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Seeds the Chronicle
Authors note
Authors note
As Homo sapiens, we can trace our history back to our humble beginnings and our emergence in East Africa some 300,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe that sapiens began spreading out of Africa about 70,000 years ago. Remarkably, they found their way to the distant continent of Australia about 60,000 years ago. Thus began the incredible story of the First Australians, who developed and refined the longest continuous culture on earth.
These early explorers and adventurers spread throughout Australia in a few thousand years. They adapted to an extraordinary variety of climates, some very physically demanding. Their many diverse cultures had one important common goal: to protect and preserve Australia’s unique flora and fauna, the plants and animals that their survival depended upon.
So began thousands of years of experimenting and learning about Australia’s very unusual plants. Their culinary and healing properties. Their value as food for the grazing animals that they hunted. The ecosystems that they supported. The best way to maintain and manage these ecosystems across the immense Australian continent.
The First Australians were Animists and considered plants and animals to be their equals. They used totemism to create very close, intimate links with Australia’s fauna. Individuals were given a personal totem at birth, and this totem animal was loved as if it was part of their extended family. They developed a very detailed knowledge of their totem’s ecological needs, and it was their duty to protect both their totem and its habitat.
In Victoria in 1835, two very different cultures clashed. The First Australians, who saw nature as central to their existence and spirituality. The invading culture that saw nature as a commodity given to them by god to exploit for income, wealth and power. We all know how this clash of cultures ended and we are still seeing this distressing story playing out today.
The 250-year history of modern Australia we learnt at school. The extraordinary 60,000-year history of the First Australians has been ignored as if it is not important. Though it is preserved and shared as art, song and dance by First Australians, it is still largely unknown by the new races that have made modern Australia their home.
Seeds the Chronicle explores indigenous Australian history through the experience of the Pootmaroo, a band of the Borogundidj Clan. In part B you meet these people, see how they lived and coped with the rapid and ruthless changes that began in 1835. You will also meet one of their leaders Parwon, a linguist, a tactician and a superb athlete. Parwon embodies the courage of all the heroic men and women that endeavoured to defend their ancestral homelands that they call ‘Country’ in the frontier wars of the 1700s & 1800s.
Seeds the Chronicle is a fantasy woven into the ecology, historical events and people of early Victoria. It respectfully reconstructs the past from historic documents and early settler diaries. It draws the curtain aside on the overlooked years before the 1835 invasion and the years that followed. It looks at these years from the perspective of the First Australians.
In Parts A & C, Tristan Grey is our main character. He has been an asthmatic all his life, struggled at school, has poor self-esteem and not much experience of success. His relationship with his grandfather, a conservationist and farmer, is critical to his genuine interest in nature and the environment as he enters adulthood.
His life journey starts to change with his first job that takes him to The Gorge, a real location where most of the story takes place. Here he makes an astonishing connection with a 500-year-old River Red Gum. Tristan becomes more confident, stronger and more resilient through this connection. His growth as a person is a metaphor for the deep need we all have to connect with nature and the health benefits that this connection provides.
Through the tree, he time travels and reconstructs the past. The story is as much about Tristan’s growth into manhood in mind and body as it is about the extraordinary history that he uncovers.
My hope is that you will find ‘Seeds the Chronicle’ entertaining, educational, challenging, and optimistic. I hope it will also help you appreciate the remarkable and resilient culture of the First Australians.
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge that the Wadawurrung people are the traditional owners of the country on which I live and work. I would like to pay my respects to all Traditional Owners, past, present, and future. I recognise that the land on which we live was never ceded and was taken from them by force. I would like to express my regret for all the tragedies and injustice that indigenous people have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of the governing peoples of Australia.
I can only hope that we begin to learn from our past errors in land management and recognise that the Traditional Owners of this country have a lot to teach us about developing a sustainable relationship with the land on which we all live.
This story was written from a position of respect for the Wadawurrung people, past and present, and admiration for a culture that has sustained a balance in Australia's natural ecology for more than 60,000 years.
I acknowledge that the Wadawurrung people are the traditional owners of the country on which I live and work. I would like to pay my respects to all Traditional Owners, past, present, and future. I recognise that the land on which we live was never ceded and was taken from them by force. I would like to express my regret for all the tragedies and injustice that indigenous people have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of the governing peoples of Australia.
I can only hope that we begin to learn from our past errors in land management and recognise that the Traditional Owners of this country have a lot to teach us about developing a sustainable relationship with the land on which we all live.
This story was written from a position of respect for the Wadawurrung people, past and present, and admiration for a culture that has sustained a balance in Australia's natural ecology for more than 60,000 years.
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank my long-suffering wife, Lina for painting the front cover and the many hours she spent in discussion as I teased out each stage of the story. She also proofread the final document and made valuable suggestions during the writing process. Also, Tian Murphy for his professional touches to the front cover. My other very generous proofreaders were Christina Carter, Peter Spear, Ros Ellinger and Barrie Speight. Thank you all for your time and application to the slow and tedious process of checking spelling, punctuation and political correctness. Thank you also for your suggestions that have mostly been included.
I'd like to thank my long-suffering wife, Lina for painting the front cover and the many hours she spent in discussion as I teased out each stage of the story. She also proofread the final document and made valuable suggestions during the writing process. Also, Tian Murphy for his professional touches to the front cover. My other very generous proofreaders were Christina Carter, Peter Spear, Ros Ellinger and Barrie Speight. Thank you all for your time and application to the slow and tedious process of checking spelling, punctuation and political correctness. Thank you also for your suggestions that have mostly been included.
Author’s Disclaimer
This book is a natural history fantasy. Some of the characters that play important roles were actual people. I have mentioned them by name to add historic realism to the story and as a mark of respect for their important roles in Wathaurong culture or as settlers in early Geelong. The words they speak, their actions, and the opinions that they express in this book are purely fictional, created by the author and are not derived from historic records.
This book is a natural history fantasy. Some of the characters that play important roles were actual people. I have mentioned them by name to add historic realism to the story and as a mark of respect for their important roles in Wathaurong culture or as settlers in early Geelong. The words they speak, their actions, and the opinions that they express in this book are purely fictional, created by the author and are not derived from historic records.
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