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Claire G. Coleman

16 Sep, 11 tweets, 4 min read

Over the weekend, at #DesertMob in Mparntwe I had the privilege to hang out with Sarah Brown, from Purple House, an Aboriginal owned remote area dialysis provider. They operate 18 dialysis units in remote communities and 2 "purple trucks" purplehouse.org.au

Here's the thing. The federal and state governments had no interest in providing dialysis to Aboriginal people on community. Aboriginal elders in the Western Desert had to leave community, move to places like Perth or Alice Springs. The government said it would fail.

So, in 2000 a bunch of artists from Papunya Tula artists, who lived in Papunya, Kintore and Kiwikurra, ran an art auction to raise money. They raised an unprecedented $1M in one night and used that money to establish Purple House and build dialysis units.

They operated for about 18 years without government support. There was not even a medicare item number for remote area dialysis so they paid operating costs too. Recently the government established an item number for remote dialysis and only the Purple House use it.

They also have 2 "Purple Trucks", mobile dialysis units that can move to a community when numbers of people needing dialysis spike because of, for example, people returning to communities for funerals. All this funded by art and donations.

Now people whose community has a "Purple House" can return home, where they belong, to get treatment. Before Purple House was founded people from the Western Desert had the lowest survival rate on dialysis in the country, now they have the highest survival rate.

Now, they are trying to open a dialysis clinic in Balgo, the furthest from their base in Mparntwe they have tried to spread and they need $. It will cost them $1m to establish it and they are determined to achieve it. You can donate: purplehouse.org.au/contact/donati…

Also, Purple House make bush balms. Initially it was to heal people on dialysis but now they sell them to raise money for dialysis, they make a great gift, you can order them here. bushbalm.com.au

Lastly (probably) Purple House make really cute t-shirts which you can buy here: bushbalm.com.au/product/purple… (the artist with me in the first photo is Angkaliya Nelson from Ninuku Arts)

*Kiwirrikurra

Oh, and one last thing. When legendary actor Jack Thompson needed to film in Arnhem Land and keep up dialysis the Purple Truck came to the rescue.

abc.net.au/news/2019-02-1…

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More from @IndigenousX

Claire G. Coleman

@IndigenousX

18 Sep

I have heard my identity is being questioned elsewhere on the net so lets clear this up.

My name is Claire G. Coleman, I am Noongar, My family are from the Ravensthorpe area in south coast WA. My apical ancestor is Binian, I am a member of SWALSC with a registered geneology.

My land council, several important elders, prominent Noongar mob I am related to, my extended family, most of the nation and everybody with their brain switched on knows who I am, yet people are apparently questioning it somewhere. Just don't, it won't go well.

If you see someone somewhere on the internet asking who I am, like Facebook for example where I don't have an account, feel free to let them know who I am.

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Claire G. Coleman

@IndigenousX

17 Sep

I'm gonna come right out and say it. Cook did not discover Australia. Even if you discount the Indigenous people who have been here for more than 60,000 years. He followed maps here, because many other European navigators had mapped the continent.

Ships from all over Europe had been to this continent, from 1606. Particularly the Dutch, who had maps covering the north, west and south coasts. Anyone who doesn't understand Cook had access to those maps doesn't know history.

If you aren't aware of this you need to know that there are parts of the north coast of Australia that have Dutch names, that predate Cooks arrival and are still in use. Examples are Arnhem land and the Coen river. You could buy maps with those places on them.

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Claire G. Coleman

@IndigenousX

17 Sep

@HachetteAus

I think now is a good time to talk about my published longer works.

First up, Terra Nullius (@HachetteAus), winner of a black and write fellowship and a Norma K Hemming award. Shortlisted for the Stella Prize and an Aurealis Sci Fi Award. @arrjaydub
booktopia.com.au/terra-nullius-…

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Next up was The Old Lie (@HachetteAus). People said I would never get a "literary space opera" with Aboriginal protagonists published. I guess I proved that notion wrong with my second novel, right @arrjaydub . booktopia.com.au/the-old-lie-cl…

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Third long work published was The Mists of Down Below, winner of the @GriffithReview novella project and published in the print journal. Also available online to read here: griffithreview.com/articles/the-m…

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Claire G. Coleman

@IndigenousX

16 Sep

Mr Ward, respected elder, blew over the limit. Put in a police van & transported 4 hrs without A/C. Was literally cooked alive. No charges. If you left your dog in a car & it was cooked alive you'd be charged criminality. The AG decided there was no prospect of conviction. (1/10)

Ms Dhu died in custody of septicemia & pneumonia. Arrested for $2k in unpaid fines. A victim of domestic violence. Taken to hospital 2x but sepsis not detected & she was sent back to custody. Inquest found she was subjected to "inhumane" treatment by police. No charges. (2/10)

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Claire G. Coleman

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16 Sep

We are the only culture in Australia that requires we ‘prove’ our identity. We are also the only culture in Australia in which Govt policy required that we provide proof that we had severed ties with our family, kin in order to have basic human rights 1/7

Most of the suicides I respond to have identity struggles implicated in them. Today, I received a message that is not unlike many of the conversations I have across Australia but bought me to tears. It represents the damage that ‘proof of Aboriginality’ results in: 2/7

“Dear Dr Westerman I am studying psych & received an invite to apply for a scholarship with the Westerman Jilya Institute for Indigenous Mental Health & was so happy to see the application required a cultural reference rather than Confirmation of Aboriginality 3/7

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Claire G. Coleman

@IndigenousX

15 Sep

My Op-Ed was triggered by Fed Govt announcing it allocated $134M funding into Indigenous suicide prevention. Taking suicide mortality rates this crudely translates to $248,000 per suicide death annually – without adding State funding into the mix. (1/20)

tinyurl.com/ym44sst7

We have enormous amounts of funding for this critical area; yet suicides continue to escalate. Our Indigenous youth are dying by suicide at SIX times the rate of non-Indigenous children. It is only right that we ask why this level of funding has had little to no impact. (2/20)

I am not privy to how funding decisions are made and I have ZERO funding for my services, research or programs; but the gaps are sadly too clear and have been for decades. (3/20)

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