Arabella
Proud Minyungbal Woman, by Lyn Mcgettigan
Arabella Douglas, proud Mingyungbal woman of the Bundjalung Nation. Pride emanates from you, surrounds you in waves as you walk, your bearing holds the memory of generations, your voice reverberates with the ancient culture you hold. You are the keeper of stories, the conduit that carries them from generation to generation. You are the keeper of ancient knowledge.
As a small child you played and learned and play-learned. You grew up, stronger than any current on your sepia river, your country. As the currents move and settle, carry and leave, you carried your culture; you gathered up what was good, you gathered up stories to pass on.
In your wisdom you taught others. Born from a belief that had come down from the star people, you passed it onto your mob, and always hopeful, sometimes in despair, you passed it on to the white man. Some will listen. Some are passing it on. The young children are learning. The melting pot of youth holds so much hope.
How strong are you — that when you saw the destruction of your ancient rock terraced oyster farms, the destruction of your country — you purposefully strode barefoot across the land that you again made yours, restoring, remembering.
Your mob are of the sea. The dolphin is the totem of the women and it is to the dolphin, gambolling in the water, that your spirit returns on death. You continue your stories. Men, whose traditional role of provider was so often cruelly taken from him by the white man, only has to look to the sky and see Miwing, the powerful sea eagle, his totem hunting. His strength and pride so visible. Kabul, the carpet snake totem of the mob, says, “I am on the land. I too provide your food”.
“Take only what you want from the land. Replace what you take.” We feasted with Arabella. We ate the green from your country, the beneficence of the sea, and knew that there would always be more if this was practised instead of the rape of the land. We marvelled at the huge, sweet mud crabs, the salty river oysters, the prawns, the saltbush salad. Beside us were the curious pelicans. Soon we too had our curiosity satisfied by the storyteller.
“We are one with the land,” Arabella began, “We stomp our feet, this is our intimacy with earth. Many cultures do this. When we are sad we sit beneath a tree. A tree is alive. It feels your sorrow and your pain. It weeps with you. It will bend towards you to give comfort. Lie underneath and feel reinvigorated, feel happy, feel as one.”
The calling of the sea life closer to land has also been observed in many cultures. There is no scientific report in a reputable journal to disprove her. Instead, entries in many missionary journals attest to this.
“We call the whales closer to the land. In whale season all mobs from South to Carpentaria do this. The whales are closer now. The dolphins are closer also for the dolphin is the midwife to the whale. The fish come in closer, the sharks come in closer. The sharks herd the fish closer to land for us to fish.” She continued to tell of recent wind ceremonies, lasting a month, where men from many mobs called the wind and caused it to move to control a climate out of sync. But a very special part of this trip was to come — the women’s ceremony.
We had one man in our group so we could not go to the sacred women’s birthing pool. Instead we went to a special spot hidden in the mangroves. Here, immersed in shallow water, we became as one with the water. We washed the water over our bodies, let the spirit of the water know that we were there, that we were open to the peace, serenity and the knowledge that the water could give us. We rose and took that peace with us as we left Arabella’s country.
A stillness, silence and cloak of awe seemed to have fallen over the group. We remained for a while subconsciously in Currie Country, oblivious to and not wanting to return to our reality. But the knowledge that we could become as one with country — immersing in water, lying under a tree remained with us. We would never surf again without acknowledging our story of the sea.
Even as you shared this wonder with us, at times a deep sadness overcame me. There was also a heaviness hanging low — a fog. This land had a dark story to tell. It felt at times that the land was still mourning the violence and sadness of its past. But Arabella did not dwell on this history. From her we only felt joy and hope and a moving forward.
Arabella, thank you for all that you have given us, for the privilege of hearing your stories and sharing your country.
Can we bend our knees? Dadirri — can we listen? Can we listen deep?
©Lyn McGettigan Feb 2022
Photos by Jan Cornall
Written after the Tweed River Cultural Cruise with traditional owner Arabella Douglas. Arabella leads cultural tours and other events on Minyungbal country in the Tweed River district with her family run business Currie Country.
Lyn Mcgettigan’s book Behind the Bar-Room Door, Tales of a Publican’s Wife, is published by Indiemosh. She is currently working on a biography and a book of short stories. Lyn is a frequent traveller with Writer’s Journey and attended our 2022 Belongil Beach Writer’s Retreat, hosted by Create Escape Tours.
www.writersjourney.com.au
