Intergenerational Trauma & Family and Domestic Violence Fragment 2: Context of Time

FRAGMENT 2

C O N T E X T O F T I M E

Every moment in time sits in the context of now, with wisdom built on yesterday, in the anticipation of tomorrow.

For the people of the Wiradjuri Nation, time is not measured in linear form, but rather circular, without a beginning or end. Time is situated by events within the context of now, a space of considered focus.

Dreaming is part of social, religious, political and economic life for Aboriginal people as referenced in First Knowledges: Design by Alison Page and Paul Memmott.71 The knowledge, values, traditions and law are shared through oral histories, storytelling, ceremony, dance and song. This knowledge provides a structure, which sits in the present and by which, Aboriginal people view and interpret the world.

D R E A M T I M E

During the Dreaming, ancestral spirits, who appeared in many forms, came up out of the earth and down from the sky to walk on the land, as travelers and hunters and with consideration, they carved the land formations across Country. They also created all the people, animals and vegetation that were to be a part of the land and laid down the patterns their lives were to follow. These spirit ancestors gave Aboriginal people the lores and customs of their culture. When their work was completed the ancestral spirits went back into the earth, the sky, the waters, in diverse forms appended to their people. Dreaming stories form part of Songlines, the knowledge system of Aboriginal people today.72

To the Wiradjuri people, Baiame is the creation ancestor and the Skyfather. He is seen in the Orion constellations of the night sky. He descended from the sky to land and gave form to the land, creating rivers, mountains and forests. He also gave Aboriginal people their laws, traditions and culture. There are many dreaming stories about Baiame, associated with different clans across Nations and all Aboriginal people.

T R A N S N A T I O N A L

From the earliest of times, people have used the sky to ground their spirituality, cultures , thinking and values. “Constellations: common global meanings”, Cosmos Magazine73, represents this as,

“Constellations of stars have assisted people in shaping their own ongoing narratives and cultures to make meaning of life on the land. Even though we live under one sky, we all do not see the same sky, at the same time.”74

The constellations however, are what connect all people, all matter. Common patterns between Greek and Aboriginal cosmology, such as Orion and Baiame, create relationships through story and symbol.

N A T I O N A L

Baiame is the creation ancestor and the Skyfather for many Aboriginal people and their Nations. He is seen in the Orion constellations of the night sky. He descended from the sky to land and gave form to the land, creating rivers, mountains and forests. He also gave Aboriginal people their laws, traditions and culture.75 There are many dreaming stories about Baiame, associated with different clans across Nations and all Aboriginal people.

January 26th, 1788 marks a time in history of devastation, for First Nations people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Captain Arthur Phillip of the British Royal Navy, as commander of the First Fleet, led 11 ships into Botany Bay, New South Wales. Sydney Cove in Port Jackson became the first site for colonisation and violent conflict, disease, displacement and exile for the people of the Eora Nation.

U R B A N

The Wiradjuri people are known as the people of the three rivers: the Wambool (now known as the Macquarie River), the Galari (the Lachlan River, from which the electorate takes its name) and the Murrumbidjeri (the Murrumbidgee River). Wiradjuri country is the largest in NSW,and the second largest within Australia as indicated in the AIATSIS “Map of Indigenous Australia.”76 The “Gugaa” (Goanna) is the overarching totem for the Wiradjuri Nation. It is the symbol that connects all people, past and present, of Wiradjuri land. For the Wiradjuri people the Emu in the Sky has great significance to the way they live and engage with Country.

“Many aboriginal groups across Australia recognise the ‘Emu in the Sky’, a dark figure stretching across the Milky Way…The emu is observed as it changes position from season to season. The changes closely relate to knowledge of both cultural matters and the resources linked to the Emu.”77

As documented by the National Museum of Australia Defining Moments Timeline,78 1794, marked the first acknowledged massacre of Aboriginal people by colonisers, known as the Hawkesbury Massacre, in a quest to obtain rich fertile soils for grazing and occupation. With increasing convict populations and harsh drought induced climate, Governor Lachlan Macquarie was focused on increasing the settlement’s capacity to produce its own food. His focus was on grain based agriculture to create a food supply for people and stock. Spurred on by capitalist ideologies, landholders continued to build stock holdings. Colonisers continued to expand their search for pastoral areas in a march to increase personal wealth and landholdings. In 1813 William Charles Wentworth, William Lawson and Gregory Blaxland, crossed to Blue Mountains to seek land for these purposes. Bathurst,west of the Blue Mountains, was established as a colonised town in 1815. For the Wiradjuri people the impacts were unfathomable, with unrelenting violence, displacement and insurmountable deaths.79

D O M E S T I C

The Mowgee clan are the Aboriginal people who lived on Country, now known as Mudgee and its surrounding areas. The Mowgee women’s totem is the Wedge Tail Eagle (Maliyan) and the men’s totem is the Crow (Waggan). Wiradjuri Country, 80 by Larry Brandy explains that the Wedge Tail Eagle is Australia’s largest bird of prey and is most visible in the night sky of winter. Whilst, the Crow is best seen in the evening sky during the summer months.

In 1822, William Lawson traveled from Bathurst to Mudgee and declared that Mudgee was the ideal pastoral grounds for agriculture. George and Henry Cox, moved cattle from Bathurst to Mudgee and they established themselves on the property known as Menah; an Aboriginal name meaning ‘place.’ After a short period of time, the relationship between the Mowgee people of the Wiradjuri Nation and the settlers became strained and as stated in Stephen Gapps work, Gudyarra: The First Wiradjuri War of Resistance- The Bathurst War,81 “...when there was ‘interference’ with the women, the warriors’ hostility was aroused. Warriors drove the armed stock men away, released cattle from the yards and killed numbers of sheep.”82 The Cox family responded with a counterattack which took place at Menah. In 1824, an assault on a young Aboriginal woman of the Dabee clan resulted in the men of the tribe burning down a hut and killing the stock men responsible, as well as live stock. The Dabee people were taken by surprise in an attack in the Brymair Valley. Recounts from Gapps book tell of the details pertaining to the massacre which, has had impact on the representation of Aboriginal people in the Mudgee region today; “very many sad scenes, when a war of nearly extermination was declared…An immense number of the natives, men, women and children, were slaughtered at Mudgee.. In the long reach of water at Dabee.”83 Details of the devastation and violence were never recorded and to this day are very rarely spoken of in Mudgee. In a conversation with Aleisha Lonsdale, Mudgee Local Aboriginal Land Council chairperson, she stated that “the people of Mudgee are not ready and may never be ready to learn of these atrocities. What is far more beneficial, is moving forward to create harmonious relationships in the present.”84

The town of Mudgee was gazetted and in 1841 and the township was established and marked by early architecture. The growth of Mudgee and the surrounding areas was the direct result of gold discovery at Hill End. Mudgee became a central hub for trade and travel routes to and from Sydney. The population increased from 200 to over 1500 people in 1861. During this time, the town infrastructure also developed to include churches, a school, post office, police station, court house and town hall.

Increasing colonisation and the introduction of diverse agriculture propelled the economic development of the township during the late 1800’s. Specifically the introduction of wool, merino studs and viticulture. Discovery of coal outside Mudgee, in the small township of Ulan, in 1924 has been an economic driver for nearly 100 years. Coal exploration has expanded across three sites and encroached on the ecology and sacred sites of Country. Ecological destruction through introduced species, farming, mining, viticulture and the use of air borne chemicals has led to decreased populations of native animals, destruction of watering holes and landscapes, impacted the health and well being of the community and represents an overall devaluation of Aboriginal culture. During COVID-19, the region drew many tree changers to the area, in search of a less urbanised environment. Tourism has continued to thrive in the region, with Mudgee being voted the top town for tourism nationally in 2021 and 2022.

M I C R O

According to the Mudgee Local Aboriginal Land Council, The Munna Reserve has always been a place of recreation and knowledge sharing, for both Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people. Sharing knowledge is central to Aboriginal culture. The site has been impacted by infrastructure development, the Mid-western Regional Council waste facility and more recently, housing sub divisions. The site however, continues to be significant to the local community through engagement with younger generations. Oral histories and walking together with Country, is critical in ensuring knowledge is shared, for the greater good of the ecology. Currently, the site is utilised as a gathering place for the Aboriginal community and an educational experience for local school children. Community are invested in ensuring education about bush medicine, landcare and regeneration is realised to protect and sustain Country for the future. The following Dreaming story for this site ironically connects to the proposed site program of refuge and healing for women; a call to address the global and local public health crises of trauma and domestic violence against women and children.

(This transcription has been provided by Aleisha Lonsdale, niece of Uncle David Maynard and Chairperson of Mudgee Local Aboriginal Land Council 2022). This story was found in the AIATSIS archives and had been recorded in an old diary of a non Indigenous landowner85 as ‘a legend of the Mudgee Aborigines.’86 The story was transcribed by Wiradjuri man, Uncle David Maynard.

“A long time ago, a young woman was stolen by a man of another tribe and carried away to her far off wurley. She was not content in her new home and seized the first opportunity to escape. As she was trying to make her way across the mountains to her own tribe a peculiar adventure befell her. She wandered on and on through the bush, not certain as to the direction her steps were leading her, but always climbing higher until at last she reached the moon. She was fortunate in coming to a part of it that was thickly inhabited not by man, of whom she was afraid, but by kangaroo rats, possums, bandicoots and other small creatures of which she was particularly fond. It did not take long to secure these and having put them in her gunny bag she resumed her march. One morning as she was trudging along she came upon the camp of the man in the moon. As soon as he saw her, he wanted her for his own and he rose and gave chase. She was too fast for a heavy man who spent most of his time sitting down, so he called his dogs and sent them after her. She thought that her end had come and in fright let fall the gunny bag when out jumped all the imprisoned creatures which scattered in all directions and no sooner than the dogs saw them they forgot the woman and chased after them. These creatures became the stars of the milky way. By good fortune the terrified woman ran downwards in a straight line for her home, which she reached footsore and weary, but full of her wonderful story which she soon told the tribe. Henceforth speculation concerning the man in the moon ceased and everyone believed that he was a black man and that the dark spots at his back are his dogs.”