Scroll to find the following stories . . .

Steve Brandt                   March 2022

Yanima  Bryant               February 2022

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Steve was one of our people. 

                 This is one of our stories.

 

 

STEVE BRANDT                                                                                               March  2022

The year was 1982.  The Darwin Young Adults group was doing a Theatre Restaurant as a fund-raiser.  We had practiced for weeks.  On the night, we transformed the Nungalinya College dining hall into a Restaurant with a stage and appropriate lighting and sound.  The room was chock-a-block full, with 80 to 100 paying guests enjoying their meal as they watched the show we were putting on for them. There were several songs and skits and even a melodrama of ‘Hannah, from Spanner Manor’.  The evening came together in a final comedy based on a Parish Council meeting.  It wasn’t difficult at all to make that a comedy, considering the wonderful people, personalities and relationships of the Northern Synod.

The Young Adults were dressed up as members of the Parish Council and that included three of us dressed as the three Darwin Uniting Church Ministers.  Ken Aitken, from Melbourne, was dressed as Nevin Vawser the then Minister at Darwin Memorial Uniting Church.  Nevin loved taking photos and so Ken had a camera hanging around his neck.  I was dressed as Bill Clarke, the enthusiastic Irishman who was the Minister for Casuarina Uniting Church. In those days, Casuarina Uniting still met in Anula Primary School on Sunday mornings.  Bill was renown for wearing safari suits, so I found a light green safari suit in an Op Shop, stuck mutton chop side-burns to the side of my face and practiced my best Irish accent.  The other Uniting Church Minister in town at that time was Ron Brandt, at Nightcliff Uniting Church. His son, Steve, dressed up as him.  Steve pulled an orange skull-cap tightly over his head and placed a pillow across his chest inside a tee-shirt to look like his big, strong father.   It was hilarious.  He also borrowed a pair of Ron’s shorts and his boots. 

At one point in the play, Steve was meant to stand up and say a few words.  When he pushed his seat back to jump up, unfortunately he went backwards off the make-shift stage and as he was falling, somehow Ken (as Nevin Vawser) and I (as Bill Clarke) caught him with an arm each and managed to fling him forward back onto the stage.  Flying through the air and landing on the stage, Steve with his orange skull-cap,  spontaneously called out, “Well shave my head and call me Kojak, I’m in charge now.”  I think that was the point where Ron leapt up from his seat and called out, “There they are.  I’ve been looking for my boots.  So that’s what happened to them.”  There was never a dull moment with those Brandt men around.

 My mate Keith Fagg, from Geelong, Victoria wrote a funny and clever script of the Parish Council meeting. He was working in the Church Office back then. It was an evening of great fun and a sense of togetherness.  There are people in Darwin today who still remember that night.  In fact several of us were in the Young Adults group.  It was a wonderful time in our lives and we did lots of fun things together.

At one point Ken, Steve and I did a soft-shoe shuffle as the three Ministers, with straw boater hats and sang “You and me can we be partners. . . . Together we belong.”  The evening ended with all of us young adults on stage, arm in arm, singing about the joys of belonging and being a part of the church.

That night is burnt into my memory as a mountain-top experience of friendship and happiness.

 

A few months later my good friend Steve Brandt died in a motor-bike crash on Bagot Road.  One moment he was here.  The next he was gone.  There are still days when I feel the grief of his loss wash over me.  I miss him.  Steve was a good bloke with a great sense of humour.  He had a strong sense of justice and a commitment to people who were struggling with life.  I think that must be a family trait.

A few years later I was visiting Ron, up on Lee Point Road and we were reflecting on that happy night at Nungalinya.  Ron had a photo of Steve in his office and he gave it to me.  I also took a photograph that day of Ron with my son Matthew.  If you visit me in my office you will see that photo of Steve on a shelf next to where I sit.  You will also see the photo of Ron and my son Matthew there as well.  I carry Steve in my heart every day.  Sometimes I go down to his grave at McMillans Road and sit there and talk with him like we used to so many years ago when we were young men.  I talk to Ron too.  And I thank God that he brought those men into my life.

It’s good to hold onto the happy memories.  It’s good to thank God for the people in our lives.  It’s good to enjoy time with our friends and family. It’s good to remember the stories from the past.

Steve was one of us.

He is one of our people

This is one of our stories.

 

Thanks be to God.

– Rev Tony Goodluck  –  Nangarridj  

– December 2021

– written on Larrakia land 

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Yanima is one of our people. 

                   This is one of our stories.

YANIMA                                                                                                                 February 2022

It was November 2017, and I was in the Anangu-Pitjantjatjara-Yankuntjatjarra Lands (APY Lands).  In many places the roads were covered in water and some roads were cut, even to four-wheel drive vehicles.

I was out, west of Kalka, in a four-wheel drive full of people. Our driver was the then Uniting Church, Education Support Worker for Anangu, a bloke named Wayne.  Our guide was Yanima, Darrien Bryant. Yanima’s partner, Renae Fox, and her family were with us on this day, too.

Yanima is a Pitjantjatjara man.  His mother’s grandfather’s country is around the South Australia and Western Australia border, near Irrunytju (Wingellina).  As we drove through that deeply spiritual place, Yanima pointed out various landforms and told us stories about waterholes and ancient people.  We stopped at one place and Renae gathered some berries and brought them to me.  “These are good.”  she said, “Here, try them.”  Indeed, they were good.  “Palya.” I said, “Wiru.” (‘Good.  Beautiful’)

A bit further on the car slowed and old man Albert Fox, signalled to pull over.  He had seen a Tinka, a large sand-monitor lizard, like a goanna.  Old Tjilpi climbed out of the car and together with his wife Yangi Yangi they split up and then circled around and tracked the lizard into a burrow in the desert sand. I made some silly comment to one of the other daughters, about it might be easier to drive to town and go to KFC.  She laughed, rolled her eyes and nodded her head in agreement.  About 40 minutes later Mr and Mrs Fox emerged, old Tjilpi holding up the now dead Tinka.  It would be their dinner for the night; and no doubt everyone would get a share.  A delicacy.

As we drove on again, I marvelled at the resilience and resourcefulness of the people, who were so in tune with the land and all of God’s good provisions.  I gazed out the window at the passing country.

“This is good country.” I said to Yanima.  He smiled his wide smile that lit up his face and the whole situation.  “Uwa. This is good country,” he replied.  “We got everything here!”

There was something in the way he said ‘everything’ that caught my attention.  He was telling me something very important.  The land provided, plants to eat and animals for food.  There were water holes in the hills for those who knew where to look; and stories, old stories, good stories, (tjukurpa palya), that spoke about a sense of belonging and connection.

Yanima grinned again, “Uwa Palya.  We got everything here.  Not like Darwin; there’s nothing in Darwin.  But here, we got everything!”  Wow.  That’s what you call perspective.  I happen to think that there is quite a lot to be thankful for in my home-town, Darwin, but Yanima was telling me something profound and important.  This place we were in had sustained his people for thousands of years, with all their physical needs and all their spiritual needs; and it was still sustaining and nurturing the people.  They saw God’s good hand reaching out to them and providing all they need, now and into the future.

Over the years since that day, I have met with Yanima on the Lands, in Alice Springs and in Darwin.  He has continued his theological study and been approved to be commissioned as a Pastor.  We have become friends.  Between us there is a delightful understanding about the country of Yanima’s ancestors that provides everything.  We retell the story of that day together and when one of us says, “We got everything here.” we smile at each other and our eyes sparkle. It is good to be reminded that our Creator God has been in the land and with the people for many thousands of years before the Piranpa (white people) came, providing everything needed for life to flourish.

In October 2021, I found myself again in a Toyota 4×4 driving through that wonderful country.  Yanima wanted to show me and my travelling companion Mark Kickett the sunset from his mother’s grandfather’s country.  Mark is the National Chairperson of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and we were visiting to listen to the people about their challenges and their hopes for the future.  Standing on top of a hill and looking westward as the sun set behind a mountain range, Mark said, “This is good country, Yanima.”  to which Yanima replied, “Uwa. Palya. We got everything here.”  We laughed together and we all knew that it was true.  The extraordinary beauty of that sunset and the serene peace and deep joy on Yanima’s face, is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

There are many challenges for the people in the western parts of the APY Lands.  Health challenges, economic challenges and the challenges of the ever-encroaching Piranpa with his lust for land and minerals.  Nevertheless, on that balmy evening with a cool breeze coming across the valley and blowing through the desert grasses and our hair, time stood still; and I saw before me, a humble and faithful man right where God wanted him to be.  A man called to lead and care for his people.

It’s good to name and recognise these moments in our lives.                     

It’s good to thank God for the people in our lives.

It’s good to remember the stories from the past.

Yanima is one of our people.  This is one of our stories.

Thanks be to God.

–  Rev Tony Goodluck  (Nangarridj)          –  written on Larrakia land