Media Release
Mungo Man
21/11/2018
For the past 12 months Australia’s oldest human remains – an Aboriginal man who died at least 42,000 years ago – have been held in what has been described as ‘a box in a basement’ in an undisclosed location.
Known as Mungo Man, the remains were unearthed by geologist Jim Bowler from a dry lake bed in Mungo National Park in the 1970s.
Last year, after 40 years of Mungo Man’s skeleton being located outside of his home state, and four decades under the microscope, he was returned home and greeted by ceremony. More importantly, he was returned to his people and his country.
For 12 months now Mungo Man’s traditional descendants have been waiting for some sort of acknowledgement, by way of state or federal funding, to build a “keeping place, education centre” to honour our nation’s oldest and most historically significant story.
Mungo Lady’s remains, discovered by Mr Bowler in 1967, also originated from the world heritage listed region of Lake Mungo and sat in a vault for 25 years.
Mutthi Mutthi man from the Lanke Mungo region, Jason Kelly, said universities have offered funding to redevelop an old homestead in Willandra Park to turn into a research centre, but “elders again feel funding is found by parties in their own interests”.
“Elders have never been supported to meet on their own terms.”
This weekend, all three tribal groups from of the Lake Mungo region, the Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa, will have a representative in attendance at a panel discussion on Mungo Man on Saturday at the inaugural Fields Of Healing event, due to be held just outside of Byron Bay.
Jason Kelly is a guest speaker at the gathering and Professor Jim Bowler, the geologist who found the remains, will also be there.
This will mark the 12-month anniversary of the return of Mungo Man and coincides with Fields of Healing, an event which brings 13 elders from across the globe together with local elders and community; along with a plethora of musicians, artists and wisdom keepers.
Fields of Healing has been designed as a cultural convergence that aims to remove the barriers of race and religion and celebrate Indigenous world culture and the traditional arts.
When asked about the significance of the coinciding events, the 12-month anniversary of Mungo Man’s return and Fields of Healing, Jason Kelly he had this to say:
“This is an important time for our people. To come together and talk about the significance of this particular event. Our elders have spoken and it’s time to be their voice.”
Media Release
Fields of Healing 2018
November 2018
Fourteen Indigenous elders, speakers and musicians from across the world will gather in Byron Bay for the inaugural Fields Of Healing event in three weeks time.
These guests include:
- Uncle Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq (Greenland)
- Chief Phil Lane Jr. (USA)
- Dr. Mindahi Bastida (Mexico)
- Rocky Dawuni (Ghana)
- Matua Louis Te Kouarehua Kereopa (NZ)
- Ambassador Mussie Hailu (Ethiopia)
- Ambassador Anil Trigunayat (India)
- Darcy Demas (USA)
- Kristin Hoffmann (USA)
- Premik Russell Tubbs (USA)
- Lixin Chen (China)
- Tichawona Noble Mashawa (Zimbabwe)
- Ykson (New Caledonia)
- Sunil Chauhan (India)
Initiated by the Australian based Unity Earth, an organisation that has become a founding pillar in the global peace movement, the event will be held in the Byron Bay Parklands, November 24 and 25.
The event has been described as many things: a cultural gathering, a movement, a convergence, but ultimately – it’s a coming together of humanity aimed at dissolving the barriers of race and religion – a peaceful uprising of unity.
Unity Earth Executive Director Ben Bowler is the son of Jim Bowler, the archaeologist who discovered the oldest human remains of an indigenous Australian, Mungo Man. When asked about his motivation for convening this inaugural gathering, Ben explained that it was like a mystical calling.
“We felt drawn to the Byron Bay area, we just felt like something had to happen there. So we made the trip up and met with several local elders on country, one of them was Uncle Magpie.
“As our conversations progressed we learnt that Uncle Magpie had a vision, which he documented five years earlier, to create a cultural gathering on the Wooyung site (commonly known as North Byron Parklands), a sacred site for his people and one now designed to host the region’s biggest annual festivals, Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival.
“He had envisioned drawing indigenous elders from across the world to create a cultural celebration of ancient wisdom that featured a host of guest speakers, traditional arts, sacred rituals, music, dance and healing spaces.
“We were so pleased when we heard this, as the concept of this event wove in perfectly with our ‘Road to 2020’ project – a global series of transformational events designed to break down barriers and bring people together in a celebration and unity,” said Mr Bowler.
And so Fields of Healing came to life.
Designed as a unique family friendly cultural experience, the drug and alcohol free event is pitched to attract a small crowd of just 1500 over the weekend of November 24 and 25, 2018.
“Everyone is welcome,” said Community Director, Adam Collett.
“We encourage anyone who feels drawn to gathering around our elders, immersing themselves in ancient culture and learning from some of the world’s most highly regarded wisdom keepers, to come along and join us in creating this historic event.”
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased via the website: fieldsofhealing.com.au. Numbers are limited.
Media Release
Bohemian Beatfreaks
Nov 2018
Bohemian Beatfreaks festival is safe to run
Rabbits Eat Lettuce Pty Ltd (REL) is challenging a last-minute NSW Police decision to withdraw support and block the 3 day music and art festival, Bohemian Beatfreaks, which is due to take place next weekend.
Erik Lamir-Pike, the Director of Rabbits Eat Lettuce Pty Ltd (REL) and the organiser behind Bohemian Beatfreaks, said REL was confident the event will be run safely and that their history has proven this.
“We have a dedicated emergency manager on site who was in the Victorian police force for many years and our medical facility can accommodate pretty much anything.”
“We have successfully conducted five previous events at the venue with the support of police, NSW Ambulance, the Rural Fire Service and Richmond Valley Council,” he said.
“NSW Police have attended all previous events held at the site and had good things to say.”“In fact, a comment was made by a police officer in attendance at one of our events, held in April last year, that ‘it was one of the best days of my career’. They also said they ‘had nothing to do all day’ and would ‘definitely be coming back next year’.” Said Erik Lamir-Pike
In September 2015 Rabbits Eat Lettuce Pty Ltd obtained a five-year development consent from Richmond Valley Council to host two multi-day, music, art and camping festivals annually, just under 50kms south west of Casino on a private Kippenduff property.
Since consent was granted festival organisers have successfully staged five events, on the property with no serious incidents; including both the Rabbits Eat Lettuce signature event and the event in question, Bohemian Beatfreaks, due to be held November 23 – 25.
Mr Lamir-Pike said that, in the three-year history of REL running these events at the site there had not been a single ambulance transfer for drug or alcohol overdose
REL has a long history of actively working with the police to create a safe environment and has invited police attendance at the events.
However, at the festival’s pre-event meeting, organised by REL between their management team and NSW Police on October 26, Chief Inspector Cameron Lindsay advised REL that NSW Police would be withdrawing support for the event partially on the basis of a comparison with the festival and Defqon.1; a Sydney based techno festival where earlier this year two deaths took place and over seven hundred people sought medical attention.
“Our festival is a three-day camping festival, it’s one tenth of the size and very different to the DefQon.1 event in Sydney,” said Mr Lamir-Pike.
Spurred on by a short lead time, REL promptly launched into action to defend their position and proceedings began with the Land and Environment Court.
Prior to October 26 REL was, along with Emergency Management Consultant Ranwood Solutions, working with NSW Police and communicating with Local Inspector Douglas Conners relating to event safety. The parties had agreed on mitigation strategies and User Pay Police arrangements.
“It seems the NSW police are becoming opposed to dance music festivals across NSW. If this was a Barry Manilow concert I doubt this would be happening – NSW is becoming a nanny state,” said Mr Lamir-Pike.
Rabbits Eat Lettuce organisers have always maintained a collaborative, transparent approach to working with emergency services explained Mr Lamir-Pike.
“The safety of our guests and the surrounding community has and always will always be our number one priority, we take this responsibility seriously.”
“We are confident that the festival is safe to proceed and is adequately resourced by our emergency management plans, site security, medical resources, fire management plan, harm reduction processes and on-site facilities.”
The event, which features three fully themed stages and a line-up that includes a showcase of 20 international artists and a host of Australia talent has sold approximately 2400 tickets since promotion began back in November 2016.
Rabbits Eat Lettuce are now facing legal costs in excess of $100,000 due to the last-minute NSW Police action which may not only block but bankrupt the upcoming Bohemain Beatfreaks Festival.
REL have started a Go Fund Me page to raise funds to pay for the legal proceedings:
https://www.gofundme.com/bohemian-beatfreaks-2018
For more information see: bohemianbeatfreaks.com.au