After saying goodbye to one family of our companions (Yulia and Sergei), we left Morapoi Station and headed towards Wiluna. This small town lies 966km north east of Perth and is on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, on the Goldfields Highway. It’s the gateway to the Canning Stock Route which runs north to Halls Creek, and the Gunbarrel Highway that runs east to Alice Springs. The town of Wiluna greets you with “the Last of the Nomads” statue. Having heard the songs about them sung by Greg from Morapoi Station where we stayed the night before, I was keen to learn more.
Warri and Yatungka from Martu tribe are believed to have been Australia’s last desert nomads. They met in 1930s and fell in love but traditional tribal law forbade them from marrying because they were the wrong match according to “skin group” law, so they decided to run away.
They lived in isolation, hunting traditionally and eating what nature provided them with. Warri and Yatungka remained in exile for many years, finding joy in their two sons but never stopped missing their land and people. Eventually, Martu elders forgave them and Warri and Yatungka returned to Wiluna, where they spent their last days, passing away within three weeks of each other in 1979, marking the end of a tribal lifestyle lasting for more than 40000 years. The story of Warri and Yatungka still lives though through many aboriginal songs, poems and a bronze statue at the entrance to Wiluna.
After filling up fuel at Wiluna, we decided it was time to settle for the night. I planned to stay at one of the farm stations 12km off Wiluna and return back to Wiluna to travel on Canning Stock Route to get a taste. However, what can be done today, must be done today – must have been God’s will for us that day😊. So, off we went on Canning Stock Route – one of the most challenging and isolating roads, that connects Wiluna to Halls Creek. Canning Stock Route was originally proposed by Kimberley pastoralists after east Kimberley cattle got infected with ticks, and was banned from shipping to southern markets. Named after Alfred Canning, who was commissioned to survey and build a stock route in 1906, Canning Stock Route is around 1850km and is the longest historic stock route in the world.
To be honest, I was worried traveling there at dusk but the road was good and we only travelled 20km or so and stopped for the night at North Pool (it is between Well 1 and Well 2, 10km off Canning Stock Route). North Pool turned to be quite pretty rock hole, surrounded with river gums, offering nice shade (not that we needed it at night). With only one other camper trailer tucked at the corner of the camp spot, this place was all to ourselves.
Collecting wood for the fire and preparing meal being our priority before it got too dark, I put taking pictures off till morning. It was another cold and starry night and we kept ourselves warm around the fire while exchanging stories and testing kids’ knowledge of constellations.
Getting up just after the sun got up, I set off for a walk around the area. The surface at times looked like what I imagined the surface of the planet Mars would look like – red with quite big rocks scattered around and occasional weird looking plants.
After breakfast kids find themselves an entertainment – someone who has stayed there before us, has tied a rope to the tree. Our kids have fixed a plastic crate to it, and made it fly out into the water, a bit like a flying fox. Seeing kids play with it, I realised that they have too many unnecessary toys back at home, when in fact, they don’t need much to be satisfied and entertained. Nature provides everything they need to learn and play.
Getting a taste of Canning Stock Route was not the only agenda I had in Wiluna. There is a wonderful Tjukurba Aboriginal Art Gallery that I was eager to visit.
Australian Aboriginal people do not have written language, so they use art and drawings in order to convey their cultural stories and pass them on to the next generations. Indigenous art is centered on storytelling. Their stories convey knowledge of the land, events and beliefs of Aboriginal people. I always find Aboriginal art so fascinating, maybe because Aboriginal artists use symbols, such as dots, curved and straight lines, which makes their paintings look very mysterious. It is through their oral stories and drawings that their children are taught lessons of behaviour, survival and use of land.
“Tjukurba” means “Dreaming” in the Aboriginal language. Dreaming or Dreamtime is Australian Aboriginal religio-cultural view of the world and is based on inter-relation and inter-connectedness of all people and things. Aboriginal people believe that ancestral spirits descended on the land and created life and all geographical formations and sites. The Dreaming stories explain the origin of the universe and illustrate the deep connection Aboriginal people have with the land and the complex relationships between animals, plants, people and landscapes. In Indigenous culture, the health of the country and animals is tied to the health of the people who belong and protect that landscape. Dreaming stories are also spiritual or moral guides to behaviour and actions and they form the basis for the children’s upbringing.
The pictures at the Tjukurba Gallery mostly depict beautiful landscapes along the Canning Stock Route and the Gunbarrel Highway, as well as bush food and flowers, including bush bananas (Gunkula), bush tomatoes (Gungili), kangaroo and quandongs. Nearly half of the pictures at the Gallery are named Bush Tucker, which is another representation of the knowledge of which food can be eaten and how it is obtained, which is passed on through the art.
Having satisfied our thirst for knowledge, our senses and real physical thirst (did I mention that you can get free coffee at the friendly Wiluna Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre?), we have moved on towards Sandstone.
