HAyritage …

Day 28: Friday 20 April (10pm, Ayr)

One of the fascinating and interesting tasks of the Traditional Owners (TO) is to participate in a heritage or cultural walk. This is about showing respect for the history and culture of the indigenous people of the region and is typically conducted when a mining company or Main Roads or similar organisation commences planning for excavation of land for further development.

The TO conducts a search of the area, looking for things like flint stones, axe heads, rock art, grinding grooves, middens (deposits of food remains, like shellfish or bones, indicating the site of an historical camp or regular eating hole), scarred trees (trees marked in a specific way that indicates the removal of bark for canoes, shields, boomerangs, etc) or anything else that indicates the evidence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander existence.

The Gudjuda Directors are often contacted to seek their participation in a walk and unsurprisingly, they take this role very seriously. Only Traditional Owners can conduct the walk, for obvious reasons. I haven’t had a chance to witness a walk, but we have a collection of photo’s from one of the local walks a couple of years ago. It might be hard to see the detail in the pictures, but I thought they might give you some idea of what the walks are like.



Uncle Bim (Alfred) with his ancestors

I spent most of the afternoon talking with Uncle Bim as consultation for our RAP. He regularly works with troubled indigenous people through the courts and Murri Watch and his Men’s Group, so it made sense for him to particularly influence aspects of the plan that relate to healing. We decided to include an action of identifying a place or a space for cultural healing processes. Something as simple as seats around a tree or a small shelter will be ideal and it’s likely that something will be created for Bim out at the Home Hill Showground. The local community has been talking a lot about the need for something like his Men’s Group out this way, so it should be pretty popular.

Bim has also been explaining to me about the indigenous way of being ‘on country’. My second-hand interpretation is that it’s when a traditional owner is in or on their traditional lands and seas, and getting back to their culture and traditions by doing things like going fishing using traditional methods, or learning how to use bush tucker, or making traditional tools, like spears or boomerangs or even just exploring their surroundings. There are a lot of indigenous people in Townsville and other cities who have never been ‘on country’, so we’ve been talking about how we might enable this, especially for people who are getting in trouble with the LAW and need some teaching about their LORE! Many of the Directors agree with the importance of this and have suggested we set up temporary accommodation to enable people to come out and stay ‘on country’. It’s certainly one of the key themes coming through the discussions.

A quick one before I go - the painters got a fright this morning when a small goanna came rushing past their prep area (under the legs of Rob!), quickly followed by a larger one, who kicked over the paint tin in the process! I got close enough to take this photo, but then his enormously long tongue came out and I was warned not to stand too close or too still as he was scared and could become even more so and then possibly climb up me for a bite to eat - of me! I don't need to be told twice so, yep, I got out of there as quick as I could (but not before a few good photo's of his stunning skin!)!

Well, I’ve got nothing but a couple of walks planned for this weekend and an intensive, run to the finish, working bee on the RAP and business plans! Just want to make sure that when I leave, I’ve given as much as possible to the amazing people of Gudjuda. I only have two days of work in the week ahead (you’ll learn why later this week!), so a good night sleep should set me up well for a productive weekend! That's my cue - sleep well everyone! J