An open letter from Aunty Bev Spiers . . .
My Tribal name is Goolabeen. I am a fully Initiated Law and Medicine
Woman of the Alleyerwere Tribe of Utopia from the Central Desert. But I am better and more widely known as Auntie Bev particularly in
the Jails of NSW, where I have just retired after 29 years working with
Aboriginal prisoners – being there for them 24/7 as an Elder, an
Aboriginal Art and Culture teacher, suicide Counsellor and Mental health
Worker.
As I was born here in Woy Woy 78 years ago, I speak as an Elder of the
Darkinoong Tribe from the Central Coast of N.S.W. And today, I speak on
behalf of all Central Coast Aboriginal women with the support of the
Aboriginal men and of many non-Aboriginal people who know of the
importance of preserving the Sacred Aboriginal Dreaming Track.
A New Zealand company ‘Rocla Sandmining’ is planning to build a mine on
an Aboriginal Women’s Fertility Rites Songline and Teaching Place. This
Songline is part of the Sacred Dreaming Track, and its destruction would
destroy with it tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal heritage.
Her
Majesty’s NSW Government has approved the company to go ahead with their
stage 4 extension, which comprises a massive 30 metre deep hole gouged
out of the ground that will take our Sacred Sites out completely.
My mission is to make all Australians aware of how significant this loss
would be – to help them fully understand the Cultural importance of
this site, and why it must not be destroyed by Rocla Sandmining Company
or Her Majesty’s Government of N.S.W.
I, as an Initiated woman, wish to explain the importance of this site so
that all Australians can understand how important it is for this site
to be preserved and not destroyed – as Rocla Sand Mining intends to do.
- I first ask for your respect and acknowledgement of the existence and importance of our Black History in white Australia.
- Secondly, I would like it acknowledged that Black history and culture is
recorded and taught in ways that are different from the White Fellas
ways, but are no less important to its people.
White Australia has The Mitchell Library, given funded and maintained by
the government, to house all your important papers, records, books,
events, stories and artifacts. At the Mitchell Library, all your White
History is kept safe from vandalism, kept safe for posterity.
We, the original custodians of this land, had no paper, pens or writing
equipment like yours to record our history on. Instead, back then, we
used our recall, our memory to re-tell our stories and the law, and to
re-sing our songs of what came before us, what needed to be passed down,
carried on, down through time for posterity – just like the white man’s
way.
Our people also had the dedication and patience to carve those stories
and laws into hard rock platforms, to build entire sites that record our
history, our culture and our stories – where we hoped they would be
preserved for posterity.
Every symbol or line we carved may have taken
months to complete, but how else were we to permanently record – for our
children, and their children – the stories, the law and the history of
the original custodians of the land? And this area is full of such
sites.
Famous French Archeologist Jean Clottes viewed some of these rock
platforms when visiting the area, and said
“This area of the Central
Coast has the greatest diversity of Rock Art in the world that I have
ever seen”
This diversity is part of what Rocla Sand mines want to destroy –
- part
of our Dreaming track
- an important Song-line
- the Women's Fertility
Rites Teaching Place.
This Dreaming Track goes right around Australia
through every tribal country, and is a common space which all can use to
walk, hunt and gather, visit relatives, attend important meetings and
participate in special Sacred Ceremonies. It has very great significance
in telling our History, how we lived here as Hunters and Gatherers, as
custodians of the land, how we evolved, and what roles we played in
life.
The Dreaming Track must never be broken. Its ancient history cannot be
lost. It is our Mitchell Library, And like yours, it must be saved for
posterity. Lose it and it is gone forever... And that would be a shameful
blight on the history of this land.
 |
| Koala is a sacred symbol of motherhood |
Stop, Look and Listen well…
The Women’s Fertility Rites Songline and Teaching Place is complex and
includes many ceremonial aspects that Her Majesty’s NSW Government and
Rocla Mining Company have failed to acknowledge.
Aboriginal history is drawn on the rock platforms, painted in the caves
and told by the stone arrangements we left in this area – and all over
Australia – to tell our stories.
We also told and sung our stories
orally. Called Song-lines, these were learnt by the boys and the girls
as they grew up and were old enough to go through ceremony.
Each
Song-line is part of the Dreaming Track, the sacred rites of passage for
Aboriginal people. That is why the whole of the story, the whole of the
Song-line, and the whole of the Dreaming Track, must be preserved and
re-told.
As the Elders and Women of High Degree, we taught every young girl
Initiate our Sacred Oral History, word for word, brush stroke by brush
stroke, just as we had been taught, so that they in turn could also pass
it down to their children as it had been passed down to them by. This
was important Ceremonial practice, our way of passing our History down
through the ages. This was part of our Great Survival Pattern.
The special Song-line of the Women's Fertility Rites part of the
Dreaming Track was very important to the young female initiates as they
'passed through' from girlhood to womanhood. This was their Learning
Place, the place they were sung the story of the Women's Fertility Rites
and painted up (by way of explanation) to be put through their first
initiation to become a Woman – following in the tradition of their
Grandmothers, and their Grandmothers before them.
The Women’s Fertility
Rites is a big step for a 12 year old girl. This was how we taught the
women to survive through birth out in the bush, with nothing but nature
and our knowledge. We didn’t have any of your hospitals and clinics and
Women's Centres, just nature, the ancient knowledge of our ancestors and
our instinct for survival.
The Sacred linear stone arrangement that points the way to the learning
place must also be acknowledged by the Initiate. It shows her Respect to
the Woman of High Degree, the Keeper of the story of the Women's
Fertility Rites.
Next stop in the Songline was at the junction of the 3 Creeks. (Marked
A, B and C on the map of the site). This was where the women sat and
ground and sharpened their tools on the rock beside the creeks. Here,
they sung the story of the Women's Fertility Rites Songline, while the
painters of the story painted up the Initiate to show the story being
told.
When the painting of the initiate was finished, she was then taken by
the older women to the special rock engraving of ‘The Woman of High
Degree’. She stands with her arms high and is cut with special incisions
to show the many times she was initiated – and the special status that
she holds.
She is likened to the Male Kadartchitta Man, or Clever Fella,
who also is of High degree and is held in great respect by all Tribes.
The Woman of High Degree is shown with very full breasts, which denotes
that the woman is the main nurturer of the Tribe.
She will feed any who
needs her nourishment for as long as it is needed. This, again, is a
practice of Survival. The Woman of High Degree’s feet are turned
outward, which represents that she is the teacher and the keeper of this
special Women's Fertility Rites story.
She is saying
"Stop, Look, and Listen well"!
... And remember what you are
being taught here today by your Elders”. This is what is expected of you
as you go through your initiation to become a Woman.
Beside the figure of the Woman of High Degree is another symbolic
creature, the Koala. Very special to our Women, we are not allowed to
eat the Koala. She is the symbol of great motherhood and how a mother
should care for her children. The baby koala hangs from her mother until
it is far too heavy to do so any longer. The koala never lets that baby
out of her sight.
And so it is expected of the new Aboriginal mother to
care like this for her offspring.
The last important feature of this site is a large figure of Durramulan
(Sacred spirit) shown in his special head-wear, pointing to the very
special Sacred Women's site – which his wife (in Emu form) also guards.
By the end of the ceremony, initiates are taken away by the Special
Women who are in charge of the initiation and “Put Through”. They then
stay with the Special Women for a year, where they are taught all about
marriage and what that entails in our culture. At the end of that year,
when the initiate turns 13, they are then given in marriage to the man
that has been chosen for them.
As you can see, the Women’s Fertility Rites is a very important time for
our young women and an integral part of my people’s culture. The sacred
site that has hosted these rites for thousands of years, and witnessed
the passage of generations of women before me, must be protected from
the threat of mining. It is essential that this Sacred dreaming track
and its Songline never gets lost or destroyed. The Sacred history of my
people must be preserved.
We, the Elders, still take our daughters and nieces to this Special
Women's Fertility Rites site, and even though they may not choose to go
through this ceremony today, they show respect for the Women's law, its
history, and its ancient ancestry.
Well, we used to take them and visit this Sacred site… until Rocla Sand
Mining and the NSW Government decided last year that Aboriginal Women
could no longer visit their Sacred Place.
THIS UPSET US VERY MUCH, BEING
STOPPED FROM VISITING OUR ANCIENT SACRED SITE.
It reminded us of the
time they took our Languages from us and never let us speak it again for
fear of punishment.
IT IS NOT RIGHT THAT HER MAJESTY’S NSW GOVERNMENT ALLOWS A COMPANY TO
STOP THE DARKINOONG AND THE GURINGAI PEOPLE FROM PRACTICING ITS ANCIENT
CULTURE.
IT IS NOT RIGHT THAT A NEW ZEALAND COMPANY DESTROYS OUR SACRED SITES SO IT CAN TAKE OUR LAND’S RESOURSES FOR PROFIT.
The Women’s Fertility Rites Songline and Teaching Place, the carving of
‘The Woman of High Degree’, the Sacred linear stone arrangement, the
junction of the 3 Creeks, the figure of Durramulan … the sacred
archaeology of this entire area must be preserved, and its Black History
respected.
AUSTRALIA IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE COUNTRY OF THE ‘FAIR GO.....
SO WE ASK
ROCLA SANDMINING AND HER MAJESTY’S NSW GOVERNMENT TO GIVE US, THE
DARKINOONG AND THE GURINGAI PEOPLE, THE SOVEREIGN CARETAKERS OF THIS
LAND, A FAIR GO TOO!
I would appreciate any assistance you can give to help me save this sacred area.
Thanks and regards,
Auntie Beve
Original article-
http://wakeup-world.com/2014/01/06/open-letter-from-aboriginal-elder-protect-our-sacred-womens-fertility-site/
Facebook group to take action in the area-
https://www.facebook.com/events/230941073746757/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
