Tag: Aboriginal experience

A taste of Canning Stock Route

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.

The statue of Last Nomads at the entrance of Wiluna town

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.

Photo taken at Wiluna Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre

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.

North Pool off Canning Stock Route

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.

Do you think this piece of wood look more like a snake or a dinosaur? It definitely looks to me like it is from another world :).

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.

Kids entertaining themselves at North Pool on Canning Stock Route

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.

At Tjukurba Aboriginal Art Gallery in Wiluna

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.

Captain Cook and his journey
Wiluna Rock Holes

“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.

Emu Corroboree Dance

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.

Bush Tucker

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.

Aboriginal experience at Morapoi Station

My plan to stay at Morapoi Station, was based on our desire to experience Aboriginal culture and learn from true Indigenous people. Aboriginal culture is estimated to be nearly 60,000 years old and is considered one of the oldest cultures in the world. Being that old, it is remarkable that so much knowledge has been preserved and passed on through generations when there was (and even at present) no written language. This made it even more fascinating for us to learn about Aboriginal culture from native Aboriginal people.

This is what we saw when we arrived at Morapoi Station

Morapoi Station has been home for Wangkatha  people for thousands of years. Around 46 family members currently live and work there, including Greg Stubbs, the custodian of the land and the station. There are horses and cattle on the station, which we saw daily. The kids played with ponies and even christened each one of them with a Russian name (our kids being of Russian heritage). Our big group of 10 people (6 adults and 4 children) camped there for 3 nights. The facilities are quite run down, but we were happy to enjoy electricity and hot showers after spending a night at the wildness with no facilities. The electricity is run on generators and hot water is heated with wood fire, so they are only available from around 6pm till midnight.

We arrived at Morapoi station from Lake Douglas, which is less than a 2 hour drive north of Kalgoorlie, in time for a late lunch. I was surprised to find quite a number of flies there, despite it being winter (July, which is middle of winter in the southern hemisphere). I guess, in the bush you find flies throughout the whole year, but with a dramatic increase in numbers in summer.

First lunch at Morapoi Station

There is fire pit, which was lit up for us every night by the time we came from our day trip exploring the surrounding area. The camping area was quite big considering that it was only our caravan and a tent there, so we had all the privacy. For kids the highlight of the stay was the playground with a small flying fox, monkey bars, small jumping pillow and a running barrel.

The cost of our camping and use of the facilities was included in the tour which was the main reason why we stayed at the station. It is $120 per adult and $55 per child, which I thought was quite reasonable considering that the tour was from 9am till 6pm and included lunch.

So, in the morning Greg, whose Aboriginal name is Woobilee, came to pick us up at his off the road mini bus.

Greg Stubbs, the owner of Morapoi Station and our guide

Greg took us to his headquarters where we were introduced to some of his family members and heard their tribal stories. There I learnt that Morapoi in the Aboriginal name means “Hand of God”. I also learnt a few interesting things about Aboriginal families. I already knew that Aboriginal families are very big. Girls marry young, usually around 17-18 years old and they have children early, normally one after another. Greg was largely surprised that in both my friends’ families there was a big gap between the older and the younger child. The whole community takes part in children’s upbringing, so not only the biological mother, but her sisters become a mother for each of the children.

Aboriginals only have one Aboriginal name (there is no surname or middle name but they all have their English name as well) and children are normally named after one of the family members and it is not necessary the father or grandfather – it could be an aunt or uncle. The name is given based on some character similarities. In Aboriginal family one of the greatgrandchildren becomes a mother or a father (depending on their sex) for their great-grandparent. What that means, is that they have the same name and it becomes their responsibility to look and care after their greatgrandparent when they are old enough.

On the left: Greg with his greatgrandson Woobilee whom Greg calls Daddy.

Greg also told us about Aboriginal skin groups and the rules about marrying. If someone wanted to marry from the wrong skin group they were punished into the leg with a spear. A beautiful story of Warri and Yatungka, who decided to run away in order to escape this punishment (due to them being from wrong skin groups) is one such example. We visited the statue of Warri and Yatungka in Wiluna the following day and we also heard the song about them which Greg sang for us later that night.

Nalkarri! Let’s go for an adventure! We climbed back into the bus and drove for about half an hour into the bush off the beaten track. In fact, the bus was making its own track once it turned off the sealed road. It was quite steady even though it was high and it did feel at times as though we’ll get stuck. I trusted Greg knew what he was doing. Our first stop was Aboriginal camp sites. These are very different to the campsites we used to stay. In fact, you wouldn’t even think that this place has any significance until you hear Aboriginals explain that. Their campsites were Wiltga – a simple little hut made of tree branches. Aboriginals didn’t stay in one place for a long time and when the supply of food and water was running out, they moved on, leaving their hut and all the belongings for the next camper.

This is an example of Aboriginal camp

Greg explained that the cuts and holes in the trees meant that Aboriginal people camped there before. To our question whether Aboriginals still lead this kind of life style, Greg answered that his mother lived like that, in the bush, moving from place to place but that traditional nomadic lifestyle ended about 50 years ago.

Surviving in the bush depends to a great degree on one’s ability to find water. Obviously, nomadic Aboriginals did not carry water with them as they moved from place to place. Instead, they travelled along the chain of natural water sources, like rock holes, where water was collected. Greg showed us one such significant Aboriginal site, called Seven Sisters, telling us, as a typical Aboriginal would do, a Dream story of 7 angelic sisters who came down on the Earth from the sky in that place.

One of the rock holes of Seven Sisters Aboriginal site

Another natural source of water was roots of certain trees, like Kurrajong tree. Our adventurous friend Captain Andrei was quick enough to use his hunter’s knife, which he carried with him all the time, to dig out the roots and try out for himself how much water can be obtained. Not much, but when you are faced with the survival challenge, chewing the roots of Kurrajong tree could make all the difference. By the way, I did taste it too. It tasted pretty much like any tree roots would taste. It was slightly sweet, and all you could do is chew it to obtain maximum water and spit it out.

Andrei is peeling Kurrajong tree roots

Of course, these were the practices of the old days when Aboriginals still lived in the bush and led nomadic life style. In the modern days windpumps can be seen often in the rural areas and are used to pump underground water for cattle.

As the day was unfolding, the weather started to change and reveal different colours. The strong wind blew away the flies and brought with it brightness and intensity of colours which made Australian bush look quite magic.

This magic bush has been providing Aboriginals with food during all seasons for centuries. One of such bush food (typically referred to as bush tucker) is Karklula, which is a fruit grown on trees. Karlkula is also known as bush banana and can be eaten raw or cooked in hot earth. I tried the seeds which tasted quite sweet and unfortunately, missed on cooked Karlkula while attending to my younger son but found out that cooked bush banana tasted just as nice as raw one.

  • Karlkula tree leaves
  • Karlkula tree seeds

Lunch was included in the cost of the tour and was catered for Europeans, so it included do-it-yourself sandwiches and drinks.

During lunch I learnt an unusual way of making and preparing bread! Yes, this is what modern Aboriginals do – they make doll out of the shop bought bread mix and then put into the ashes, allowing the hot earth to bake it. Back in Russia, this is how we bake potato but now I learnt that you can bake bread as well. Greg checked the bread for readiness and used small branches to take out the bread and then with the help of the knife scrapped off the burnt top. Freshly baked bush bread! Yum!

Greg is baking bread in Aboriginal bush way

After extinguishing the camp fire, covering the ashes and packing up, it was time to move on to the next Aboriginal site.

The weather kept changing and revealed some dramatic clouds. According to Greg, storm was coming.

Greg stopped the bus briefly to show us sandalwood tree. It is a native tree, quite common in those areas (at the edge of Southwest). The oil is extracted from the wood and has a wide application in medicine and aromatherapy. We all had a turn at breaking a small branch, smelling it and taking the branch back home as a souvenir.

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Going back to the bus, I noticed how dry the earth was. Even with those huge dark clouds there was not a drop of moisture in the air. The earth looked like puzzle cut into pieces, forming attractive design.

Big Dog rock was the next significant Aboriginal site we visited. Another dreaming story was told by Greg about the dog that ran away from Albany all the way to the Goldfields. Greg asked the male part of our group to climb the rock and played some challenge game with them. The female part of the group was instructed to leave and not to peep, so I can’t report on what was the challenge all about 😊.

Big Dog Rock

We spent nearly 2 hours in that place – it offered many opportunities for taking interesting pictures.

Double paparazzi

While the adults were busy making photo shots, kids found their own entertainment. My younger son Ilya learnt how to make fire by rubbing the stones together. This kept him busy for hours as he kept practising.

Ilya is making fire

Meanwhile the older son Ariel was busy climbing the rocks.

It was dark when we returned back to our camp ground. Next day beautiful sunrise greeted us as we were packing up to leave for our next destination – Wiluna, the gateway to the Canning Stock Route.