Songman: Story Of An Aboriginal Elder
(A.B.C. Books)
It is an unfortunate fact of life in the Northern Territory of Australia that the pure Aboriginal tribal culture is fast being supplanted by a re-invented sub-culture largely perpetrated by part-Aboriginals, real, fanciful and imaginary.
The underlying motive is, of course, an almost desperate wish to capitalise on the prevailing all-things-Aboriginal fad, either before the bubble bursts, or before the fraud is exposed to the naive market place.
Even though “Songman” is published under Bob Randall’s name, it is evident, by a careful reading, that at least three gracious Europeans contributed, largely or partially, to its writing and editing: Aruna Byers, Barbara Lepani and Paul Newbury.
Randall’s account predictably labours all the well-known whinges currently being promoted, particularly the “stolen generation” fable, the carefully engineered ploy to inculcate a national guilt complex in return for sorry money from the Australian government. Also, too, Randall tries to justify every observation one hears about the Aboriginal nature – the irresponsibility, the unreliability, the laziness and domestic violence – using feeble excuses allegedly steeped in traditional practises.
Throughout the 253 pages of this “autobiography,” it becomes very evident to the reader that Randall manages by some mysterious means to secure for himself highly lucrative jobs in Aboriginal/government organisations, positions that seem to hold only a passing interest; every few pages or so he is tired, sick or disinterested and is looking forward to travelling elsewhere.
His liaisons with do-gooder white women of a pseudo “spiritual” bent is as equally intriguing. Such companions pass through his life with almost irritating regularity.
One senses from the import of the text that Randall has cultivated a practised air of gullibility that immediately appeals to gullible women and these relationships are exploited fully.
His attempts to portray himself as a Yankunytjara elder will undoubtedly appeal to the ignorant and uninitiated, but the smattering of dialect terms across the paragraphs do not a tjilpi make!
His dabbling with random philosophies – e.g., Tibetan Buddhism, spiritual healing and such – only reflect the rather dotty obsessions of his white female benefactors.
Over all, a rather fictitious book of sham knowledge and occurrences: a story that skims over the surface of real stories, mostly left untold.
From Aruna Byers, USA:
After reading this review of SONGMAN STORY OF AN ABORIGINAL ELDER, I feel compelled to respond because this man is a fraud and has totally mis-represented himself in this book. I know this because I wrote the first manuscript and lived with him for 8 months while doing so. In his book he claims that he paid me for this and that I did not continue with the book because I was off traveling around to other places. The truth is that The Australian Arts council designated a rather large amount of money to Mr. Randall for the research, development and writing of this book. As writer I was designated ¼ of this amount which would cover my travel to Australia, expenses and a nominal amount for doing the writing and taking it to publication. Mr. Randall was the trustee of this money. Since I could not be paid for working in Australia because of visa regulations he agreed to transfer the money to my account in the US in four equal parts. I only received two of them. As soon as the manuscript was completed and sent to him he cut off all contact with me. I finally located him to tell him I was returning to Australia to finish the book and he told me not to come – he was finishing the book with someone else – and, by the way, he was not sending me any more money because he needed it to get the book published.
I was not fired from the job because I had been negligent in creating his book. Nor did it occur because I had left out his spiritual teachings. It occurred because Bob is a ladies man that preys on white women who are charmed by him and let him use them. My agreement with Bob was to take the book from conception to publication. To do so I gave up my professional coaching practice, my home and my job in the organization I was working for. I had a very good income and a life I enjoyed immensely, but we agreed to create a new life together – first with writing and publishing his autobiography and then he was to join me in the US where I would promote the book and his teaching. The book was to be credited as a joint collaboration that acknowledged me as the writer. Bob barely has a high school education and cannot even speak a full paragraph coherently. To claim himself as the author of this book is absurd. He did not write one word of it.
Another detail I was very clear about from the start of our relationship was that I would not live full time in Australia. But Bob did not accept this for one moment, and the entire time I was in Alice he was determined to convince me that I was going to remain there. When my 6 month visa was up and I left the country, he immediately found himself another white woman to take my place in his bed and as the next writer of his book.
And there was no reason for me to stay with Bob as a partner because he treated me so disrespectfully. He lied to me about ending his previous relationship. He also lied to her about me. He wanted to have us both. I met another woman he was also pursuing during this time. But the major competition was not from these women, it was from his daughter who demanded his attention constantly. She lived with her boyfriend and their child, but his interactions with her were totally consuming – by phone, him being at her house or her being at his. Almost every weekend she and her boyfriend would drink and fight and about one or two in the morning she would call Bob to come pick her and the baby up to stay with us. It was impossible to sleep with her there because she would carry on most of the night. I was informed that she had first priority and anything in the house was hers. She wore my clothes, she broke my tape recorder, she took whatever food I had bought for our meals and I was instructed to say nothing because, according to Bob, this was her right as his daughter. If she wanted the car she got it. It didn’t matter if we had plans to use it or I had no way to go to the store to shop for our dinner. All decisions were made by Bob without discussing anything with me, no matter how I was affected. I was told that my job as his “wife” was to take care of woman’s business and he took care of man’s business which meant bringing in the money. It gave him great pride to receive his paycheck which he then distributed it to all those who came with their hand out. If we didn’t have enough for food for the next week, so be it. Bob had promised to support me while I was in Australia, but the support didn’t look anything like I had imagined. I was kept destitute, had to ask him for every cent for food, and when I needed to buy some appropriate clothing for a trip to Darwin I was told to go to the thrift shop. “If it’s good enough for our women its good enough for you.”
He did take me to some interesting places and we did have some good times, but I spent most of my time TRYING to coax information from him for the book or putting what I was able to get into some acceptable form. Bob was the most uncooperative person I have ever worked with. In the US there was no problem. We would schedule time for interviews and he was cooperative. But in Alice he had constant excuses – mostly being too tired and wanting to watch TV. Bob is a consummate TV watcher, and would come home from work and park himself in front of it until bed time. My greatest stress was seeing the days go by where he would not even talk to me about the book. I had to wait in abeyance until he honored me with some token stories. He would often begin them when we were driving somewhere and I didn’t have a tape recorder and I would have to write them from memory when we returned home. I now know that this was part of his ploy to keep me in Australia. If I didn’t have all I needed for the book I would have to stay.
But by the time I left Australia I knew that Bob was not the kind of person I wanted to be in relationship with and definitely not an Aboriginal spiritual teacher of any merit to write about. I did feel that his story of being stolen from his family and the consequences of that were worth telling, and that was what was contained in my manuscript. Had Bob given me any content other than this I would have included it, but as I said, what he offered me was minimal, and I had to do a lot of research from other sources to get a true picture of what was actually happening during the times he was describing. He was not willing to look at any of the circumstances regarding his birth and his mother’s relationship to his white father, insisting that white men having children with many Aboriginal women, including three sisters, was just fine with him and that was the way it was. Contradicting this was his niece who described to me her unwanted rapes and attempts to escape this treatment. Bob justifies everything to fit into his limited view of the world.
I met Bob Randall when he was touring America with the Healing Touch organization as an Aboriginal teacher and spiritual healer. He pursued me romantically during that visit and with daily phone calls and post cards for months afterwards. He was determined that we would meet again, and because of my interest in indigenous cultures I was curious to get to know him. At this time I was an active co-founder of an organization that put on workshops for indigenous teachers. We knew our audience would be very welcoming to a bonified Aboriginal teacher because everyone who had read Marlo Morgan’s book Mutant Message Down Under wanted to know more about this mysterious group of people. For most of us, this book was our only introduction to Aboriginal culture and curiosity was strong.
We decided to invite Bob to spend two months with us so we could promote his teaching and he and I could get to know each other. Since he was a teacher for the Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) in Alice Springs, and was being introduced to the US by a reputable group in our country we never questioned his credentials. We should have.
I now know that Bob is not what he says he is. He claims to be a spiritual teacher of Aboriginal wisdom, but he is not recognized by Aboriginals as one of them, never mind as a spiritual teacher. To qualify for this secret knowledge one must be initiated, and Bob is not. He learned certain things about Aboriginal ways while being raised in a Christian mission, but never went through any initiation which would make him privy to anything of substance. He is also not a healer. I know this well because I am an energy channel myself and can read energy. Anyone can put their hands on someone and they can respond because of their mental receptivity to the placebo effect. In the six months I lived with Bob in Alice Springs he was not asked to heal anyone, and believe me, I met a lot of people who could have used it.
What Bob did in Alice was spend part of his day at the IAD office and act as a social ambassador for those from other places who come to learn about Aboriginal culture. AID gives educational seminars. The one I attended was taught by Bob’s nephew. All Bob did was sing the original songs he wrote more than twenty years ago. He would take people out to the land and talk about the plants and animals and introduce them to some grandfather trees. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the area could have done the same.
It is clear to me that Bob wants to identify as an Aboriginal because it gives him an identity he would not have otherwise. But he is not the wise Tjilpi and spiritual teacher he claims to be in his book. He has no authority to claim either, and is only accepted as such by unknowing white foreigners like me.
Bob Randall is a liar, thief and manipulator. He stole my manuscript, kept the money for himself that the Arts Council gave him with my name on it, and claims to be something that he is not. I take responsibility for my stupidity in buying into his charming seduction, but I think he is doing a great disservice to the true spiritual teachers of Aboriginal decent by posing as something he is not. I never gave Bob the copyright to my manuscript. He had no right to use it. The ABC who published this book did a show about me writing this book. How they could accept him as sole author is not in my understanding. I am very accessible by a Google Search and would have clarified the copyright issue to them had they asked.
I have not pursued Bob through the legal system because of the energy it would require on my part and I would not want to do anything that would hurt ABC. But I believe that the reading public should know the truth about this man so they can put what he says in his book into an appropriate context. He talks about retribution for one’s thoughts and words yet acts as if his abusive actions against others are totally justified. I am still in recovery mode from this adventure with Bob. I feel used and abused. Is this the way a spiritually aware being would treat someone?
Aruna Byers.
Writer and copyright owner to original manuscript of Bob Randall’s autobiography
COMMENTS
Thank you for the information, I heard also that he was playing with Kids at uralu but I dont know if it is true .Hope to find out the truth Cheers Harry
— Harry Oldenhuis · 16 03 2008 - 22:26 · #
I believe that in the beggining of your response, you state that you were not entitled to be a paid worker in Australia because of Visa Regulations. You knew this before you even entered Australia, so then it is you who committed a crime, by being employed and trying to manipulate the money in another means, for payment of work in Australia. This is why you are not taking legal action, because you should not have received money at all.
Now Harry to go and accuse a man of abusing children at Ularu, you really need to have evidence, not just start rumours. Definately, if this is the case, then the question has to be risen, who abused him when he was stolen from his family?
I despise child abuse, but when people are abused, they often find a means to gain their power back. Either by helping others and/or by abusing others.
I would also like to know the truth, but I would never and could never purposely try and sabotage another person just because of monetary matters. This is EXTREMELY SMALL MINDED and criminal. Sounds like Harry, you are actually a friend of American who tried to illegally obtain work money in Australia – against our Visa Regulations. Thank you for admitting this on the internet, as now this will be forwarded to immigration for further investigation, on American Citizens Illegally working in Australia.
Kind Regards
Australian Tired of Americans Frauding and Robbing the World.
When you think you are the greatest, but cry out “oh woh poor me, when Karma Slaps you in face”. You tried to rob Australia by working without permission in our country and when and if it happened to you – you cry out !!!
Next time Ms America, do not travel to another country and try and manipulate paid work when you do not have Visa Permission – You actually deserve JAIL !!!
— Australian · 1 10 2008 - 13:36 · #
Aruna Byers, USA
A true spiritualist, which you claim to be, would NEVER be so Criminal and Vindictive. You claim to be so Spiritual, then you would know, DO NOT SEND OUT BAD ENERGY or it is going to come back at you. If you are so good at reading people, then you would have known to stop before you even began. To steal YOUR MANUSCRIPT, and yet it is an Autobiography on Bob Randall’s life. Sweety – You’ve got nothing – No Case.
Now to call an Aboriginal Person a thief, a lier and/or anything else, that is showing exactly your true colours – that personally – I would have paid you NOTHING !!! You are also very out of touch when it comes to Spiritualism, because yes people do go through specific rituals and experiences and it does not have to be approved by other people – it just happens, that is part of the gift.
This shows me that you are only as Spiritual as far as you read and you do not have a natural gift and no one could ever show you this, it comes with experience.
Go and kiss George Bush’s backside in USA, you are just another racist who should have never entered this country. Enjoy your monetary distruction in the USA – your all destroying yourselves and then want someone to blame when things explode in your face.
You get what you give !!!
Harry stands for Heroin in Australia, a drug that destroys people and souls. So Harry, your nothing but a soul destroyer.
— Australian · 1 10 2008 - 13:50 · #