“We Are Still Here” – Uncle Ken Jones on The Adelaide Show Podcast
- Uncle Ken
- Apr 23
- 2 min read
In a moving NAIDOC Week 2024 episode of The Adelaide Show podcast, Boandik Elder Uncle Ken Jones shares a deeply personal and culturally rich story of reconnection, resilience, and the ongoing power of storytelling. Titled “South Australian Storytellers”, the episode gives listeners a chance to hear from a man whose life is shaped by deep ties to Country, family strength, and a mission to ensure Boandik knowledge continues to be shared and valued.
Hosted by Steve Davis, the episode opens with a candid conversation about identity. Uncle Ken speaks openly about his upbringing near Port MacDonnell, a coastal town on Boandik Country. Like many Aboriginal families in that era, his family remained quiet about their cultural background to avoid the discrimination and systemic racism they knew they would face. This silence created gaps in cultural connection, but not in cultural memory.
“My mother and her siblings were told to hide who they were. That generation knew what would happen if you didn’t,” he says during the interview. “But we’re still here.”
That phrase “we’re still here” becomes a quiet refrain throughout the episode. It speaks to survival. To the strength of culture. And to the generations who carried stories quietly until it was safe to share them again.
Uncle Ken goes on to describe how, later in life, he began to reconnect with his Boandik identity through time on Country, conversations with Elders, and remembering the stories passed down through family. This personal rediscovery transformed into a lifelong commitment to education, cultural preservation, and environmental care.
Today, Uncle Ken shares Boandik knowledge through Bush Adventures, a family business that offers cultural tours, storytelling sessions, and learning experiences across the Limestone Coast. He also writes children’s books, speaks at schools, and volunteers his time for community initiatives. Through all these roles, storytelling is at the core.
“Storytelling isn’t just entertainment,” he explains in the podcast. “It’s how we learn, how we relate to each other, how we understand Country. It’s how we survive.”
The episode also features a conversation with Australian musician John Schumann (of Redgum), who discusses his song “On Every Anzac Day”. The song honours Aboriginal servicemen who fought for a country that didn’t always fight for them in return. Together, Schumann and Jones reflect on the importance of truth-telling, both through music and through lived experience.
Uncle Ken finishes the episode with a clear invitation to listeners: seek out the First Nations stories around you. “If you want to understand this land,” he says, “listen to the people who have been walking it the longest.”
This episode of The Adelaide Show offers more than insight. It offers a window into the heart of a man whose life is devoted to teaching others how to see, hear, and feel Country and whose stories will continue to shape understanding for generations to come.
Listen to the full episode:
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