6 Jan, from Eos to Yuludarla, Gumbaynggirr Dreaming
Ribbons of sea saliva inflate the start of sheen
and flying fish tie light in knots in the new lagoon.
The flood spewed raw materials downstream
for playful, curious bricoleurs Homo faber /
Homo artifex to get to work, to keep busy.
The sculptures have multiplied – abracadabra.
Cloud is a blue cursive script almost Aramaic,
the language Jesus spoke, though being Jewish
and a chippy he couldn’t read and couldn’t write.
I attempt to decipher the glyphs north to south
against a red parchment skirting the horizon
then trace sand islands’ voluptuous curves.
A half-moon dazzles silver alloy over the old lagoon,
targeted by the earliest Little Black Cormorant spiralling
gracefully, a Brahminy Kite keeps going south to north.
The new river mouth has been strung out,
shallows swill the folds and furrows of leftover waves,
some escape and somehow end up in a corner.
Three Glossy Black Cockatoos skim the trees, a choir
of carolling Magpies, and one loud Willie Wagtail.
I am thinking of the human need to do things, make things, be creative.
Micklo pulls up. Giinagay! And I surprise him with
the new regime of flow. He points to the glare of sun
and I become audience to deep time Dreamtime.
This intense red, he explains, is when Creator Beings
Birrugan and his father Yuludarla (Ulidarra) come together.
Yuludarla will soon leave, travel all day beneath the earth
reuniting with his son again at sunset, the cycle continues,
the old Gumbaynggirr names are coming home.
Michael (Micklo) Jarrett is a Gumbaynggirr Man born Macksville on the Nambucca River (Nyambaga Bindarray). He is a wonderful and energetic educator and mentor of Gumbaynggirr culture.
Language, ‘has opened up many doors in my Gumbaynggirr language journey across all facets of my life and has given me back my pride as an Aboriginal man. I am passing on my knowledge and skills to other Aboriginal people so they can feel the way I feel. I feel more connected to my language, my homeland, my people, the spirits of my homeland and most of all to my ancestors.’ Uncle Michael Jarrett[1]
The Gumbaynggirr Dreaming Stories make up one of the most extensive collections of Dreaming stories on the East Coast of of Australia. It brings together stories about many aspects of spiritual life, including the first three hero Ancestors, Yuludarla, Gawnggan and Birrugan. Muurrbay Bundani – The tree of life. How the sea was made and Moon Man – Giidanyba.[2]
‘In intense bursts of activity, they [ancestral beings] were able to transform and develop formless matter into a landscape. The features of the land they brought into being hold in their names the stories of their own creation. And the ancestors in the same way gave rise to living forms, the animal species, all manner of plants, the landforms, watercourses (which, though inanimate, are understood to have their own spirit or being) and, of course, people . . . This creative activity continues through the life-force latent in their resting place, in sites of significance for their story and in their various transformations—not only specific landmarks but sacred objects of many kinds, totemic emblems, images, participants in ceremony and especially in their (human) totemic descendants.’[3]
[1] http://www.cel.org.au/uncle-michael-jarrett/
[2] https://muurrbay.org.au/publications-and-resources/publications/
[3] Dunghutti Mob, Dunghutti Gods, Facebook, 4 July 2015. The Dunghautti poepel are very closely connected and their Country adjoins Gumbaynggirr Country to the south.
