billy Bragg — though Garrett thinks it’s unlikely: “No one’s endorsed me, and I’ve endorsed no one, let me tell you! “You’ve gotta remember that I’ve been a stringent critic of the Labor Party here. Never mind the Liberals, I can’t even think of ; anything decent to say about them: So the perspective of the people in this country is that the Oils are pretty extreme, with a hard line, radical view. But that just shows you how conservative Australia is.” . Garrett was recently a “token youth representative" on the Individual and Democratic. Rights Committee set up by Australia's federal government to examine changes to their constitution. “It made me aware that. a lot of people don’t know much about our constitiution. They probably know more about the Fifth Ammendment from Miami Vice." Abuse Towards the end of their career, the Clash got abused for a “rent-a-cause” approach to politics. But such cynicism doesn’t- bother • Garrett. “It’s much harder to do something positive. We say no to many issues. You can’t take them all on, but you can see good in all of them. The bottom line for us is simply, we’ve always had a very strong view'about our country and the dignity of our people and the kind of lives and opportunites they should lead and have. “The sad fact is there aren’t that many bands around — there are some, we’re not the only ones by any means, we try not to wave the flag too much — who are prepared to go out to bat. But at the,end of the day, these aren’t causes at all but attitudes?Andas well as that, Midnight Oil is a rock band — of its time, from its environment, with its own beliefs, performances and songs. Those things still remain very important to the band. This other stuff, it’s good to be able to do some of it and we don't do it for publicity, but because we think it’s important. But it’s not the core of what we do. At the core is our own attitude, our own feelings and motivations, our commitment to one another, the music and the performances.” So the Oils rock on and they intend coming over this way in March. But the talkfest isn’t completely over. Garrett has a book of his newspaper columns out soon: Political Blues.

Chris Bourke