Some of our great Koori elders representing Eden’s Twofold Allstars team have just returned triumphant from the Mini Olympics at Wagga Wagga.
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Competing in events such as discus, javelin and basketball, they secured six gold medals, five of which were won by Eden patriarch Uncle Ossie Stewart.
Uncle Ossie Stewart – a 77 year old Yuin elder of the Stolen Generation – is local folklore, long applauded for his physical aptitude. Standing close to six foot tall with a rockabilly handsomeness, his strength was honed in boxing rings and circuses as he travelled the coast as a young man.
In our modern competition-loving society, Uncle Stewart’s recent gold sweep at the Koori Olympics makes Eden understandably proud, and the Magnet was quick to call him on Monday to enthusiastically congratulate him on his winnings.
Uncle Stewart chuckled.
Wikipedia defines competition as “a contest or rivalry between two or more organisms, animals, individuals, economic or social groups” for territory, resources, mates, prestige, recognition, status, and profit.
Competition arises when at least two parties strive for a goal that cannot be shared and where one’s gain is the other's loss, the site says. Competition is the opposite of cooperation, it claims, and is a positive force helping drive adaptation and evolution.
I’m not sure if you can call it evolving, but we certainly compete in everything these days. Obscure past-times are being turned into Olympic sports, schooling success is measured not in human joy and engagement but how kids score against one another and then rate in NAPLAN, even cooking, house building and surviving nude on an island is all about winning or losing, not the primal values of taste, aesthetic and experience.
This scrambling for gold is a relatively new paradigm for Aboriginal culture. Co-existance with the planet, knowing your heritage and role within a group and nation, and “caring and sharing” as Yuin elder Pastor Ossie Cruse espouses, lies at the heart of the Koori way.
None of our ancestors walked across country to fight for a place on a podium.
When the Magnet asked Uncle Stewart about his Olympic success, he was unsure which events he’d won.
It was clear that other memories were more golden than medals.
“It’s just so good to get in among your old friends and relatives,” he said simply.