Nainmurra yawang Take care of pathway

When I first encountered Narrow Neck yawang (pathway) after the gumbii (fires), where my mother Aunty Mary and her family walked, ate, connected, and dreamed, I was broken. My partner and I stood there silently, overwhelmed with a sense of emotional despair at the condition of our Country. It was eerily quiet and appeared barren with no life.

As a warrii (far away) teenager, I would regularly yurrabii (walk) the valleys and ridge lines from Leura to Narrow Neck, on Gundungurra Country, Blue Mountains NSW. When connection was warrii and I was in despair, the strength of Country reached out to me. The spiritual essence of this land that society quite often denies, kept me alive. When you ngulaa dharlii naangi (sit stand see) across Country there is a spirit which embraces everything through flora, fauna, people, sky, and water. It is called connection.

Something during this time, while travelling these yawangs, they spoke to me. I found peace, connection, beauty, and solace. It always got me thinking about my journeys as a youth and the importance of connection to yawangs and experiences – my stories.

I was an avid pushbike rider and rode everywhere. Guildford to the City, Guildford to Katoomba, Guildford to Bundanoon and then quite often rode the train home with my bike. I once rode with a group or riders from Parramatta to the South Coast. The convenor of the event couldn’t split me and another rider on points, so we were asked to remember how many turns there were in the six-hour ride from Parramatta. I was able to visualise every corner, and answer correctly, so I won the event.

This reflection shows that we can all demonstrate, individually and as a community, further understanding and connecting through yawangs visually. As we look to our Country here in the Blue Mountains, I often wonder how long before people naangi Gundungurra Country and the stories it holds?

From my younger years to my adult years, I was always on some form of Country. Whether it be naadyu (freshwater) or bullingang (saltwater) there were many journeys and yawangs that educated me. My developing connection to Country continually spoke to me which helped me grow and change. Even during my Deakin University days on Wadawurrung clan of the Kulin Nation, my lecturer questioned me, “have you never heard of the term resilience?” I lived my entire life trying to manage perceived success through a plethora of errors. So, viewing recovery quickly through failure was never my perception. Unfortunately, the process of resilience has become a modern concept which was never part of our Aboriginal Culture.

I remember vividly my yawangs growing up and then as I connected more with my Aboriginal Culture, the disparity became a sense of wholeness. Up until the last few generations our landscape, yawangs, and connections were strong. The imagery and visualisation from Aboriginal Culture created people who dreamed. There was connection, yawangs, landscape, imagery, and visualisation – the burringilling (dreaming). The gunyunggalung (dreamtime) and dreaming are major elements of Aboriginal Culture. I believe this extends into all aspects of mainstream society, but have we forgotten how to dream?

As a society when we don’t connect to Country, we lose a part of ourselves. People say how do you see or hear on Country? You connect by walking the yawangs, seeing the landscape, imagining, and visualising – the dreaming. We keep the connections and circles of life strong through participation.

The Narrow Neck flora and fauna which survived the gumbii were able to regenerate and reconnect to their home. Our Gundungurra Country is strong, it shouldn’t need to be resilient. Our people dream on this Country, protect, and make stronger for our future generations. I hope we can bring change so that resilience on Country becomes a part of our past dreaming. I sometimes wonder what our emerging elders will inherit. What will their images and visual recollections be?

Yurrabii nguuniinaa muthurh gunai dhaura widang gunai dhaura gulangurra gunai dhaura naangi mindyii naimurra yawang burraandii yanguu burraanduu (walk close to mother earth sweet smelling mother earth with me mother earth see sky take care of pathway yesterday today tomorrow)

The raw beauty you experience when you sit on a ridgeline like Narrow Neck – you can see the Gurrangatch and Mirragan Dreamtime story, which is a creation story. There is so much beauty and story in our landscape. This generates creativity.

Out of the decimation and despair, the pink flannel flowers blossomed.