Dr. John A. King tours the new artist-in-residence retreat at Monroe Park, a solar-powered schoolhouse with gardens and hammocks, then discusses how a major Australian corporation wants to fund genuine reconciliation projects with Indigenous communities instead of just talking about it.
Absolutely beautiful. It's a bit bloody cold, but here we are in Moslar. Sun's coming up. It's going to be a great day. Here's the cottages and where we're staying on the farm. It's a wonderful place. So tranquil, so peaceful. You can hear the kookaburras in the background. It's just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. So here's the cabin we're staying in. It's, uh, it's an old schoolhouse from back in the day. The art is just incredible. There's Mel making friends with a totally random dog. And, um, so the artwork is beautiful. Teddy does everything with excellence. The kitchen's perfect and It's just a great little cabin, and this is just some of the most amazing art. It's just beautiful. And here's a view into the veggie garden, which is extensive, and the chooka chookas are down the back. More art. It's got a great Bedroom. Oh, what's going on here? Yeah, it looks like Mel's just brought the random dog in. You're a good one, babe. Well, that's it for today then. This is a new, uh, artist studio at Munro Park where, uh, writers and painters can come in and just stay. For a couple of days and just get the creative on. Absolutely beautiful. And so it's going to be a kitchen in the back, a couple of hammocks out the front, off-the-grid solar, and, uh, it's just going to be an incredible, incredible place. Teddy Grant's building out here. Absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. So we had a very interesting call yesterday with a very large company, one of Australia's largest, and they've got a great desire to— for reconciliation amongst the Blackfellas and fund projects that are going to help community, touch lives, and make a difference. And so we were able to present 3 or 4 projects to them, and they're all very receptive to them, and they're open to us playing a role in helping bring those things and facilitate a liaison between community and corporate, which I'm just astounded at. It's just such a wonderful place in Australian history where corporate would be actively wanting to reconcile. With Indigenous people, but in a very positive and proactive way. And I think it holds a lot of tremendous possibility for genuine reconciliation, reconciliation beyond rhetoric and boots-on-the-ground stuff. So it's fascinating, absolutely been a fascinating couple of days already. And, um, we're on bloody day bloody 2 of 4 bloody months. Cheers.
