He gingerly places his foot amongst the long grass, which towers well above his head. He feels patiently with his bare foot, sure to not step on anything too sharp, especially the dreaded Pandanus fronds. Ian hangs back as he lets the aboriginal boy feel his way though; he follows the trails of what is an unknown animal. Well to my uneducated eye’s it is anyway, to the boy it is a Wallaby. The two casually chatter amongst themselves, a language which I don’t understand but isn’t foreign, quite a contrast perhaps as in fact it is the local tongue of the indigenous folks throughout these parts. I’m the foreigner here, and I have much to learn.
Occasionally Ian clues us in to what they are saying, usually about the many animal tracks which he is encouraging the young fella to identify or “track”. This tradition of tracking was one the most praised skills of the local people in the early days of European settlement; they could follow animal activities for miles on end, day after day hunting for rewards, or too find stray cattle. Every print or broken twig would tell the tracker a story and a keen eye could probably tell you more about the animal then if you had seen it for yourself. Something Ian would later explain to me as a dying art form like many of the traditional practises of the Aboriginal people, as the need for hunting is invalidated with the take over with modern European society. The young kids now prefer to buy a stale piece of meat from the rack then to take something which used to be for free.
Well I better back up and explain how I ended up here, a dense jungle growing over an underground spring. What can I say I love to eat, and it’s better when it’s free! Well that’s what drew me to the small meeting on Thursday night, when I heard Ian Morris was presenting a talk about the plants used in the traditional Aboriginal life. At the time when I heard about this talk I was browsing though a book on the Kakadu National Park while waiting for Miss H to get ready. Her Aunty was strolling though the room I sat in when she noticed the book in my palms; “I’m going to a talk presented by the author of that book tonight”. I eagerly questioned for more information.
From here it escalated and that is how I found myself deep in the Black Jungle of Kakadu National Park. How I ended up here is rather bizarre, but more so how I ended up here with the Top End Plant Growers Society is stranger. A modest group of middle aged people who commit countless hours to the research of plants, they are at the forefront of documenting rare and even unknown species of plants which exist in the diverse ecosystems of the top end. Some are Botanist, while others naturalists and entomologists. Sounds kinder dull, maybe even geeky to most, but for me my interest leaned heavily towards the understanding of eatable plants more then anything else. But as I would soon learn, it was hard not to be drawn into the member’s excitement and passion for the wild life, especially Ian and his intermit knowledge of just about anything to do with the bush.
But what Ian also brought with him was the ability to enrich our walk with the history and knowledge of Aboriginal culture and how they coexisted with such a harsh environment. To them though this was the land of plenty, and in a biblical sense, you could be mistaken for this to be the Promised Land. At one point Ian told us of a story from when he was a younger lad. He and the tribe he was with at the time were informed of a Greek man attempting to cross Arnhem Land in a V-dub. The man had gone missing after being warned not to attempt such a crossing by local authority. Anyway as the story is told they followed the man’s tracks in circles until he eventually withered and died. And as Ian explained to us, the Elder’s of the tribe mourned for days on end, as they could not comprehend how someone could die in the land of plenty, to them is the equivalent of a supermarket to us.
“They’re a useless bunch, they didn’t even invent the wheel”.. It’s true that I once associated with this statement, shameful as it is to admit. Ignorance and the lack of education had me making such foolish accusations. I never realised what they had going was good, in actual fact probably a better way of life then what I have.
To be continued…
Occasionally Ian clues us in to what they are saying, usually about the many animal tracks which he is encouraging the young fella to identify or “track”. This tradition of tracking was one the most praised skills of the local people in the early days of European settlement; they could follow animal activities for miles on end, day after day hunting for rewards, or too find stray cattle. Every print or broken twig would tell the tracker a story and a keen eye could probably tell you more about the animal then if you had seen it for yourself. Something Ian would later explain to me as a dying art form like many of the traditional practises of the Aboriginal people, as the need for hunting is invalidated with the take over with modern European society. The young kids now prefer to buy a stale piece of meat from the rack then to take something which used to be for free.
Well I better back up and explain how I ended up here, a dense jungle growing over an underground spring. What can I say I love to eat, and it’s better when it’s free! Well that’s what drew me to the small meeting on Thursday night, when I heard Ian Morris was presenting a talk about the plants used in the traditional Aboriginal life. At the time when I heard about this talk I was browsing though a book on the Kakadu National Park while waiting for Miss H to get ready. Her Aunty was strolling though the room I sat in when she noticed the book in my palms; “I’m going to a talk presented by the author of that book tonight”. I eagerly questioned for more information.
From here it escalated and that is how I found myself deep in the Black Jungle of Kakadu National Park. How I ended up here is rather bizarre, but more so how I ended up here with the Top End Plant Growers Society is stranger. A modest group of middle aged people who commit countless hours to the research of plants, they are at the forefront of documenting rare and even unknown species of plants which exist in the diverse ecosystems of the top end. Some are Botanist, while others naturalists and entomologists. Sounds kinder dull, maybe even geeky to most, but for me my interest leaned heavily towards the understanding of eatable plants more then anything else. But as I would soon learn, it was hard not to be drawn into the member’s excitement and passion for the wild life, especially Ian and his intermit knowledge of just about anything to do with the bush.
But what Ian also brought with him was the ability to enrich our walk with the history and knowledge of Aboriginal culture and how they coexisted with such a harsh environment. To them though this was the land of plenty, and in a biblical sense, you could be mistaken for this to be the Promised Land. At one point Ian told us of a story from when he was a younger lad. He and the tribe he was with at the time were informed of a Greek man attempting to cross Arnhem Land in a V-dub. The man had gone missing after being warned not to attempt such a crossing by local authority. Anyway as the story is told they followed the man’s tracks in circles until he eventually withered and died. And as Ian explained to us, the Elder’s of the tribe mourned for days on end, as they could not comprehend how someone could die in the land of plenty, to them is the equivalent of a supermarket to us.
“They’re a useless bunch, they didn’t even invent the wheel”.. It’s true that I once associated with this statement, shameful as it is to admit. Ignorance and the lack of education had me making such foolish accusations. I never realised what they had going was good, in actual fact probably a better way of life then what I have.
To be continued…
4 comments:
Wow, that's so cool. I've never thought about it before, but being able to track animals like that, for days, just going by what nature tells them, it really is an art form!
What a great post! Certainly food for thought.
what a wicked post... I love the way you wrote it, I was hanging on to every word, couldn't wait to read what came next!
Can't wait for part 2!
Thanks guys, I was trying a different format then i usually use. Appears it is an improvement. I'm still unhappy with sentance structure, but that comes with time.
As for the subject.. It's been a really interesting experience, just hope I can do it justice.
:)
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