Balanda: My Year in Arnhem Land

by Mary Ellen Jordan

This place used to be called Mang djang the place where the Dreaming changed shape. And then the Balandas arrived, pale people from different places with tongues that couldn't make the right sounds, and these words became Maningrida. Now it is the place where the Dreaming mutates, might wither and die, might implode or explode or combust. This is unlike anywhere else I've ever been. Mary Ellen Jordan left her Melbourne city life to spend fourteen months in Maningrida, a coastal community in Arnhem Land. She made the journey expecting to work alongside the local Aboriginal people, with good intentions and thinking she'd be of some use. But nothing, it turned out, would be that simple. Staring across the sharp social and cultural divide between the two races, Jordan would struggle to learn what it was to be a Balanda in Maningrida a place that would challenge her perceptions of race, culture, political correctness, art, language, and whiteness. This is a moving story told with both boldness and a lightness of touch by a talented new voice in Australian writing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Travel

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Vi · Rating 3 out of 5]

What drew me to the book was that it was focused entirely on Mary Ellen’s experience in Maningrida. I've been fortunate enough to visit Maningrida many times, so I was really intrigued to read her perspective on the Community.

I felt sad that she didn’t have a very good experience in Maningrida. To me, Maningrida is so beautiful (the place and the people) and there is so much to appreciate and love. She focuses heavily on the negative aspects but props to her as it does take a lot of courage to speak openly about things that are often pushed under the carpet or dismissed.

Mary Ellen was in Maningrida over 20 years ago, and it's heartbreaking to see that the challenges they faced back then are still very much present today. I may not agree with a lot of her views, but I value hearing different opinions, and I genuinely enjoyed reading her perspective.

[Rocio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose to read this book because I was looking to know more about the way of living of aboriginal people in Arnhem land. It gives some insight but it doesn't develop that topic much. It's about the author's experience living in Arnhem land for one year and working at an art centre alongside aboriginal people. Even though they worked together white and aboriginals live in separate worlds and never get to really know and understand each other.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking coverage of consecutive state and commonwealth government sponsored attempts to fix 'the Aboriginal problem' in West Arnhem land.

[Annie]

A bit of a complicated but one-sided read.

[Rose Mccrink · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this book at all, if hadn't been for both ok club would not have finished it

[Jane Routley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balanda is the word the aboriginal people of the Northern Territory use to refer to non-aboriginal people. Like many a well meaning person before her, Jordan set out ot work in a coastal aboriginal community hoping to make a difference, and assumed she'd be working alongside aboriginal people. As she describes in this book, she finds the reality quite different. It took me a while to warm to this book, becasue at first Jordan seems so stiff and the books seems so like a something from a writers workshop. But form follows story here. As Jordan begins to question her role in Arhnem land, the prose becomes less worthy and I read the whole thing with great interest during a 3 hour plane flight.
It was good to get some insight into the situation at places like Madingreta. I imagine things have changed with the change of government policy but probably not that much. In many way this is a disquieting book becasue its clear that the system is undermining its own goals and at the same time its difficult to know what system might work better. You are left feeling angry and confused. So much money is thrown at their problem and yet aboringianl people still no access to services that other ordiany Australians such as healthcare and security and education. For instance, why in this day and age are so many aboriginal people illiterate? They are often badly taught but they also often see no value in education, and why should they since often it does not improve their lot? And if they don't get paid more than their fellows on the dole, to do boring low level work, why work? This seems a very normal human reaction. Where are the aboriginal nurses and teachers and arts curators? Why does all this government money just go to hiring more Balanda?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I too am a Balanda linguist living in Maningrida. A lot of my experience is different in ways that seem to contribute to the author not really loving her time in the community- eg I don't live alone and don't have a history of family violence which may be why it's literally never crossed my mind not to walk around town on 'wet' weekends. I also try really, really hard to form social networks with Indigenous locals rather than other Balanda (it is indeed really, really hard!)

Despite some big differences, she articulates many of my own thoughts about the paternalistic nature of race relations in Maningrida and I fully identify with her paralysing philosophical doubt about whether my job (like hers) of preserving language and culture is actually a net gain when weighed against the fact of my (and all Balanda's) very presence!!

On balance I would recommend this book as a good, if incomplete, insight into some of the "problems" faced by Maningrida ...which is unfortunate given the book is 20 years old and still relevant! I would not recommend it as a complete picture of Maningrida culture as plenty of (nearly all!) positives are overlooked (maybe the author didn't see the positives because she spends all her free time inside her house 🤷😅)

[Scarleth Castro-Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed every bit of it, knew that with every page I would learn something new. Incredibly challenging thoughts spring from reading it. Such complicated stories, systems and connections. I really hope white Australia becomes a thing of the past and that Aboriginal peoples are recognised for who they are, and no longer seen as atypicals.

[Diana Heme · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it, another adventure