Connecting to my place of origin

 

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.