Australian sojourn was an odyssey of the heart

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

LaPorte writer Miriam Shinn puts a personal face on the passion and idealism of the 1960s and early '70s in a new book that reveals the flaws and successes of a humanitarian project in the Australian outback.

"Outback Odyssey" is a mini autobiography of Shinn's life from 1973 to 1975 when she and her husband, Ed, joined with some altruistic Australians to restore a sense of pride and community in an Aboriginal people in Western Australia.

"It was a time of passion across the world to help the downtrodden," Shinn explained.

The Aborigines were a small remnant of numerous tribes that inhabited the area before being massacred by white settlers in the 1920s. Those who escaped the massacres had found refuge with Anglican missionaries, but when the missions closed, the tribal people were forced to live on a reservation where they found themselves losing their traditions and abusing alcohol.

In the 1960s, the Shinns had joined a secular-religious order that worked in the inner cities of America during the Civil Rights Movement. Miriam and Ed, an ordained Presbyterian minister, moved there to nurture "participatory development" that put inner-city communities in charge of their future.

They were to apply the same concepts in Australia. Though still members of the Ecumenical Institute in the United States, they were hired by the Australian government to work on the Oombulgurri project at the decaying remains of an Anglican mission compound. The project would return the Oombulgurri people to 3.5 million acres returned to them by the government.

Shinn's narrative reveals the complexities of being simulaneously accountable to their American institute, the Australian government and their Aboriginal community. For the most part, however, it tells how she matured through the challenge of living with life-threatening obstacles in a remote part of the world while teaching a once-proud group of people to become decision-makers.

"Maturing is a process of moving into great new insights, crashing into despair and climbing that mountain again," Shinn said. "Each time you become more mature and are able to take your place in the world."

With every bit of progress made in establishing an independent, self-supporting agricultural community, the Oombulgurri people also had to overcome alcohol abuse and related violence. At one point, Shinn and her co-workers became so distraught from stress they fled by boat for a weekend break without taking adequate food or water. The boat ran out of gas and became stranded at low tide. Some of the party left by foot to get help; the others sweltered in the tropical heat. Shinn recalled becoming so dehydrated her tongue swelled.

"It was clearly a stupid thing to do," Shinn admitted. "We treated a trip into the outback like nothing would happen."

Faced with her own irresponsibility, she began to understand the Aboriginal battle with alcohol. "I wasn't superior at all," she said.

Thirty years and several countries later, Shinn said she remains convinced that "development comes out of people themselves."

"They don't need an expert," she said. "They need encouragement when the going gets tough." Shinn added that she wants readers to experience the wonder and excitement she felt in the outback.

The Shinns originally moved to Colorado to attend Colorado State University. Miriam earned a master's degree in economics while Ed finished a doctorate in sociology. That was followed by six years in Egypt and shorter stays in other countries. Ed continues to work in international development.

"Outback Odyssey," printed by Ink & Scribe in LaPorte, sells for $12.95 and can be purchased by calling the author at 495-0205.