Robert Mckeich

Dirt from Our Ears, Mud from Our Eyes: Retrospections of a White Aboriginal Elder Robert Mckeich

Publisher Marketing: From a full, active life I chose several personal experiences to tell my new great grandson about me, his great grandfather whose name he carrys, Robert. My role as a milkman is a metaphor of life, my experiences with the desert Aborigines of Western Australia in the 1950s, reflections on marriage, travel, and thoughts gleaned from sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. i share with him and you, the reader, my joy of life, my bliss. - Robert Many white academics have studied the Australian Aborigines, but few have earned the respect of the Aboriginal people sufficiently to invite them to be initiated into a tribe. Robert McKeich is one of the few. His first encounter with the Australian Aborigines was as a school teacher and missionary, intent on converting indigenous Australians to the white man's way and to Christian religion. But somewhere along the way he found the depth and beauty of the Aboriginal way, a way of experiencing the world that westerners and 'civilised' societies, clouded by dirt in our ears and mud in our eyes, have long forgotten and generally do not understand. Robert learned much from the Aborigines about himself and life. Over many years of academic life and living to the full, he distilled his learnings and experiences into a simple and elegant wisdom that enabled him to live a fulfilled life and deeply loving relationships. He wrote this book in his last days as he moved towards the Dreamtime, so that we may all benefit from the remarkable journey of this great soul.