Giving birth was strictly women’s business in Indigenous communities – in some areas the woman in labour would lean against a ‘birthing tree’, in other places she would squat over a hollow in the earth lined with soft grass. Other women in attendance assisted with such pain relief as they are able, such as pouring cold water on the abdomen. When the child was born, … Continue reading Birthing on country: Indigenous midwifery and the Mt Margaret Mission

Yet let us ponder boldly, – ‘tis a base Abandonment of reason to resign Our right of thought – our last and only place Of refuge; this at least shall still be mine: Though from our birth the faculty divine Is chain’d and tortur’d – cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, And bred in darkness, lest the truth should shine Too brightly on the unprepared mind. The beam … Continue reading Ordinary people