As an avid conversationalist with a wealth of Indigenous knowledge, Mooks says he hopes Centacare FNQ’s Human Library initiative can be carried out on Cape York. Photo: Lyndon Keane.
A Cape York guided tour leader and self-proclaimed chatterbox is calling for a Cairns initiative fostering genuine human connection through conversation to come farther north.
Earlier this month, Centacare FNQ ran a series of Human Library events as part of Queensland Multicultural Month celebrations, bringing together people of various backgrounds to be “loaned out” for a chat in place of books, offering open, one-on-one conversations that celebrated diversity, challenged stereotypes and fostered understanding across cultures.
Upon hearing about the initiative, Kuku Nyungkul Elder and Traditional Owner Harold “Mooks” Tayley called for the event to come to the Cape, where a wealth of Indigenous knowledge could be shared.
As the owner of a bush medicine and tucker guided tour business at Rossville Retreat, Mooks said he got the opportunity to talk with a variety of locals and tourists, and an initiative focused on meaningful conversations could provide others with this opportunity.
“Normally, when I do my tour, I speak 10 different dialects, and things that I explain to them, like plants and things like that, I do it in English, and then after, I explain it all in language and dialects,” he said.
“[The people who come on the tour] are totally different people, but they open their heart up.
“I always say to them, ‘I don’t care who you are, we could speak different dialects, different colour, but remember, we are family, we are sisters and brothers, and that’s what people really look for’.”
Mooks said there was nothing he loved more than a good chat when it came to getting to know people.
“They call me Kuku bugga, and that means I talk a lot,” he laughed.
“I love talking to people; if I see a tourist standing, I’ll walk up and say, ‘hello, how are you’, and my family will say to me, ‘why are you talking to them, you don’t even know them’.
“I’ll say, ‘well, if you don’t talk to them, you don’t get to know them’.”
Centacare FNQ general manager Andrea Obeyesekere said the Human Library consisted of two phases – a facilitated session, where speakers could share life stories, and then the opportunity for people to “borrow” them for a one-on-one conversation.
“The idea is for social cohesion and social connection through this opportunity to provide safe spaces for people to see things through a different lens, see other perspectives, and then search a little bit deeper in themselves, and why they may have held a prejudice about somebody,” she said.
“What we’ve noticed is that many people don’t know about the backgrounds of people, and sometimes, people feel nervous to ask, because they think it might offend someone or it might be seen as being nosy.
“With just a simple conversation, they can immediately make a connection with somebody that if they saw walking down the street, they would never think they have anything in common with.”
