Port Adelaide’s Jake Neade and Dom Barry talk about their pride in Aboriginal lore

JAKE Neade and Port Adelaide teammate Dom Barry explain their pride in their culture and heritage, connection to the land and their longstanding friendship ahead of the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round.

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JAKE Neade was 13 when elders in his community told him to leave his material possessions behind and go bush with them for three months on a journey towards becoming a man.

Barely a teenager and barely 5ft tall, in Neade’s eyes there could be no greater honour than to learn Aboriginal lore or in the case of his tribe, Jingili Mudburra lore.

And so one afternoon he left his home in Elliott, halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs, and quite literally walked deep into the bush with around 200 members of his community, many of them family.

There are things he can talk about out of pride and things he can’t out of cultural sensitivity and respect, but Neade said he returned with a “spiritual” connection to the land that he always knew existed but now understood.

Port Adelaide indigenous players Jake Neade and Dom Barry ahead of this weekend’s Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round. Picture: Tait Schmaal

On the eve of the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round this weekend, Neade and Port Adelaide teammate Dom Barry have spoken for the first time about what their experience with lore in one of the oldest cultures in the world means to them.

“I was lucky, I got to do it in my early teens but some blokes don’t get that opportunity and have to wait until a bit later down the track,” Neade, 24, said.

“It’s not really up to you, it’s up to elders around the community and they see you as mature enough.

“The first step was taking the time off to go out bush and do your stuff. But it’s mysterious because they don’t tell you much and everything is very private, some things you can’t talk about.

Jake Neade, middle, with the Elliott Hawks in his junior days.

Port Adelaide’s Jake Neade during a club community camp near Bluff Beach on the Yorke Peninsula.

“Seeing your older brothers go through it, you want to be part of it, it’s like little brother following big brother in everything — sport, schooling or this.

“It does have its hard moments but at the end you’re very proud of doing it.

“You don’t want to go too far (from the community) because there are other groups with different cultures and even the language can change.

“But for me it was mainly about the land, my cultural group and a responsibility.

“I had to pretty much sacrifice that to continue my footy and schooling because there’s still way more to it than what I’ve done.”

Barry, 24, belongs to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara tribes and he grew up between Fregon and Alice Springs where he was educated in mainstream schools.

But he says what he learnt during his time in the bush in 2015 and 2016 was not taught in the classroom.

Dom Barry before making his AFL debut for Melbourne in 2014.

“It’s only learnt through experiences when you’re out there living for three months and you’ve got only your close kinship system to provide for you,” Barry said.

“I believe there’s three main things to storytelling — song, dance and art — and under that there’s stuff we can’t talk about because it’s sensitive and private to each tribe.

“But you’re carrying on stuff that has been around for thousands of years. Creation stories and how the land was formed, the significance of the stars at night, seasonal changes, birds and animals — the way they come and go throughout the year and relate to people and the land.

“That’s all part of the connection to humans living on the land, and when my great grandfather went through it it was the strongest it’s ever been, and through the changing times it’s so important for us to hold on to that and keep it going for as long as we can.

Dom Barry in action for Port Adelaide. Picture: Michael Klein

“I was heavily involved in community life in Fregon and always aware there were times of the year the community would participate in lore and women have a role in that, men have a huge role in that and elders have a role and children have a role.

“The whole community comes together at those times to embrace that, and we were a part of that growing up because of the roles we played as children and learning from our mums and dads and brothers.

“It’s an amazing honour because you think about it — all of our grandfathers went through the journey and it’s a continuation, it doesn’t stop, and you keep learning. You become lifelong learners.”

Unlike Neade who experienced lore as a teenager, Barry was 21 and had just walked away from AFL football in Melbourne feeling it was his calling to go home and take care of business.

“The changes in behaviour and attitude in myself and attitude in the whole community, it was like a switch was flicked and you just felt so proud, because it’s been hard what’s happened to a lot of Aboriginal cultures,” Barry said.

“This is an opportunity for people to continue what is important to them, and when I was out there I seen that, it was an awakening.

“And I saw it as an opportunity to really be a part of that and embrace it as much as I could, and I want to prolong it for as long as I can.

“In community there is the introduced lifestyle and society, and in a way you can’t stop that, but there is the lore life which is completely different.

“We had the pleasure of having many different tribes come and join us for ours, so our tribe is involved with theirs in the whole journey and they share that experience with us.”

Dom Barry, Crow Curtly Hampton and Jake Neade get together for an AFL Indigenous All-Stars team in 2013.

Barry says had he not returned home and been on this journey, he would not have returned to football at Glenelg and ultimately at Port Adelaide in the AFL which is an industry leader with its indigenous programs.

“It speaks to you on so many levels, especially emotional and spiritual, and it fulfils a big part of you that was probably missing before you went through it because it’s like that connection with the culture,” he said.

“And a connection with the community, the older brothers, and younger brothers who now look up to you.”

Barry and Neade met at boarding school in Ballarat where they were both playing footy and studying at St Patrick’s College before being taken as zone selections be Greater Western Sydney and then traded — Barry to Melbourne and Neade to the Power — but both return to their communities as often as they can.

“A lot of indigenous and Aboriginal people have that connection back at home, and no matter where you go you’ve always got to go home and touch base,” Neade said.

“It’s more of a spiritual sort of connection, that feeling when you get home no matter where you’ve been in life or what you’ve done, it just brings a satisfaction to you.”

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Originally published as Port Adelaide’s Jake Neade and Dom Barry talk about their pride in Aboriginal lore