Reflecting on Danae Andrea Harwood and How We Dreamed Then and How We Dream Now - 11am, Saturday, 23 September 2017
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| How We Dreamed Then and How We Dream Now - Danae Reflects on her Presentation Experience |
It was an absolute treat to talk about “How We Dreamed Then and How We Dream Now”. The magical Mentone Public Library was the perfect place to take the audience on a magical mystery tour of our Australian dreams, past, present, and future. Researching the topic turned out to be quite an eye opener.
We went on a journey that took us from A to Z - from the Aboriginal Great Australian Dream to the dreams of Generation Z.
In between we looked at the dreams of:
convicts, gold rush miners, immigrants, pioneers, prime ministers...
Baby Boomers,
Generation X,
Generation Y,
and Generation Z...
to name a few!
We also looked at some interesting approaches that people are using to deal with housing affordability.
We discovered that the Great Australian Dream of home ownership is very much alive and kicking, despite it being a challenging prospect today.
The audience members joined in, contributed comments, and seemed to enjoy the various visual aspects of the talk...including their Fortune Cookies handed out at the end!
Thank
you, Mentone Public Library, for yet another great opportunity.
And Here's a Reflection from the Vantage Point of Audience Member,
Paul Karp
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Paul stands, absorbed in documenting every facet of
Danae's rich and multi-layered presentation.
Visit Paul Karp's Poetry Website at:
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Danae gave today's audience a thought provoking
and well researched, well prepared presentation on the theme 'How we
dream now, how we deamed then'.
She began with pertinent quotes from her book
'The Writer's Runway - Writing info, insights & Affirmations' in
whichhe described writers as '...human dreamcatchers. They catch dreams
and put them into words', adding '...as a writer it’s my job to daydream
on a regular basis'.
The term 'The Great Australian Dream' is derived
from the post WWII 'Great American Dream'. Home ownership led to a
better life. Mowing your lawn and washing the family car on Saturday
morning while clothes dried on the Hills Hoist in a spacious backyard
was an aspiration shared by many.
Yet before and after post war Australia our dreams have often changed.
Our indigenous Australians who trans-migrated at
least 50,000 years ago lived according to their 'Dreamtime' laws.
They
lived their dream, to subsist and to preserve their environment. With
British colonisation came the loss of their tribal lands, widespread
slaughter and disease, social and cultural dislocation.
Their dream now
is still to return to their sacred land.
In contrast, all First Fleet convicts, crew and
officers wanted to do was return to England. Free settlers were the
first Europeans who aimed to live here to establish farms.
During 1850s gold rush times the dream was 'to
strike it rich' while living in a tent on the goldfields. Today we still
dream of striking it rich by winning a lottery, by getting a million
followers on social media, by writing a hit song or by publishing a
best-selling novel.
Fear of Chinese goldminers' success and later
fears of minorities taking jobs from whites resulted in 'The White
Australian Policy' by the early 1900s.
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| Danae explains the intricate symbolism of an indigenous material - its pattern representing family circles gathering to share a meal and their stories. |
But after WWII we needed migrants
for our economic survival and attracting migrants became a national
priority.
Nowadays, visa applicants, especially asylum
seekers, face a long and costly wait for permission to realise their
dream to stay in Australia.
Danae compared house affordability statistics in 1950 with those of today. She found that buying a house back then wasn't as easy as most people think - only one in five young couples had a chance. Surprisingly, wages and interest rates in the 1950's were comparable to 2017, but the challenge for young home buyers today is that the amount of deposit required has almost doubled, along with the average home price. This means that in 2017 about 76 weeks of wages is needed for a deposit compared to 40 weeks wages in 1950.
Danae illustrated how our dreams have changed
through recent generations, from the materialistic home-owning Baby
Boomers to 'thirst for global experience seeking while living in a tent'
Gen Y's.
Despite that, she concluded, buying a house is still more popular than overseas travel.
FEEDBACK RECEIVED FROM
OTHER AUDIENCE MEMBERS:
“Danae brought up many interesting and varied topics…food for thought.”
“It was excellent.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
"Danae should do her talk on radio as it would interest a lot of people."
Danae, on behalf of the Mentone Public Library team and attendees, thank-you for this extraordinary presentation. Rich with research, sensitivity, passion, you stripped back and magnified countless layers of the Australian Dream, tracing right back to Australia's traditional owners.
Utterly engaging, fascinating, entertaining and moving.
May you find further platforms to share this remarkable odyssey of Australian dreaming to new audiences.
To learn more about Danae's publishing achievements or to purchase her publications, please visit Danae's website:
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