The Armenians and the Warlpiri: two genocides that sparked a pilgrimage to the outback | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Thu, 08/12/2016 - 2:56pm

Descendants of two disparate massacres on opposite sides of the world find common ground deep in the heart of Warlpiri country

History is often best understood outside of the books that record it, when it is experienced in the lands that staged it, by its actors’ descendants.

And history, for all its serpentine connections and resonances, is what inspired two priests – Bishop Haigazoun Najarian and Deacon Nishan Basmajian from the Armenian Apostolic Church of the holy resurrection in Chatswood, Sydney – to recently undertake a 4000km pilgrimage deep into Warlpiri country in the Northern Territory.