July 11, 2024 • 14 mins
Ross McGregor, talks about NAIDOC week. Ross also tells us how he found about his indigenous heritage at the age of 32
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S1 (00:15):
On Vision Australia Radio this is Vision Xtra with Peter Greco.
S2 (00:23):
The start of the week and I'm really excited and
a real pleasure to welcome to the program Ross MacGregor
who's on the line. Ross, thanks for your time. Really
appreciate you speaking to us. Yeah. Thanks, Peter. Yeah. Tell
us a bit about, uh, no doc week and what
it means to you. Yeah, well, a No dog week
is a celebration of Aboriginal culture and history, and, um,
they have a series of about ten awards that they
(00:45):
make each year to acknowledge various people in the, in
the community. They have, like a person of the year
award and Life and Culture award, male elder, female elder
youth award, uh Creative Arts and another three four. There's
about ten in total. So they they acknowledge the achievements
of Aboriginal people in those fields over the last year. And, uh, yeah,
(01:09):
just a part of, um, keeping the Aboriginal culture strong
and acknowledging achievements and, uh, you know, talking about what
needs to be done to continue it. A big event
in Adelaide during the week when some of those who
winners were announced, which was really great and I guess,
you know, given some of the stuff that goes on
in the community, it's great with some positivity can be
(01:30):
kind of brought to the limelight. That's right. Yeah. Well
they as I said, there are ten awards. So they acknowledge, uh,
those ten people who have achieved great things. And uh,
of course, the idea being that the that work will
continue and continue to improve things. You know, for Aboriginal
people in general, you're happy to share a bit of
your story. Ross. Yes. Yeah. Tell us a bit about, uh,
(01:53):
maybe your early days. Yeah. Well, uh, when I was, um,
eight years of age, I lost my sight. I had
a thing called a detached retina, and that I went
to a school for blind kids in Sydney, a place
called Wahroonga. And then that moved to um North Rocks
in Sydney. And uh, I left school at 17 and uh,
(02:17):
at that stage I was going to work as a
physiotherapist and I had to go to London. And, uh,
one day my mother was talking to me about when
a woman is pregnant and how during the pregnancy of
the baby moves around and kicks and that sort of stuff.
And the thought of that, I fainted and I decided
(02:39):
a medical career wasn't for me. So, okay, I've upped
the physiotherapy and, uh, went into music. I started playing
as a musician and then, uh, later on I had
a recording studio, uh, for about 25 years. And so
these days I'm still, uh, doing recording. I've got a
small home studio, and I play the piano at Umhk
(02:59):
Homes and entertain folks. And I really discovered my aboriginality
when I was about 32, and my father told us
that my great grandmother was a full blooded Aboriginal woman,
and it was mostly oral history that we had about her.
And because back in those days, if if there was
(03:22):
an Aboriginal person in the family, they it was something
that you kept quiet or that you would be ashamed of.
So you'd say something like they were Indian or Fijian
or something like that. And um, so, um, we had
a lot of oral history around that at the time,
and it sort of went from there. It's kind of interesting,
isn't it, Ross? Because, I mean, we're not talking all
that long ago that that was the kind of attitude.
(03:44):
So I guess in many respects we've come a long way.
I mean, some might argue we haven't come far enough,
of course, but as I say, it's kind of interesting
that attitude, and not so long ago was sort of pervasive.
Pervasive as far as the Australian white culture went. Yeah. Well,
it's it's still it's still a bit like, well, quite
a bit by that today in terms of if I
(04:06):
had a friend and if I was just talking about
the normal things like politics or sport or culture, that'd
be okay. But if I started talking about Aboriginal things
like our history or our culture or Stolen Generation or
Invasion Day and all those things, a lot of people
(04:26):
are like, oh, well, I don't want to talk about
that stuff. You know, I'd, I'd like to be a friend,
but I don't want to talk all that Aboriginal stuff,
you know, just let's talk about sport and politics and
all those things. And so a lot of people still don't,
don't really want to know the, the Aboriginal side of
the story. You know, they they'll say things like, oh,
well that'll happen 200 years ago. And, you know, it's
(04:47):
time to move on and time to forget it. And
so there are a lot of white people who really
need to know more about our history and our culture. And, um,
they're talking about setting up a truth telling commission. Well,
you know, boils down to it's just a matter of truth,
and it's not a matter of blaming people and blaming
white people and saying they're guilty and there's no guilt
(05:08):
involved because, like, it wasn't you that did it. It
might have been your great great grandfather, but it wasn't you.
It's just a matter of being truthful about our history,
being honest about it. And, um, that's really would then
bring a lot of, I think, white people into a
better understanding of what happened and just our point of view.
It's interesting you talk about the oral history, Ross, because
(05:30):
that is so fascinating. And it's such a, you know,
a cool thing how, um, sort of customs and generations
have handed down different things in different areas, whether it
be food, whether it be kind of medicine. Just, uh,
some of the, the stories that, uh, you know, that
have been handed down. That is such a wonderful thing.
And in a sense, the fact that it's oral kind
(05:51):
of even makes it more interesting, if I can put
it that way. Yeah. Well, we've got to remember that, uh,
Aboriginal culture has been here for 50,000 years. Yeah. So
that's like you could say, well, that's 2000 generations. Um,
and so it's been held that long. And so, of course,
it's continued to be held since, you know, 1788 and, uh,
in the same way that it was passed on for.
(06:12):
You know, for 50,000 years before that. So it's still
kept very strong. And a lot of Aboriginal people still
believe very much in the culture. But of course, that
doesn't mean that we go back to, um, living in
a tribal way and all that. But still, it's, uh,
valuing the spiritual side of our culture and the, um,
(06:34):
the philosophy. Because if we we lasted 50,000 years. Well,
you'd have to say we must have had a very
good philosophy of life, and we must have had good
values and principles and ethics, you know, to to when
you consider that we live through an ice age about
10,000 years ago. And we came through that. And so
we still do have a very strong philosophy or ethics
(06:58):
or value system, you know, that, um, a lot of
Aboriginal people want to hang on to. There is such
a great point. I mean, obviously their care for the planet, uh,
and their, you know, their ethics, the fact that the
sort of society has continued for that amount of time uninterrupted,
you know, you've got to have been doing something right,
something that we can all kind of learn from. Well,
that's exactly right. Yeah. It's, uh, it's still a it's
(07:21):
a culture that I've, I believe very much in. And
the culture was based on all things. That was the
principle of respect and the principle of custodianship, uh, extended
family kinship system. And then the spiritual law, uh, they
were the four main elements. And even though the there
are quite a lot of Aboriginal people these days who
(07:42):
have lost contact with our culture, or they have a
slight attachment to it because it was discouraged, you know,
for 100 years or more than we even have our
ceremonies or this sort of thing. So but a lot
of Aboriginal people still do have a strong connection, and
others sort of have a slight connection, but it's really
(08:02):
about being able to make that strong connection again, particularly
with the philosophical side of it. They would help a
lot in our lives, you know, today, Ross, can you
kind of remember your reaction at the age of 32
when your dad spoke to you? Can you kind of remember?
I thought it was it explained a lot of things
because I was always very interested in Aboriginal culture. I
(08:24):
was always very my father would often read stories out
of the newspaper to me. Obviously he knew at that time,
but I didn't know. But, um, yeah, I always had
that attraction to it. And it's it's a thing that
when you know about that connection, like, for example, in
my family, I've got three brothers and, um, they couldn't
care less. And I've got a sister who is very
(08:47):
attracted to it as I am. So in the family,
a different people will react in different ways. Some people
find it very interesting and want to pursue it and
learn about it and develop it, like me and my sister.
But the others, like my brothers, they just think, oh well,
so what? And go on. And so it just depends
whether you feel an attraction to the, you know, you
(09:09):
feel drawn to the culture or to the knowledge and
say some people do and some don't. You know, it's
just a personal thing. Ross what about the fact that
obviously your vision impaired as well? Does that kind of
play into it at all, or do you think that
kind of, um, totally incidental or incidental thing? I'm thinking
of terms of your respect and your insight into, you know,
(09:31):
indigenous culture. Yeah. Well, it's hard to say, really. I
suppose it would have, you know, some effect, but I
can't really describe that. Really. Or, um, you know, how,
how it would, but I suppose obviously it must have some. Yeah.
It's kind of good in the fact that you can't
describe it. That kind of makes it even more, uh,
sort of unique, if I could put it that way.
You know, sometimes the things you can't describe are even
(09:52):
more precious than the things you can't. That's right. Yeah.
It's just like it's a feeling, you know? And, um,
it's just like an a knowledge or a knowing thing
or or like a gut feel. They say things like that,
you know. So he talked about the respect. And I
think one of the things that is just so, so
admirable is the respect for elders, you know, like, uh,
(10:13):
maybe something that we can all not maybe something we
can all certainly learn from. I mean, I know, uh,
you know, at the moment, actually, there's, uh, elder abuse and, uh,
tackling ageism campaigns around at the moment, uh, through a
lot of the media and, you know, the way that, uh,
the indigenous culture kind of respects their elders, we can
kind of learn a lot from that. And, you know,
(10:34):
something that, uh, you know, we're sort of catching up
on in a sense. Yeah. Well, in principle, I respect
in applied to, uh, as you say, the elders, but
also to the law and to the country, and you
had to look after your country, which is like your
tribal area and a lot of Aboriginal communities these days.
(10:55):
You know, we hear a lot of stories about problems
going on and a domestic violence and alcohol and this
sort of thing. And I think it's because a lot
of those people have lost touch with our culture, and
if they could be brought back and to be reconnecting
with our culture, um, those principles of respect are taught,
you know, and then they would then do a lot,
(11:16):
I think, to healing the problems that are occurring with
that within our communities now. Or you hear about it
on the news quite a bit, and domestic violence and
alcohol and so on. And, um, we had to bring
that principal because the, the main aspect of respect is
respecting yourself. That is the the main plank of the,
of that philosophy is to learn to respect yourself. When
(11:40):
the young men in the tribe were training to, uh,
go through law and become, uh, warriors, the elders would
tell them that an angry man is a weak man.
So if you lay yourself to get angry and have
those negative emotions, you're just weakening yourself. And that's a
part of respecting yourself. Meaning that you don't allow yourself
(12:00):
to be brought down. And, uh, I think if many
of the people in our communities now could be able
to reconnect with that culture in that way, uh, it
would do a lot to heal a lot of the
issues that are currently there. See, that's a powerful phrase,
isn't it? An angry man is a weak man. That's right. Mhm.
It kind of says so much, doesn't it. Although there's
just so much about respecting yourself. And as soon as
(12:22):
you have negative thoughts, you know, you are being hard
on yourself or criticizing yourself or downplaying yourself. And that's,
that's the exact opposite of respecting yourself. Hey, Russ, we're
running out of time. And I made this a little
bit tongue in cheek, but given what you've achieved in
your music career, your recording career, etc., you must have
been glad you didn't choose physiotherapy. Um, yes. I think
(12:45):
probably the school where I was going to go and
learn it. They were probably glad I didn't turn up.
Oh Ross, that's amazing. Thank you so, so much for
speaking to us. We could have spoken for hours. And
you know, I love tapping into the wisdom that people
like you have. Thank you for sharing just a little
bit of your story with us. Uh, it is an
important week, and it's an important week that we should
(13:07):
all kind of respect and really take notice of and
take notice and the sort of things that you've spoken about.
So thank you for sharing that with us, and we
wish you well. And it'd be good to maybe catch
up with you again in the future. Okay. Thanks, Peter.
Thanks very much. It's Ross McGregor. Wow, what a privilege
that was talking about today, Doc Week.
S3 (13:24):
Thank you for listening to Vision Xtra with Peter Greco.
You can find this interview on the Focal Point podcast.
This show was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio.
On Vision Australia Radio this is Vision Xtra with Peter Greco.
S2 (00:23):
The start of the week and I'm really excited and
a real pleasure to welcome to the program Ross MacGregor
who's on the line. Ross, thanks for your time. Really
appreciate you speaking to us. Yeah. Thanks, Peter. Yeah. Tell
us a bit about, uh, no doc week and what
it means to you. Yeah, well, a No dog week
is a celebration of Aboriginal culture and history, and, um,
they have a series of about ten awards that they
(00:45):
make each year to acknowledge various people in the, in
the community. They have, like a person of the year
award and Life and Culture award, male elder, female elder
youth award, uh Creative Arts and another three four. There's
about ten in total. So they they acknowledge the achievements
of Aboriginal people in those fields over the last year. And, uh, yeah,
(01:09):
just a part of, um, keeping the Aboriginal culture strong
and acknowledging achievements and, uh, you know, talking about what
needs to be done to continue it. A big event
in Adelaide during the week when some of those who
winners were announced, which was really great and I guess,
you know, given some of the stuff that goes on
in the community, it's great with some positivity can be
(01:30):
kind of brought to the limelight. That's right. Yeah. Well
they as I said, there are ten awards. So they acknowledge, uh,
those ten people who have achieved great things. And uh,
of course, the idea being that the that work will
continue and continue to improve things. You know, for Aboriginal
people in general, you're happy to share a bit of
your story. Ross. Yes. Yeah. Tell us a bit about, uh,
(01:53):
maybe your early days. Yeah. Well, uh, when I was, um,
eight years of age, I lost my sight. I had
a thing called a detached retina, and that I went
to a school for blind kids in Sydney, a place
called Wahroonga. And then that moved to um North Rocks
in Sydney. And uh, I left school at 17 and uh,
(02:17):
at that stage I was going to work as a
physiotherapist and I had to go to London. And, uh,
one day my mother was talking to me about when
a woman is pregnant and how during the pregnancy of
the baby moves around and kicks and that sort of stuff.
And the thought of that, I fainted and I decided
(02:39):
a medical career wasn't for me. So, okay, I've upped
the physiotherapy and, uh, went into music. I started playing
as a musician and then, uh, later on I had
a recording studio, uh, for about 25 years. And so
these days I'm still, uh, doing recording. I've got a
small home studio, and I play the piano at Umhk
(02:59):
Homes and entertain folks. And I really discovered my aboriginality
when I was about 32, and my father told us
that my great grandmother was a full blooded Aboriginal woman,
and it was mostly oral history that we had about her.
And because back in those days, if if there was
(03:22):
an Aboriginal person in the family, they it was something
that you kept quiet or that you would be ashamed of.
So you'd say something like they were Indian or Fijian
or something like that. And um, so, um, we had
a lot of oral history around that at the time,
and it sort of went from there. It's kind of interesting,
isn't it, Ross? Because, I mean, we're not talking all
that long ago that that was the kind of attitude.
(03:44):
So I guess in many respects we've come a long way.
I mean, some might argue we haven't come far enough,
of course, but as I say, it's kind of interesting
that attitude, and not so long ago was sort of pervasive.
Pervasive as far as the Australian white culture went. Yeah. Well,
it's it's still it's still a bit like, well, quite
a bit by that today in terms of if I
(04:06):
had a friend and if I was just talking about
the normal things like politics or sport or culture, that'd
be okay. But if I started talking about Aboriginal things
like our history or our culture or Stolen Generation or
Invasion Day and all those things, a lot of people
(04:26):
are like, oh, well, I don't want to talk about
that stuff. You know, I'd, I'd like to be a friend,
but I don't want to talk all that Aboriginal stuff,
you know, just let's talk about sport and politics and
all those things. And so a lot of people still don't,
don't really want to know the, the Aboriginal side of
the story. You know, they they'll say things like, oh,
well that'll happen 200 years ago. And, you know, it's
(04:47):
time to move on and time to forget it. And
so there are a lot of white people who really
need to know more about our history and our culture. And, um,
they're talking about setting up a truth telling commission. Well,
you know, boils down to it's just a matter of truth,
and it's not a matter of blaming people and blaming
white people and saying they're guilty and there's no guilt
(05:08):
involved because, like, it wasn't you that did it. It
might have been your great great grandfather, but it wasn't you.
It's just a matter of being truthful about our history,
being honest about it. And, um, that's really would then
bring a lot of, I think, white people into a
better understanding of what happened and just our point of view.
It's interesting you talk about the oral history, Ross, because
(05:30):
that is so fascinating. And it's such a, you know,
a cool thing how, um, sort of customs and generations
have handed down different things in different areas, whether it
be food, whether it be kind of medicine. Just, uh,
some of the, the stories that, uh, you know, that
have been handed down. That is such a wonderful thing.
And in a sense, the fact that it's oral kind
(05:51):
of even makes it more interesting, if I can put
it that way. Yeah. Well, we've got to remember that, uh,
Aboriginal culture has been here for 50,000 years. Yeah. So
that's like you could say, well, that's 2000 generations. Um,
and so it's been held that long. And so, of course,
it's continued to be held since, you know, 1788 and, uh,
in the same way that it was passed on for.
(06:12):
You know, for 50,000 years before that. So it's still
kept very strong. And a lot of Aboriginal people still
believe very much in the culture. But of course, that
doesn't mean that we go back to, um, living in
a tribal way and all that. But still, it's, uh,
valuing the spiritual side of our culture and the, um,
(06:34):
the philosophy. Because if we we lasted 50,000 years. Well,
you'd have to say we must have had a very
good philosophy of life, and we must have had good
values and principles and ethics, you know, to to when
you consider that we live through an ice age about
10,000 years ago. And we came through that. And so
we still do have a very strong philosophy or ethics
(06:58):
or value system, you know, that, um, a lot of
Aboriginal people want to hang on to. There is such
a great point. I mean, obviously their care for the planet, uh,
and their, you know, their ethics, the fact that the
sort of society has continued for that amount of time uninterrupted,
you know, you've got to have been doing something right,
something that we can all kind of learn from. Well,
that's exactly right. Yeah. It's, uh, it's still a it's
(07:21):
a culture that I've, I believe very much in. And
the culture was based on all things. That was the
principle of respect and the principle of custodianship, uh, extended
family kinship system. And then the spiritual law, uh, they
were the four main elements. And even though the there
are quite a lot of Aboriginal people these days who
(07:42):
have lost contact with our culture, or they have a
slight attachment to it because it was discouraged, you know,
for 100 years or more than we even have our
ceremonies or this sort of thing. So but a lot
of Aboriginal people still do have a strong connection, and
others sort of have a slight connection, but it's really
(08:02):
about being able to make that strong connection again, particularly
with the philosophical side of it. They would help a
lot in our lives, you know, today, Ross, can you
kind of remember your reaction at the age of 32
when your dad spoke to you? Can you kind of remember?
I thought it was it explained a lot of things
because I was always very interested in Aboriginal culture. I
(08:24):
was always very my father would often read stories out
of the newspaper to me. Obviously he knew at that time,
but I didn't know. But, um, yeah, I always had
that attraction to it. And it's it's a thing that
when you know about that connection, like, for example, in
my family, I've got three brothers and, um, they couldn't
care less. And I've got a sister who is very
(08:47):
attracted to it as I am. So in the family,
a different people will react in different ways. Some people
find it very interesting and want to pursue it and
learn about it and develop it, like me and my sister.
But the others, like my brothers, they just think, oh well,
so what? And go on. And so it just depends
whether you feel an attraction to the, you know, you
(09:09):
feel drawn to the culture or to the knowledge and
say some people do and some don't. You know, it's
just a personal thing. Ross what about the fact that
obviously your vision impaired as well? Does that kind of
play into it at all, or do you think that
kind of, um, totally incidental or incidental thing? I'm thinking
of terms of your respect and your insight into, you know,
(09:31):
indigenous culture. Yeah. Well, it's hard to say, really. I
suppose it would have, you know, some effect, but I
can't really describe that. Really. Or, um, you know, how,
how it would, but I suppose obviously it must have some. Yeah.
It's kind of good in the fact that you can't
describe it. That kind of makes it even more, uh,
sort of unique, if I could put it that way.
You know, sometimes the things you can't describe are even
(09:52):
more precious than the things you can't. That's right. Yeah.
It's just like it's a feeling, you know? And, um,
it's just like an a knowledge or a knowing thing
or or like a gut feel. They say things like that,
you know. So he talked about the respect. And I
think one of the things that is just so, so
admirable is the respect for elders, you know, like, uh,
(10:13):
maybe something that we can all not maybe something we
can all certainly learn from. I mean, I know, uh,
you know, at the moment, actually, there's, uh, elder abuse and, uh,
tackling ageism campaigns around at the moment, uh, through a
lot of the media and, you know, the way that, uh,
the indigenous culture kind of respects their elders, we can
kind of learn a lot from that. And, you know,
(10:34):
something that, uh, you know, we're sort of catching up
on in a sense. Yeah. Well, in principle, I respect
in applied to, uh, as you say, the elders, but
also to the law and to the country, and you
had to look after your country, which is like your
tribal area and a lot of Aboriginal communities these days.
(10:55):
You know, we hear a lot of stories about problems
going on and a domestic violence and alcohol and this
sort of thing. And I think it's because a lot
of those people have lost touch with our culture, and
if they could be brought back and to be reconnecting
with our culture, um, those principles of respect are taught,
you know, and then they would then do a lot,
(11:16):
I think, to healing the problems that are occurring with
that within our communities now. Or you hear about it
on the news quite a bit, and domestic violence and
alcohol and so on. And, um, we had to bring
that principal because the, the main aspect of respect is
respecting yourself. That is the the main plank of the,
of that philosophy is to learn to respect yourself. When
(11:40):
the young men in the tribe were training to, uh,
go through law and become, uh, warriors, the elders would
tell them that an angry man is a weak man.
So if you lay yourself to get angry and have
those negative emotions, you're just weakening yourself. And that's a
part of respecting yourself. Meaning that you don't allow yourself
(12:00):
to be brought down. And, uh, I think if many
of the people in our communities now could be able
to reconnect with that culture in that way, uh, it
would do a lot to heal a lot of the
issues that are currently there. See, that's a powerful phrase,
isn't it? An angry man is a weak man. That's right. Mhm.
It kind of says so much, doesn't it. Although there's
just so much about respecting yourself. And as soon as
(12:22):
you have negative thoughts, you know, you are being hard
on yourself or criticizing yourself or downplaying yourself. And that's,
that's the exact opposite of respecting yourself. Hey, Russ, we're
running out of time. And I made this a little
bit tongue in cheek, but given what you've achieved in
your music career, your recording career, etc., you must have
been glad you didn't choose physiotherapy. Um, yes. I think
(12:45):
probably the school where I was going to go and
learn it. They were probably glad I didn't turn up.
Oh Ross, that's amazing. Thank you so, so much for
speaking to us. We could have spoken for hours. And
you know, I love tapping into the wisdom that people
like you have. Thank you for sharing just a little
bit of your story with us. Uh, it is an
important week, and it's an important week that we should
(13:07):
all kind of respect and really take notice of and
take notice and the sort of things that you've spoken about.
So thank you for sharing that with us, and we
wish you well. And it'd be good to maybe catch
up with you again in the future. Okay. Thanks, Peter.
Thanks very much. It's Ross McGregor. Wow, what a privilege
that was talking about today, Doc Week.
S3 (13:24):
Thank you for listening to Vision Xtra with Peter Greco.
You can find this interview on the Focal Point podcast.
This show was produced in the Adelaide studios of Vision
Australia Radio.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!