Recreating the Country blog |
Guest blogger and poet for September is Gib Wettenhall. Gib is a an award winning author, journalist, editor, publisher and advocate for preserving indigenous cultural heritage. His view is that; "the 60,000 year-old Indigenous heritage we have inherited makes Australian landscapes as much cultural as natural". He is the author of The People of Budj Bim written in collaboration with the Gunditjmara people of south-west Victoria, which in 2010 was Overall Winner of the Victorian Community History Awards. Also, the author of The People of Gariwerd, the Grampians’ Aboriginal history, which has gone through three print runs. He is currently writing and producing the 3rd in a series of booklets for the Yirralka Rangers, titled Keeping Country, on the bi-cultural approach adopted by this Indigenous land management group in north-east Arnhem Land. As a publisher, he has edited many books, including Stephen Murphy’s Recreating the Country and Tanya Loo’s nature journal set in the Wombat Forest, Daylesford Nature Diary, which reintroduces a six season Indigenous calendar for the foothill forests. In 2006, he wove the Indigenous heritage of the Grampians Ranges into the essays published in a high quality landscape format book with photographs by Alison Pouliot, Gariwerd: Reflecting on the Grampians. Gib can be contacted on gib@vic.chariot.net.au Utopia 2050 We switch panels to store, as we unfurl solar sails And lay the songline down. We sing with joy when we reach the reef and the fish shoal is found. We spear the fish, sail the songline back To the beach where a hot fire glows We sing to the fish of how our lives are twined as we pass damper to and fro. The cats are gone, cane toads no more The valley’s soil is soft The shepherds herd their mobs of roos through glades of thigh high grass And everywhere the wetlands spread and wild birds wheel aloft. We sing on the zeppelin as it orients for home Following power plant ruins below It’s ten years now since the last coal was dug… It’s back to the future we go. Gib Wettenhall 2014 Reimagining and reinventing Australian culture Australia’s landscapes are as much cultural as natural. People were everywhere, affecting everything, across the length and breadth of the continent over an unimaginable timescale, recently confirmed at an archaeological dig on our northern frontline at some 60,000 years ago. That’s the conclusion of historian Billy Griffiths in his acclaimed new book on the history of Australian archaeology, Deep Time Dreaming. This primal Indigenous spiritual power is still evident in the country’s remote places. I have recently rock hopped for two weeks along the Roe River and scaled the blood-red gorges of the Prince Regent National Park on the western edge of the Kimberley. At every one of the waterfalls punctuating our progress, rock art shelters crowded with ancestral beings and creation stories overlooked the dark, deep green of secret/sacred pools. On gorge tops, artificially-placed standing stones act as markers, sometimes leading to ceremonial grounds, where, if you are willing to pay attention, the ancient power of the land and its people remains palpable.
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A close encounter A good friend was sitting and watching the waves roll in near Point Lonsdale while thinking about a difficult life decision. A decision that could lead to her giving up the job she loved. She was captivated by the beauty and the wild freedom of the waves crashing in on the shore when she felt a light touch on her hair. She said it felt as if a friend had patted her reassuringly. She looked around but she was alone on this open stretch of beach. Just a few meters away a Nankeen Kestrel settled on an old fence post and looked back at her. Its puzzled gaze fixed and without blinking. The two shared this close encounter for several minutes before the Kestrel lifted effortlessly on the breeze and glided away. If we think back through our lives most of us would be able to recall a close encounter with nature. Often these encounters are uplifting, exciting, beautiful and become meaningful moments when we connect profoundly with the natural world. If a close encounter happens at one of life’s crossroads then it can play a part in an important decision and become a moment to look back on, to find strength and reassurance. These close encounters could be with an animal, a plant, a remarkable landform or a beautiful place and they can form the basis of personal totems. These close encounters with nature have played an essential part in important life’s decisions of humans for thousands of years. Particularly people whose culture is linked to the natural world that they live in. Saving our grasslands and grassy woodlands. If you care, you're in the minority Over the last six months I have looked at how our Australian culture> is limiting our ability to prevent the loss of grasslands & grassy woodlands. I have also suggested some practical solutions such as indigenous burning practice> and strategic grazing>. If you are reading this blog, chances are you have an interest in protecting grasslands. You probably wouldn’t be surprised if I suggest that you and I are in the minority. If I was to put on my ultraconservative hat, I might say to you; “why are we spending buckets of money on saving grasslands”? After all I might add, “money spent on protecting or restoring native flora would have a far greater benefit to the broader community if it was invested in medical research, defence or training more school teachers”. I might conclude that “restoring a kangaroo grassland on a country roadside or a 10 ha bit of scrub on private land benefits very very few Australians”. Why don't most rational people care? For those of us who are passionate about native flora, these views are confronting and extremely frustrating, but sadly not uncommon. Conservationists scratch their heads with dismay as we wonder why every Australian doesn’t see native flora and fauna as precious. Why don’t most rational people care deeply about the steady slide into extinction of many of our unique plant and animal species? John Delpratt points out the many values of roadside kangaroo grassland reserves in the second of his excellent articles>. Their low fire risk, improved visibility for drivers and their extraordinary beauty. He also mentions the powerful sense of place they provide. But are these tangible reasons that would motivate a nation to protect them? Conservationists are acutely aware of the significant environmental services that natural areas provide. The wealth and health of our whole civilisation is underpinned by natural processes and ecological networks, but to the uninformed these are invisible as is the ongoing loss and destruction |
Stephen Murphy is an author, an ecologist and a nurseryman. He has been a designer of natural landscapes for over 30 years. He loves the bush, supports Landcare and is a volunteer helping to conserve local reserves. |