2011 - Theses - Flinders University

White Lives in a Black Community: The lives of Jim Page and Rebecca Forbes in the Adnyamathanha communityTracy SpencerVolume Three Appendices:Creative Life WritingSection Three: Contact ZoneAnother song and then the new President of the amalgamated missions, Mr A.E. Gerard,gives his deputation address. Jim has heard it before, but is arrested by the sheer power,height and manner of delivery none-the-less. But today is special. Whether it had been Jim ora blue-arsed fly, Gerard would have held as a prize this first of the UAM missionaries. Hereads a lengthy list of greetings from around the country, which further underscores the reachand scope of the UAM. At last he announces the next hymn. As the congregation triesvaliantly to fill the cavernous space with angelic choirs, Gerard stands next to Jim, alternatelybellowing out the phrases and whispering confidential asides.‘You’ll be the first missionary inducted into the UAM you know! A dyed-in-the-woolUAM man. You stand for a mighty thing, son. A mighty work God is doing in this land.’And then: ‘You tell them about opening up the North-west. Thousands of lives to be savedthere. Thousands.’As Jim prepares to launch into the last verse, Gerard whispers: ‘You’re a UAM man. U. A.M. We’re united, all of us. United. For the Aborigine.’ Gerard rests his large hand on Jim’sshoulder. Jim holds himself tall, holding in the breath he has taken for the song. His feet standsquare on the soft carpet and his shoulders inch back a little. He closes his hymnbook andsings from memory, looking straight ahead.When the singers have resumed their seats, Jim stands at the central lectern. He tells themeverything. How his mother’s prayers led to his conversion, of his stumbling early attempts tolive up to his Saviour’s name, of how he feels the call to the Lord’s Service in Oodnadattaand the interior. He relives every moment of his camel trek as he describes it and barely70