Archive for February, 2010

Thanks for clicking the link!

As a fellow tweep, I thought I should introduce myself instead of just linking you to the homepage of my site.

Tootable is the name I use for my business. It’s just me atm. Well, me and a few computers and coffee with like minded people now and then.

What do I do?

I make iPhone and iPad apps, play around with fun pieces of software and web related codey stuff, and spend way too much time on sites like Knol looking for answers to questions I could have found on a wiki or taken my own advice and L2Ggl.

If you’re checking this page to work out whether to follow me on Twitter, I generally tweet about the iPhone and iPad, ePub, and other internet and computer stuff that seems cool. I also have an interest in Indigenous Australia and work with the Mt Theo Program in Yuendumu (NT Australia), so I occasionally give shout outs to other random stuff.

Thanks again, and I hope you have time to check out the site.

Feel free to leave any comments below.

Liam

I’ve been developing iPhone apps since the App store released in Australia in the middle of 2008.

To view some more info on some of these apps, visit the iPhone Apps page.

I am now making iPhone and iPad apps with Tootable, Inyer­Pocket and AppBooks.

If you are interested in developing an iPhone or iPad application (or just after some advice), feel free to contact me.

As seen on ABC TV! Featuring Liam Jurrah.

DVD (with extras) and Soundtrack available from www.aboriginalrules.com

Aboriginal Rules is a documentary from Warlpiri Media Association, the producers of the original award-winning Bush Mechanics. It is a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the grassroots Aboriginal football experience that you may have heard about, but never seen before.

Aboriginal Rules follows a year in the life of the Yuendumu Magpies Football Team. Their season begins in the remote Central Australian community of Papunya where the battle lines are drawn in the red dirt of the football oval. The dust, hard knocks and chaos of a bush footy grand final are all part of the complicated inter-tribal rivalry that is played out when any two teams meet.

Where that old man talking on the microphone about the early days when they used to fight with spears and boomerangs is not so different to the footy fan holding a meat pie screaming his lungs out in the outer of the MCG.

Aboriginal Rules challenges many of the stereotypes of young Indigenous men portrayed in the mainstream media. The film is an oppor­tunity to share in the lives of young Indigenous footballers, whose dreams of playing in the AFL are less important than family and maintaining culture; and where being a proud member of a successful football team is closely linked to being a member of a strong community.

Aboriginal Rules is an invitation to discover what it means to be a young ‘Warlpiri Warrior’ fighting for a place in the team in a changing culture. And it also contributes to the ongoing debate on the origins of Australian football, as community elder Crocodile Johnson introduces us to purlja, a game like football that the Warlpiri have played for thousands of years. The culture might be 40,000 years old, but now the rules have changed, and football is the new Dreaming that holds the balance in young men’s lives.

A new version of an old ceremony has emerged in the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu. It’s called football. And it’s definitely more than a game.

Opening titles

For more videos and information, please visit the official website www.aboriginalrules.com

Produced by Rita Cattoni for Warlpiri Media Association
Written and Directed by Liam Campbell
Co-Directed by Francis Jupurrurla Kelly and Neil Jupurrurla White
Music by Big Bear aka Thomas Jupurrurla Saylor
DOP: Anna Cadden
16mm footage: Scott Duncan Films
Editors: Bradley Warden and Bergen O’Brien
In association with ABC Television 2006

Darby: One hundred years of life in a changing culture

Author: Liam Campbell
Photo­grapher: Scott Duncan
ISBN: 0733319254
Publisher: ABC Books 2006
Format: Hardcover and Audio CD
240pp

This enter­taining and educa­tional book (and CD) offers a view into an aspect of Australia rarely seen with this detail and sensitivity. The stories and artwork for which Darby Jampijinpa Ross was famous and revered are included. The book features photo­graphs by Emmy award-winning cinema­to­grapher Scott Duncan.

“That was how we were in the good old days.”

Born in the bush before White­fellas entered his country, Darby lived through a time of great change for his people and died the day after his hundredth birthday.

“Children. Oh, everything there! Women there, young girl; they kill ‘em whole lot there.”

Darby survived the deaths of his family in the 1928 Coniston massacre before travelling widely as a stockman, cameleer, drover and prospector. After assisting the war effort, he returned to his tradi­tional country northwest of Alice Springs where he became a much loved community and ceremonial leader. He gained recog­nition as a successful artist and a strong advocate for Aboriginal Law and Culture.

“We would paint them with ochre and feathers. We would say, ‘We’re going to teach you young­fellas so you can look after the country’.”

At Yuendumu, Darby became a strong supporter of the Baptist Church, a consultant for Parks and Wildlife and was the curator for the Yuendumu Men’s Museum. He was an enthu­siastic storyteller in Warlpiri and English and inspired others to follow in his footsteps.

“Old Darby had an idea. He cut these sticks and made ‘em like a little boomerang — little tiny clutch out of mulga (wood). He was really Bush Mechanic that old man!”

- Francis Jupurrurla Kelly.

An amazing life of good humour and willingness to share his stories of Jukurrpa (Dreaming), Law and Culture make him one of Australia’s unsung heroes. His contri­butions range across activities as diverse as television, sport, spirituality, natural history and art.

The voice of Darby Jampijinpa Ross represents the richness of Indigenous Australia.

“European peoples, Aboriginal peoples — we’re living in one lot, now. All family.”

Liam met Darby in 1989, and began recording his stories in 1995. Darby wanted them to be made into a book and they looked for support to expand the project to visit country, record further stories and create an archive of photo­graphs. Darby identified a small group of parti­cipants in the project. Darby’s nephew Thomas Jangala Rice was identified as kirda (owner) for the material and Paddy Japaljarri Stewart as kurdungurlu (guardian). Elders Jack Jakamarra Ross and Paddy Japaljarri Sims were also major parti­cipants. This model reflects Warlpiri codes for the management and dissem­ination of cultural information.

Darby’s story is also a record of the Warlpiri people and deals with the Indigenous experience in Central Australia in the twentieth century. Warlpiri Media and Warlukurlangu Artists provided community support and oversight of the project. A wide range of individuals and organ­isations took part and aimed to create a book that not only Darby could be proud of, but all people of Yuendumu would have an interest in, with historical, cultural, social and academic value beyond the Warlpiri community.

Reviews
(to read the full review click on the names below)

Darby is one of the first compre­hensive attempts at writing the biography of a tradi­tional Aboriginal man… The ideal formula is elusive: should the biographer write on Aboriginal terms or should the narrative be unfolded in strict chrono­logical form, much like a Western picture of a life? Campbell’s solution is to involve many other voices in his written tapestry and to borrow from European notions of multidiscip­linary research and Warlpiri communal ceremony-making practices. The portrait Campbell develops is unsparing in its details, yet shot through with deep and poignant affection…

- Nicolas Rothwell, The Australian

Liam Campbell seemed to have been highly aware of the tension between indigenous and whitefella storytelling in composing his biography of Darby Jampijinpa Ross, and doesn’t shy away from the relevance of social history to Darby’s lived experience: it’s right there in the subtitle of the book, “one hundred years of life in a changing culture.” His focus, though, is laudably on the Aboriginal culture and the life of a man within that culture as it encounters and adapts to the presence of Europeans in Central Australia.

- Will Owen, Aboriginal Art & Culture: an American eye

In this beautifully produced book, Campbell tells of his friendship with Darby, relates his stories and provides a historical context for Darby’s life.

- The Age

Short-listed for Community and Regional History Award, NSW Premier’s History Award 2007

Short-listed for NT Chief Minister’s History Book Award 2007

Darby Ross Memorial Cup — Yuendumu Sports Weekend

Make sure you visit Scott Duncan’s website and blog where you’ll find some great photos and films!

Other Films Expeditions

Emmy Award winning inter­na­tional Director, DP, Cinema­to­graphy and Photo­grapher Scott Duncan