Tag: Golden Outback

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 😊.

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

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.

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.