A while back, we shared the story of the inland missionary who was warned about the 'little people' by the local Indigenous people and had a terrifying personal encounter one night with them.
In a follow up to that is an interesting discussion I had at a Sports Conference with a Chaplain to the Indigenous AFL players.
I was sharing with him details my meeting with the Aboriginal elders at Eden and some of their stories about the Doolagahls (Yowie's) including my own personal story from 1982.
He was quite guarded with me at first. One thing he taught me in this conversation about the Indigenous Australian culture was the need to earn the respect of the Indigenous people. That they sit back and watch who they can trust and if you are genuine. They choose who they will and wont talk to on that basis. This is something we all must remember before we 'barge in' and try to interview them about traditions, myths and legends. Something I have been guilty of in the past when I have desired to gather some facts on a subject. First we need to show a genuine concern for the people/person and the culture. It's something we have lost in the world of online relationships. It's called friendships and community:)
After a while, he then shared something with me that was very interesting.
He told me that in Western Australia, the local Aboriginals asked the missionaries to make camp at a beach for a couple of months and then they would come onto the mission. They thought that was strange, but did as they suggested. They had some interesting experiences in the beach dorms which they could not figure out the source (I am vague because he was vague on this) but they held a cleansing prayer service over the area and the experiences stopped.
When the Aboriginals arrived they explained their motives.
"We ask you to come here to get rid of little fella's first"
"What little fella's" replied the missionaries.
"The little fella like doolagahl but bad spirit. Your magic more powerful than their magic. We scared of little people and won't camp here because they are here. But your white fella magic make them leave".
They then explained who the little people were - exactly the same description given to me by the teacher on the mission nearby. This was also attributed to some the issues they had experienced when they arrived that they could not explain.
But like that experience, prayer in the name of Jesus Christ had authority in the spiritual realm and had the same effect - a cleansing of the area.
God bless you - Pastor Baz.
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