Dark emu - it is returned!
You may or may not have seen our full page Andrew Bolt article eight months ago, we had the pleasure of being given the bolt treatment for our dark emu ~ dark lager beer.
It’s not really our style to engage in mud slinging nor did we really want to get caught up with Andrew Bolt but we penned a statement at the time, and if you interested in our dark emu journey here is our story….
Two years ago, I heard of a man called Uncle Max Harrison through our friend and collaborator Uncle Noel Butler. Uncle Max is the great grandson of the single survivor of the Milli Creek massacre which occurred on the Brodribb River.
Uncle Noel and his wife Trish told me of Uncle Max’s wish to hold a healing ceremony for the massacre and asked if there were any known descendants that would participate in the ceremony. My forefathers were among the first white people who farmed this land. I stepped forward, out of a wall of silence, out of a wall of denial and indifference. Once I stepped forward I couldn’t step back no matter how much I wanted to.
In late 2019, before the bushfires and Covid, around 60 Yuin and Ngarigo people led by Uncle Max conducted a ceremony for those who were lost in that massacre.
I went along, terrified, trembling, I wanted to run, but I just kept on putting one foot in front of the other until I was in a room surrounded by people - old and young - sharing their honest reflections, charting the impact of the massacre and healing. I was welcomed and treated with grace, I spoke and I listened, I cried and I was held. My family and I were asked to stay on for the naming ceremony of four young girls receiving their names that day, and I was offered this privilege for my own children.
I recognised Bruce Pascoe among the ceremony group. I had recently read his book Dark Emu, and had of course heard the criticisms of him and his work, but went away from that day with the understanding that he was deeply part of that community, as much as any with darker skin. I went away from that day full of raw emotion, but determined to be part of reconciliation no matter how hard it is. I wish every Australian could participate in a healing ceremony like this, in a spirit of truth and reconciliation.
About six months later we were put in contact with Bruce again through Uncle Noel. When we started talking about making a beer from Indigenous grains around the kitchen table with Bruce, he didn’t recognise us as the people who had been at that ceremony. When we told him who we were he was amazed at the great wheel of circumstances that had brought us together. The project felt like a homecoming to me.
Terry Hayes, a Yuin man who was one of the harvesters of the grain used in Dark Emu ~ Dark Lager also painted the image of the giant emu that graces the can. Terry doesn’t drink and neither does Uncle Max, but both are proud of the story on the can and the fact that a large proportion of the proceeds from the sales go to help Koorie kids finish their education. We are all proud of this project and feel that this collaboration demonstrates reconciliation between black and white. The beer and the story behind it are a conduit to a larger story. Not a story that is our place to tell, but one we should all listen to.
Like most breweries in Australia we dabbled in using native ingredients but always felt uneasy taking and using these ingredients without acknowledging and honouring the first people of this land. Like Bruce says ‘you can’t eat our foods without swallowing our history’. Sometimes that history is a very hard to swallow, it sticks in your throat, but unless we start chewing we’re never going to get anywhere together!
We still think Dark Emu is one of the most important Australian books written, as it opened our eyes to a different narrative, it made us think and want to learn more, it has changed our path in the world and we are proud of our role in starting conversations large and small.
Uncle Noel and his wife Trish told me of Uncle Max’s wish to hold a healing ceremony for the massacre and asked if there were any known descendants that would participate in the ceremony. My forefathers were among the first white people who farmed this land. I stepped forward, out of a wall of silence, out of a wall of denial and indifference. Once I stepped forward I couldn’t step back no matter how much I wanted to.
In late 2019, before the bushfires and Covid, around 60 Yuin and Ngarigo people led by Uncle Max conducted a ceremony for those who were lost in that massacre.
I went along, terrified, trembling, I wanted to run, but I just kept on putting one foot in front of the other until I was in a room surrounded by people - old and young - sharing their honest reflections, charting the impact of the massacre and healing. I was welcomed and treated with grace, I spoke and I listened, I cried and I was held. My family and I were asked to stay on for the naming ceremony of four young girls receiving their names that day, and I was offered this privilege for my own children.
I recognised Bruce Pascoe among the ceremony group. I had recently read his book Dark Emu, and had of course heard the criticisms of him and his work, but went away from that day with the understanding that he was deeply part of that community, as much as any with darker skin. I went away from that day full of raw emotion, but determined to be part of reconciliation no matter how hard it is. I wish every Australian could participate in a healing ceremony like this, in a spirit of truth and reconciliation.
About six months later we were put in contact with Bruce again through Uncle Noel. When we started talking about making a beer from Indigenous grains around the kitchen table with Bruce, he didn’t recognise us as the people who had been at that ceremony. When we told him who we were he was amazed at the great wheel of circumstances that had brought us together. The project felt like a homecoming to me.
Terry Hayes, a Yuin man who was one of the harvesters of the grain used in Dark Emu ~ Dark Lager also painted the image of the giant emu that graces the can. Terry doesn’t drink and neither does Uncle Max, but both are proud of the story on the can and the fact that a large proportion of the proceeds from the sales go to help Koorie kids finish their education. We are all proud of this project and feel that this collaboration demonstrates reconciliation between black and white. The beer and the story behind it are a conduit to a larger story. Not a story that is our place to tell, but one we should all listen to.
Like most breweries in Australia we dabbled in using native ingredients but always felt uneasy taking and using these ingredients without acknowledging and honouring the first people of this land. Like Bruce says ‘you can’t eat our foods without swallowing our history’. Sometimes that history is a very hard to swallow, it sticks in your throat, but unless we start chewing we’re never going to get anywhere together!
We still think Dark Emu is one of the most important Australian books written, as it opened our eyes to a different narrative, it made us think and want to learn more, it has changed our path in the world and we are proud of our role in starting conversations large and small.
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