Noel Nannup said that where you are born is significant and the spirits of that place know you and go with you. Upon reflection I realised that I didn't know much about Cooroy (inland from Noosa in Qld) and especially the indigenous people and culture.
So my visit in June home to family in Caboolture in June provided an
opportunity to explore the place and people of my birth. A mini family reunion
at Tewantin just down the hill from Cooroy for three nights was a specific time
for discovery.
So my first act was to research online. The Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi and other variations) people
of the coastal region north of Brisbane and specifically north of Caboolture to
include the Sunshine Coast and Cooroy are the traditional owners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubbi_Gubbi_people
This also led to information about first contacts. I found out the 1840-60s
was a bad time when mass killings occurred across Qld. This included poisonings
and retributions. A particular massacre event in 1949 was the ambush of 100 sleeping people from the 'GinGin' tribe
on the Burnett River near Bundaberg. The back and forth cycle of retribution
was always going to be one sided as spears would never compete with guns. More
general information on massacres can be found here: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/
I also found that Warabah was an initiation site. My parents lived at
Wamuran on 20 acres backing on to the creek. This led to a conversation with my
mum who mentioned the artefacts they uncovered when ploughing for watermelons
some 25-30 years ago. The sharpened stones and rocks were put in the shed and
likely to have been thrown out when they moved. I have very vague recollections
of random things on the shelves of the shed but nothing specific. The loss of
this felt closer to home.
As an aside the Sunshine Coast shire has a RAP - the first Qld council to
start one back in 2011/12. https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Council/Planning-and-Projects/Council-Plans/Sunshine-Coast-Reconciliation-Action-Plan
Maleny
A day trip to Maleny held a nice surprise. We had previously been impressed
by the art of Gary Myers and again we studied his originals in the main gallery
in town following lunch. I happed to read community notice board to see an
aboriginal gallery https://www.munnimbahdja.com/
in town so I diverted us there thinking it might be a 5 minute aside. Mum
rested in the car while Rosie and I went in just in time for the artist BJ
Murphy to start giving two other people a guide to his art. Well 20-30minutes
later I was buzzing hearing BJ talk about all the things I was interested in.
He reminded me what Noel Nannup would have been like in his 30s. Passionate to
understand his culture and a real advocate. He was connecting with the elders
and carefully treading a path for himself and his family. I was bold enough to
befriend him on facebook and am reading of his journey from afar to get a
better idea of issues. He is a Jinibara man, Jinibara being the people of
Maleny and surrounds just inland from the coastal Kabi Kabi area.
Tewantin A three day stay with the family at Tewantin provided the opportunity to imbibe
the surroundings and investigate further. Not for the first time I studied the
landscape and trees and birds with a renewed purpose of discovery. Noosa does
have lots of acknowledgement art and signage which is good to see, though
juxtaposed with the over the top wealth and tourism activities.
Gainungan gallery: https://gaiungangallery.com.au/ I had a fantastic 30min conversation with the gallery owner Muraay Djeripi Mulcahy a Gamilaroi man from northern NSW. He was on a lifelong mission to educate people of indigenous wisdom so listened to his story and the stories told through his art. I asked if there were coordinated efforts to harness the knowledge and wisdom of people like himself and he lamented that it appeared that it was a collection of individuals. I mentioned BJ and coincidentally BJ had come to the opening the night before and they had met for the first time. I also mentioned Tyson Yandamooka and his book Sand Talk and he brightened and said that someone had given him the book but he hadn't read it as yet. Mum was with me for half the time and I noticed her listening in and connecting through the art and story aspects.
Cooroy
I gave the crew a reason to come to Cooroy by way of a visit to the Butter
Factory Arts Centre https://www.butterfactoryartscentre.com.au/.
A NAIDOC exhibit had some interesting pieces but they were mostly from outside
the region. A trip around the streets included all the commentary from mum and
Rosie about people who lived here including a stop at our old house. We passed
the hospital where I was born, now a private hospital. I really enjoyed the
family stories and different recollections of the place. I walked the street
with a nostalgia feeling a connection.
We travelled home via the back road past Cooroy mountain on a road that was
not there when we lived there so none of us had gone down. There were
properties around the mountain which distracted a little from the imposing
mountain. I later researched the name from wikipedia: Cooroy Mountain's name
came from Mount Cooroy, which was originally called Coorooey, from the
Aboriginal word for possum, kurui. Kuri'bigil'ba is the name of Cooroy Mountain
in the dialect of the Kabi speaking aboriginal peoples of this area.
Cherbourg
I had the opportunity for a road trip with my mum for a day so I suggested
a trip to Cherbourg, a mission town formed after the 1897 Act to bring the
aboriginal people together and now a town of 1200 neighbouring Murgon. Mum
thought it was not open to non-aboriginal people but I knew the museum would be
a good place to go. It was a great day out and also to drive through the
countryside up through places like Kingaroy and Kilcoy, site of poisoning of
~60 people back in 1840s and the meatworks where I recall vividly having a
primary school excursion there and being traumatised by all the cows being
strung up on hoists and blood everywhere to the point that I could not eat my
meat sandwiches that day.
It was lunch time when we arrived at the museum http://rationshed.com.au/ and the lovely
Natasha kindly advised of what to do. The boys dormitory was filled with
stories, original items like beds and artworks. It was truthtelling at its best
but a story of resilience and pride as well as sadness. Mum was challenged and a little defensive by commenting on how hard it was for everyone - we
didn't have shoes either. To her credit she did identify the forcible
removal as being a strong point of difference and was saddened by it. Although
she'd had enough well before we had, we stayed to eat our lunch on the verandah
out of the cold wind allowing more time to take in the space and for me to ask
questions of Natasha. She did say there were Indigenous Knowledge Centres
around to work through culture, knowledge and language. The town was very clean
and happy kids playing on the streets it being school holidays.
So in the Active Hope framework I go to:
Gratitude: I'm very grateful for being born into a loving family and having an easy
childhood. Grateful for the strong people like BJ and Muraay Djeripi and
Natasha, and the many others working to make their mob stronger and bring us
along as well on the reconciliation journey. I'm also grateful that my mum is
still alive and while challenged at times, is willing to listen and discuss all
of this further.
Honouring the Pain: Personally it has taken me this long to dig into my birth place so I mourn
for the lost time. In general reading the stories of loss in the 1800s
particularly the mass poisonings and massacres of the 1840s and 1850s resulted
not only in a fracturing of spirit, traditions, family connections and
knowledge. The 1897 Act (akin to the WA 1905 Act) which paved the way for
removal of children and families in general from their land and people seemed
to come out of the desparate plight of indigenous people living as town fringe
dwellers in what were considered squalid conditions.
I also think of Brian Foley and Brad Beetson, classmates with aboriginal
heritage who did get abused in school even though we mostly used in the context
of terms of endearment.
New eyes: I look at the trees and the forest of the region and it appears a little
more familiar like getting re-aquainted with someone from my childhood. I'm also
trying to see the history and local contemporary issues through the indigenous
lens. It is a different one from Noongar situation - so much has been lost and
the general community is not as on board with acknowledging the important role
indigenous people play in shaping our Australian future. It is a reminder to me
that the Uluru voice debate does require more truth-telling and fundamental
education to be able to move ahead.
Going Forth: I feel more at peace now to at least started a journey of understanding my
birth place and a little more about it. I hope to keep up digging deeper and
following developments and sharing this especially with my family. There is
more to read and understand that it is for sure. I'd like to return and do some
country walks and hopefully with aboriginal leaders like local Noel Nannups to
go deeper still.
Photos:
1 Boys dormitory at the Cherbourg mission, now a part of the Ration Shed
museum.
2. Cooroy Mountain, from Kabi Kabi word kurui (Coorooyee), the possum.
