Narrung

Welcome

2009-11-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

If you like the text and images here, a slide-show 'Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Stolen Waters,' can be also be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBDGPor7g6o

Please remember that these are all subject to copyright. If you wish to copy and share, please seek permission via my email address.

What the Murray's name perpetuates

2009-03-19T15:08:00.001-07:00

For thousands upon thousands of years, a mutually beneficial dialogue between River and First Peoples living along River's banks has continued: River, revered and respected as a living being; addressed with names like Millewah, Toogwillum, Yoorlooarra, Goolwarra, Koore, Parrungka Perre, Ngalta and Murundi.

This sacred conversation was suppressed as the British invaded. They labelled 'landmarks' with their own names or those of their family, their homeland, their warriors, their dead. In their wake, the invaders left a monologue of British Conquest.

In 1828 River was named Hume by Hamilton Hume (or his companion William Hovell) after himself or his dad. Then in 1830, fellow invader Capt. Charles Sturt, changed Hume to Murray, to keep 'imperishable,' the name of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Sturt also named Rufus River after the hair-colour of his mate MacLeay.

Sir George Murray was the epitome of British Conquerors. From the age of 17, he was a professional military man, rising to the rank of major-general. He fought for the British Empire almost every where, and, in recognition for his 'talent' for 'civil occupation,' he was invested as a Knight of Bath. When he went into politics, he was rewarded with the post of Colonial chief.

However, the Murray name has a much older historic link with Conquest. In the 12th century, the Norman Conquest extended by stealth into Scotland under King David I, brother-in-law of the English, King Henry I.

David invited Norman and Flemish Knights to impose feudalism by force. In the ancient Pictish province of Moray, the descendants of good King Macbeth: sons of Life respected the sacred marriage between a Living land and Her peoples. They objected.

A Flemish knight, Ollec Freskin was sent to quell the rebellion. His success was rewarded with lands and tyrannical authority in the region. to consolidate his power, Freskin and his sons inter-married with the royal house of Moray, an ancient line of mormaers: mor: great, maer: steward. (The Normans replaced this custodial title with earl: warrior-noble.)

It's likely that Freskin, in usurping the matriarchal tradition of land tenure, took the Latin name de Moravia: of Moray, and this evolved into Murray. It's also possible that the name derived from Moravii, Mor: great, av: water, after the Morava River and the Moravians warriors that King David hired. Murray could also be derived from *Moritreb, Pictish for the 'seaward settlement' of Moray. On the Isle of Man, the Murrays were said to be sea-kings, descended from Manaun Mac Ler, Lord of the Sea.

Thus, the name Murray imposes its long history of British Conquest along the 2,500 km murky 'flow' that's the lifeblood of this continent.

In order for this great River to survive, let's liberate River from the feudal yoke of servitude.
Let's ask the Murray Lower Darling River Indigenous Nations to suggest more appropriate names. Let's ask Traditional Owners for permission to use the traditional name for River in our area.

Let's resume a dialogue of respect.

Telling Tales About Water

2009-03-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

THE LORE OF THE LAND

Seven Sisters shone overhead. The sharp clean scent of Eucalypt rose with the smoke-spirals of camp-fires. On a clear cold summer's night, people shrank from the chill and settled into woven shelters. Voices stilled, nestled into the womb of sleep.

Sharply calling my name, he roused me. I added some leaves to glowing coals and, as warming flames sprang up, sat listening to this earnest Wongabon man, telling his people's story. Did we share a cup of billy tea before he left? I don't remember, but I treasure the thread of intimacy woven between us by his yarning. Each night, he came and each night he told another story, his voice gently penetrating the darkness.

He told stories of small creatures with great hearts, or of great creatures who had the power to harm or heal; stories about the folly of greed, stories about courage in adversity, stories of the stars, stories of the River: his homelands. Indeed, his torrent of stories flowed into my isolated lagoon like the life-blood of the River itself. My nocturnal companion explained that, from source to sea, the stories of all the nations the length of the River are connected for they sing about life. The profoundly restorative power of these tales eased my grieving soul, just as Sheherazade had told a thousand stories and turned a king from an insane and murderous path.

Even when my young story-teller was gone, distant black mountains seemed to whisper a tale just below the threshold of my hearing. It coiled down the valley, down the European obsession with clear views, and up the steps of the very white Old Parliament House, refusing to be turned from its path.

Stories live in the landscape, waiting, willing to be heard.

NGARRINDJERI LORE

'Knowing the stories, passing on stories and being a story-teller are ways that Ngarrindjeri care for country,' observe Ngarrindjeri women in Kungun Ngarrindjeri Miminar Yunnan (Listen to Ngarrindjeri WomenSpeaking). 'Stories sustain and structure the Ngarrindjeri social world, explain the mysterious; provide a secure haven in an other wise hostile world; bring order to and confer significance on relationships amongst the living; hold hope for future generations; and open up communications with those who have passed on,' say the women.

It was ancient story that had brought us to this historic law place: the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

The lore that urged the Ngarrindjeri here in 1997 was a story that the South Australian justice Iris Stevens deemed "fabrication." One of her 'Ngarrindjeri' informants, Dulcie Wilson, described by journalist Chris Kenny as a 'leader,' the 'matriarch of the dissidents,' is, according to The Aboriginal People of the South East, 1994, 'not Ngarrindjeri but Buandik,' a descendant of Kunduwi of Pt MacDonnell and a Northern Irish whaler called Tripp.

The media broadcast the so-called dissension, while the Australian Government passed the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Act 1997, and legislated away rights to protect Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (living lands and waters). Both the federal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, 1984 and the Aboriginal Heritage Act SA, 1988, 'whitefella' laws, proved toothless.

Deeply offended, deeply concerned, representatives of the Ngarrindjeri Nation travelled over a thousand kilometers and set up camp in Canberra. They had cultural responsibilities to fulfil. They took their case to Australia's highest court.

Despite Justice Michael Kirby observing that, under the Australian Constitution, Hitler can do what he did and get away with it, a row of judges, arrayed in the colour of death, found against Ngarrindjeri plaintiffs. This decision allowed the Hindmarsh Island Bridge to breach sacred story and desecrate sacred waters.

Where for thousands of years, a vast River flowed to the mouth, today the pylons of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge stand above drifts of sand.

Ever since Foreign Occupation, the Ngarrindjeri have been mere window-dressing to decision-making regarding their Ruwe.

In the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed temporary weir near Pomanda Island, 2 March 09, for example, the Executive Summary makes no mention of Ngarrindjeri Traditional Owners. The Draft EIS states that the SA is engaged in a 'consultation process' with the 'Ngarrindjeri People.'

Is 'consultation' what the Ngarrindjeri want? In the Ngarrindjeri Nation Yarluwar-Ruwe Plan, the Ngarrindjeri state the need for 'reform,' 'negotiation,' 'partnership,' 'collaboration,' and 'consent' with regards to the Ngarrindjeri 'enduring obligation to look after 'lands and waters and all living things within our Country.'

The Occupiers' disregard for the Lore of the land is now killing the Murray-Darling River.

SUPPRESSION OF LORE, IMPOSITION OF FOREIGN LAW

Since the Norman Conquest, Western rulers have actively suppressed the Lore of the Land and enforced rule of law.

Wisdom that has guided many generations is deemed fairy tale as if it's imaginary; folklore, as if it's full of superstition; and nursery rhyme, as if it's only of value to immature minds. In decision-making, Western rulers rely on hard 'evidence,' evidence that can be scrutinized, analyzed, categorized, documented, dated and filed. And the danger is that evidence can be lost.

On the other hand, lore survives. It lives in our bones and in our blood. While evidence can be manipulated to serve mercenary ends, lore works independently on our collective conscience.

For all the West's facts and figures, for all its parliaments and legislatures, for all its scrutiny of the evidence, the suffering of the planet is increasing. This is truly a Dark Age. As story-teller Michael Meade says: 'Laws are what people make when they've forgotten the lore.'

Australian society has suppressed a continent of water lore, while a plethora of legislation has done little to ensure the health of the Murray-Darling. Waterways which previous to British invasion had always been managed communally are now damned, dredged and polluted by competing 'stake-holders:' private interests for private profit. Section 100 of the Australian Constitution protects the rights of states and citizens to the water, but it doesn't protect the River!

AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL MALADAPTION

'Cultural maladaption' is 'acute' in Australia, wrote Dr Tim Flannery in his book, The Future Eaters (1994). Flannery pointed out that Charles Darwin in 1836, assessed Australia's 'prospects': 'Agriculture, on account of the droughts, can never succeed on an extended scale.' Darwin pronounced an eerie benediction: 'You are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect.'

Australia's Poet laureate, AD Hope wrote in 1955:

And her five cities, like five teeming sores, Each drains her: a vast parasite robber state Where second-hand Europeans pullulate (sprout) Timidly on the edge of alien shores.

Flannery asserted: 'It is essential that Australians evolve a culture that will help them survive long-term on their continent.' Yet Flannery does not engage with the Lore of this continent. He views the over 40,000 years of First Nations' culture as a 'resource' for 'Australians living today' to 'possess.'

'Possession' and 'resource' actually belong to a large group of words that came into English as a result of William the Conqueror's suppression of local lore and language. The monologue of possession of this continent shows how even Australians of good-sense and goodwill are stuck in a medieval mindset of 'cultural maladaption.' And this is most pertinent regarding water.

Australia was founded by the theft of lands from First Nations. The foundation of the colony actually contravened instructions of the British Crown. How many Australians are aware that page 2 of the 'Secret Instructions' ordered Capt James Cook to 'with the Consent of the Natives to take possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain'?

AUSTRALIAN COLONIAL LORE

A monologue of dominion is embedded in the Australia's psyche. The Australian character sweats a stale reek of conquest. This bad smell was present at the Centenary of Federation celebrations, 2001, and is excreted annually on January 26th.

The conquest monologue is a dominant theme of Australian colonial folklore, especially Banjo Paterson's ballad, 'The Man from Snowy River.'

A valuable colt escaped. Just as the horse in Western culture has long been a symbol of 'tribal protection' and sovereignty, the runaway could be likened to the emerging Australian identity. A long way from the 'Mother Land' the colt ran free, 'joined the wild bush horses,' but this freedom was short-lived. A reward for its return brought a crowd of bounty-riders.

Paterson describes the hunt: rugged terrain defeats all but one. A young bloke's trophy is not only the recovery of a wayward colt, but the acquisition of a mob of 'cowed and beaten' brumbies. The victor is hailed as a hero, his 'manhood' made in a battle with the 'wild' country. Despite the cruelty that the reckless young rider inflicted upon his mount (it was driven to exhaustion and had 'blood from hip to shoulder from the spur,') The Man from Snowy River becomes a 'household word.'

The Man from Snowy River is a fantasy, popular because it appeases the Occupiers' fear of being overwhelmed by the 'native,' 'wild' and 'savage' bush. This conquest monologue is perpetuated with a museum, an annual 'bush festival,' a musical, a TV series, several movies; and many Australians are able to recite the opening lines: 'There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around ...'

Thus a fantasy of conquest, a patriarchal paean to dominion is active in the Australian consciousness today. And it poisons the way Australians respond to the challenges in our environment, especially equitable access to fresh water.

'Water is wealth in rural Australia and there are many who seek to use water for productive purposes,' wrote Professor Peter Cullen in his 2004 executive summary of 'Water Challenges for South Australia in the 21st century,' prepared for the Dept of the Premier and Cabinet.

Academics Robert Hattam, Daryle Rigney and Steve Hemming point out that this critical water report not only failed to 'engage' with Traditional Owners, the Ngarrindjeri, but 'Indigenous interests premised on a rights-based agenda' were 'absent in the identification of water challenges for SA.' Furthermore, 'dominant state rights of ownership and use of land, water and resources take priority,' observed Hattam, Rigney and Hemming in Fresh Water, New perspectives on Water in Australia, 2007.

LORE OF THE COORONG: STORM BOY

Storm Boy's Dad: There's a law against people shacking in the sanctuary (Coorong National Park). He (the whitefella Ranger) might tell you to move on.

Fingerbone Bill, a 'blackfella' living in the Coorong: This Country belong to him?

Storm Boy's Dad: Maybe not. The law says you can't stay.

In 1966, when Colin Thiele wrote Storm Boy, the First Peoples of Australia were not included in the national census, but were classed among the flora and fauna. In 2006, Fingerbone Bill is described by Keith Conlon, in Postcards, as 'an outcast aboriginal man.' Note the use of 'aboriginal': the form which refers to flora and fauna, rather than 'Aboriginal': the Occupiers' name for First Peoples.

Australians may have embraced Storm Boy with over a million copies of the book being sold, but no where, in the novel, the movie or any review that I could find, does anyone acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Coorong, the Ngarrindjeri. And no where does any one acknowledge that a central character, 'Mr Percival' the pelican, is one of the sacred ngartji of the Ngarrindjeri.

I suspect that Storm Boy was enthusiastically received by the Australian public because it's a parable which proffers legitimacy to the Australian occupation of this continent. It's the story of a 'white' boy who prefers to live in a 'wild' environment rather than attend a 'civilizing' school.

Colin Thiele said of the Coorong: "For God's sake we need to realise what a treasure we have here...Don't damage it. Let us hand it on to our children, and our children's children's children, down the centuries." For all his love of the Coorong, Thiele too used the language of possession, using the impersonal pronoun 'it' for the Coorong, which, while a 'treasure,' is property, rather than a living being to be treated with love and respect.

Forty years on, Storm Boy is not generally hailed for Thiele's courageous raising of the issue of land rights. Instead, 'leading' tourism operator, Jock Veenstra, values Storm Boy,as 'a unique marketing tool.' Veenstra runs 'Spirit of the Coorong' and 'Spirit of the Murray' tours and advertises 'South Australia's Murray River is fully weired and locked with pool levels ensuring good cruising water.'

The pecuniary gains in the Coorong, thanks to Thiele's novel, are lauded by locals: 'Storm Boy selling Coorong,' is the headline of an online article for Adelaide Now in November 2006. In it Anna Vlachan reported that Storm Boy, the 1976 movie, 'has been worth millions' to the region. As Veenstra said: 'It gave the Coorong some presence ... We can say to people, 'This is Storm Boy country'.' Certainly Storm Boy has entered 'the popular consciousness,' observed film-maker Scott Hicks.

But forty years on, laws which prohibit the Ngarrindjeri from living in the Coorong National Park still exist. The Ngarrindjeri elders still wait for their 'authority' to be recognized in the management of the Park.

Today the Coorong is dying, and protesters call not for the protection of Ngarrindjeri Ruwe but of the fantasy Country of 'Storm Boy." When it comes to water, the colonizing myth of terra nullius still exists. 'Stolen Lands, Stolen Generations, Stolen Waters' the caption on a previous blog for photos depicting the Australian-made desert off the First Nation's community Raukkan has been criticized as 'too radical.'

LORE OF THE LIVING COORONG

'When you listen to our stories you can see the importance and the balance that was there in those waters,' recounted Ngarrindjeri elder Tom Trevorrow in an interview on ABC Radio Bush Telegraph, 2009.

'You see the Coorong pelican is one of our main totems, what we call ngartji in our language, and ngartji means 'my closest friend.' Now my ngartji is the pelican and I have a duty of care to look after my ngartji. For my ngartji to be strong and healthy, therefore my ngartji's waters have to be strong and health. Then I'm strong and healthy,' this elder's ancient lore advises.

'Across Australia, Indigenous people engage with water as a type of kin,' noted anthropologist Debra Bird Rose in Fresh Water, 2007. 'Water business' is about relating to 'water's own living presence' and 'involves finding ways to protect and defend the fullness of water in itself and in its relationships with other living things,' Rose recorded.

This close relationship to Water is ever present in Tom Trevorrow's perspective: 'When the Coorong was alive, so rich and abundant with fish and bird-life, ... we [were] all living strong and healthy lives out on the edge of the Corong in the old Reserves.'

This sense of inter-relationship and sharing was present in a statement made by a Ngarrindjeri elder who lived at Goolwa for many years: 'This island (Kumarangk) is not just for Ngarrindjeri miminis (women) but for all miminis."

The teaching inherent in many Ngarrindjeri Creation Stories is that of inter-relationship and sharing. Not far from me at Loveday Bay, a profound lesson for the Ngarrindjeri took place and it's retold in the story of Thukeri. It is not for me to retell, but it can be found in 'Australia's River' by the River, Lakes, and Coorong Action group, thanks to Ngarrindjeri Heritage.

GAELIC WATER LORE

A vaguely similar tale to Thukeri is told in the Gaelic tradition of the seanachie, keeper of lore, by internationally renown folklorist Joseph Jacobs. (Despite being Australian-born, he is little know here.) Munachar and Manachar go out to pick raspberries, but Manachar eats all that Munachar picks. So, Munachar goes off to find a rod to hang the greedy Manachar. Munachar has many exploits which culminate in being asked to fetch water from the river in a sieve.

Munachar is downcast by the impossibility of that task, but it doesn't stop him blessing a crow. Crow rewards Munachar's kindness with instructions on how to make the sieve water-tight. So, eventually Munachar gets his rod, but when he's finally ready to hang Manachar, he finds that the greedy sod has already burst.

Gaels have a strong ethos about generosity and hospitality. Indeed, in the Gaelic tongue, the only things a person can use a possessive pronoun for are one's body, one's children and one's homeland. All else, emotions, belongings, friends, flow like a river through one's life. But because this lore belongs to far-off lands, many Australians disregard its relevance here.

LORE OF THE LAND

When the Land you live in is alive with story, the reminders, the landmarks of Lore's teaching are always at the foot of the mountain you climb, at the elbow in the river you cross, at the neck of the bay where you fish, or on the headland from which you look out.

The lessons of this Lore are alive today in the minds of many Ngarringjeri elders, such as Matt Rigney. He recently stated: 'Our teachings have always been about a communal way of life, for we are custodians of Country. But these days we are being pushed in directions away from our culture. We are urged to start business enterprises that will benefit a few individuals. Capitalism is not our way.'

This same elder recounted how recently he'd sat overlooking the Ruwe he's loved all his life. As a boy, before he was stolen away to the city, he'd walked from the reed-beds to Teringie, from Block K to Raukkan. He'd hunted, fished and gathered eggs. When he grew tired he'd simply lay down in the shade of a katheri bush to rest. I doubt if his parents were concerned for they knew he was in the company of his Old People and their guiding lore lay all around. Matt sadly described the desert that now exists where water has always ebbed and flowed with the seasons. He was distressed because his Old People are being exposed as the wind blows away the sand.

'How do you feel about seeing your Country in this state?' I asked, and he corrected me, saying: 'It is our Country. We all come from Mother Earth and to Her we return,' he said.

'What do you feel about the plans for more dams for the lakes and Coorong?' I then asked. This man, full of memory and many stories, sounded unusually hollow. He sighed and soulfully said:

'I feel like curling up and dying.'

Many Australians make excuses for their ignorance of First Nations' Lore. Prof. Cullen, in his 2004 Water report, claimed that 'Indigenous knowledge is hard to access and to understand.' But First Nations' lore has been published in mainstream Australian magazines and book companies like Angus and Roberts at least since the 1930s. Ngarrindjeri statesman David Unaipon generously made his people's lore available, only to have a body-snatcher, the Coroner of SA, William Ramsay Smith publish the collection as his own work. Besides, too often the Indigenous Lore that warns us of the folly of hoarding, is dismissed as fantasy: relegated to the category of 'myths' or 'legends.'

However, a corner of each of our lives is tied to a Lore greater than ourselves, says story-teller Michael Meade. He reckons that small corner can be our salvation, just as the tiny Lord Vishnu fish saved the whole world from flood. 'From little things big things grow.'

ANGLO-SAXON WATER LORE

The Tree of Life, known as Yggdrasil: Ygg's horse, carries the weight of the world on its back. Worlds upon worlds are found in its branches and among its roots. The Tree suffers cruelly from all the creatures living on it. But the Yggdrasil ash does not die. It is sustained by three sources of HOLY water, translated variously as wells, springs or lakes and known as the Well of Wyrd.

The Old English Wyrd is the source of the modern English word 'weird.' In Old English Wyrd wasn’t weird at all. It was a title, an honorific, so revered that it appeared in Old English Christian texts as the word for God, the Holy Trinity or Lord. Now it refers to anything odd or a bit wicked, but this meaning is relatively recent. To 5^th century Anglo-Saxons, Wyrd was actually an ancient ‘point of view about reality,’ writes Tom Graves.

Wyrd-lore is older than English. It can be traced back to Norse poets and story-tellers who regarded its teachings so important that they retold it generation after generation:

Mimisbrunnr: the Well of Wisdom, is tended by Mimir a wise giant. He stands waist deep in water, supporting mountains on his powerful shoulders. Mimir, whose name means 'memory,' embraces all experience. Odin gave one of his eyes to Mimir for a drink from this well. Hanging upside down on Yggdrasil for nine days, Odin read the well's secret knowledge. He never smiled again, but he shared his insights. It is said that Odin's well-inspired rune lore can lift the human spirit out of chaos.

Hvergelmir: a Seething Cauldron, source of all the worlds' rivers, reaches deep into the cold underworld of Hel. Though small in stature, sons of Ivaldi, defend Hvergelmir from the raids of storm giants. Above this well, lives a serpent or dragon, Níðhöggr: Striker in the Dark. It is said Níðhöggr secretly gnaws at the root of the Tree of Life and it would destroyed if it weren't for the Wyrd-lore that constantly repairs the damage.

Urðarbrunnr: the Well of the Wyrd, reaches high into the world of Asgard, a sky-world full of Aesir: the pillars of deity, heroes and wise elders. Three of these, sisters known as Norns or Wyrds, rose from the sky-world to dwell in a hall near the well. Each day, the sisters collect holy white clay from the base of the tree and mix it with waters they draw from the well.

These life-charged waters are said to be so holy that whatever falls into them will turn clear as egg-white. It is said that all deeds of life are washed into the Well of Wyrd and mix with the many past deeds of kith and kin. This recycling of deeds is called Orlog, the collective Wyrd which has been laid down in layers to be drawn up by the scrying Wyrd sisters.

ENGLISH AND LAKE-LAW-LAY

The English words 'law' and 'lay' come from the 'log' part of Orlog, which also forms the Anglo-Saxon sacred rune 'lagu,' often translated as 'lake.' 'Law' is something which has been 'laid down,' says lexicographer John Ayto. But there's more to the primary meaning of log: it's 'life energy' or Waters of Life.

Water, to the Anglo-Saxon mind, was the law of the land! Water sprinkled in blessing over the newborn or a young warrior was believed to be drawn from this primal layered life-law-lake, charmed and charged as it was with the guiding wisdom of the Sky-world.

Since this ancient water-lore-law was the very life within beings, and since Orlog was a conductive medium between the worlds of human and ancestor-heroes, law did not need to be imposed by any external authority. Law lay within as lore.

Each day, the Wyrds pour their elixir of Orlog over the World Tree, so nothing will wither away. It is said that these waterings cause honeydew to fall, keeping alive the world around the well. Each day, it is said, the Aesir ride to the Weird's Well to hold court on the deeds of humanity. Whether demon or deity, everyone contributes to and feels the sacred influence of the waters of the Wyrd.

SWANS ON THE LAKE OF WYRD

Across the Well of the Wyrd, it is said that glide two swans. They curve elegant necks beneath the waters to drink. From these two, all swans are said to be descended. 'Swan' and 'sound' come from the same source, 'swan' meaning 'to sing or make sound.' It is said that spae-wight guardians take the form of swans to protect the Wyrd of humans. The bond between spae-wight and human is like that of lovers: honorable deeds strengthen their marriage, while broken promises muddy the waters that flow between them.

THE THREE WYRD SISTERS

Of the three Well guardians, the eldest has the name Wyrd (Anglo-Saxon) or Urtha (Norse). Wyrd is said to protect the past, for out of it she spins the thread of life. The middle sister is Verdandi who watches over the present, weaving the thread of life into all its wonderful patterns. The youngest is Skuld, who sings words of power and cuts the thread of life, dispensing death.

The names Wyrd, Urtha, and Verdandi all share the same source, an Old Norse verb verðr: to turn, wind, grow or become. This verb gave rise to the English suffix '-ward,' as in 'forward,' and 'worth' which originally meant 'towards.' In this way, Wyrd is an orientation in the world. Since both Wyrd and Urðr are the past-tense of verðr, they denote orientation towards the collective wisdom of the past. Indeed Freya Aswynn suggests that the English name for this planet, Earth, is related to Urtha, the source of all.

The present tense of verðr: Verdandi 'becoming' or 'growing' indicates orientation towards the wisdom of the present moment. Verdandi is a mother, pregnant with all the possibilities of the present.

With no future tense, Skuld comes from the Norse skole/skulle: what needs or ought to be. Her name in Old English is Scyld:promise, obligation or debt, is related to the Modern English ‘should.’ Her power is found in the necessities that cannot be evaded, the vows that cannot be broken: matters of life and death.

It is said that the three Wyrds visit all at birth. The first two bestow blessings, while the third brings a contract with life that must be honoured: many call it a curse.

What has happened to the Three Wyrd Sisters in Western Culture? Shakespeare turned them into witches to entertain James I. The brothers Grimm turned them into a characters of a children's story: the fairy godmothers and wicked witch of Sleeping Beauty. But this fairy tale still conforms to the Wyrd-lore that human courage and good deeds can turn the tide of destiny set by deity or demons. The curse of the 'wicked' fairy was overcome; though it took a hundred years, Sleeping Beauty's lover fought his way through a forest of thorns to wake her.

Respecting the wisdoms of the old lore, some canny Scots still advise us to dree our Wyrd: to turn and face our past-hewn fate. This is orientation is contrary to popular wisdom which urges us to forget the past, to let go, move on, and create our own reality.

In Wyrd-lore, personal reality is understood to never solely be our own, for it is determined not only by the collective acts of individuals, past and present, but by society as a whole. Personal Wyrd may be blighted by kith, kin, hound, human, demon or deity, but it is blessed by our own courage and actions. The realization that deeds flow into a Well from which all others will draw, urged the Anglo-Saxon to lay down a Wyrd that is good for all. The wise Anglo-Saxon remembered that the Wyrd watered the tap-root of the Yggdrasil Tree that supports all Life.

THE WYRD CONCEPT OF TIME AND THE IMPOSITION OF THE FUTURE

Old Germanic cultures were orientented towards the past, understanding its power to nourish and shape the present. The connection between the past and present was maintained by the keepers of the Language and Lore. Old Germanic languages had no future tense. The future, as we know it, didn’t exist. Any sense of future was generated from the Wyrd-Orlog layers of past relationships. So, Time was not linear. It was a tide: cyclic like the turning of the stars, the phases of the moon and the daily path of the sun.

Western society assumes that the past flows into the present and then to a future of endless possibilities. But until the 14th century, the 'future' did not exist. The word 'future' arrived in English due to Norman Conquerors, and comes via Old French, from the Latin futurus: about to be. The future is the product of invasion and domination!

When the West suppressed Wyrd-lore, it became future-oriented to the planet's detriment. Without Wyrd-lore governing decisions, the West has behaved with global recklessness.

Western sensibilities abhor living in the past, equating it with senility: the almost dead and buried. The future is liberating for those who want to escape haunting memory, but the future is a flimsy working of our imagination. Much of Western business practice is future-oriented guess-work: predicting and estimating, but like futures trading, the future can collapse. The tragedy is that the West's obsession with the future has drained the present of resources.

TELLING TALES

Just this morning Ngarrindjeri elder Clyde Rigney observed that the state of the lower lakes is an indicator of the failings of the River's governance in the last two centuries.

Lack of fresh water could be Skuld's gift-curse to make Australians pay attention to the present and examine the telling tales of their past.

Australian story-tellers notoriously have suppressed both the lore of this land and the lore of their own ancestors. Lore-less, Australia is lawless. Lore-less, the nation of Australia has little connection with 'cultural waters,' permitting them to be over-extracted, dammed and poisoned.

When will Australians realize that hoarded water suffers, becomes stagnant and unhealthy? The water that flows from our taps is subdued into lifelessness by kilometres of pipeline and chemical treatment.

When will Australians ensure that their water flows in a cycle, like the Wyrd, that is good for all? When will Australians stop stealing water?

Ngarrindjeri elder Tom Trevorrow warns: 'If our lands and waters die, if our, our birds and animals die, then we die. And until people can get that really securely in their mind that it's Mother Nature that's gotta come first, then, yeah, we haven't got a very bright future.'

And I think back to the stories that were told to me in at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, about how the waterways connect us all, bring us all life.

I recall when Wiradjuri women led my daughter and I to a sacred women's place at the Murrumbidgee just out of Canberra. As we plunged into the pool, the nocturnal stories I'd been told washed through me. They reminded me that these clear fresh waters flow down into the Murray and eventually into the lakes and Coorong where I live. I realized that the good spirit of our happy gathering here would flow downstream too. And in that sacred place, each time my seven-year old daughter sang out like a Crow, the spirits replied on the wind. This Country was hearing us.

More stories told at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy by Wadjularbinna, a Gungalidda elder(from the Gulf of Carpentaria) come back to me now. She said to me: ‘You can’t live with all that bad spirit inside you.' She advised me to turn the bad spirits upside down; to draw out the good spirits with a sense of fun, of life and good actions.

And the thought comes: How can a River survive when the bad spirits of conquest are hoarded in dams, pools, and reservoirs, instead of flowing out to sea?

No wonder that by the time the water reaches us, the River has turned a deathly grey-green and is poisoned with heavy metals and high levels of salts.

Can we, as Australians and people of the Earth, learn to listen to the Lore of the Land? As Tom Trorrow says, 'It's Mother Nature that's gotta come first.'

We are all the offspring of Mother Nature. We humans are all Walking Trees of the Waters of Life. We each have a Tree of Life within us that we water each day to keep us alive: the cardio-vascular system. Our very being depends on the quality of water that flows through the tap. Can we take for granted how the water that flows into that tap is treated? Will our children one day recount a telling tale of how we let the River turn to desert? Or of how we restored the waterways to life?

stolen waters

2009-02-27T18:33:00.001-08:00

Out of Water

2009-02-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

The bund between Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, on 22nd Jan 09 (western calendar).

During the record heatwave at the end of Jan-beginning of February and strong winds, a marked difference is seen. Images 5th February 09:

The bund, we were told in April 08 by the SA Govt, would be "temporary" for 6 months.
Thirteen "temporary" pumps were replaced by 3 "permanent" pumps. Now there are 6, pumping day and night.

The record heatwave conditions, we are told, is responsible for the increased pumping from Lake Alexandrina into Lake Albert to avoid its ecological collapse.

Notice the colour of the water being pumped.

On still nights, reverberations from the pumps echo across the lake. The constant jerky low frequency sound is torturous and is causing sleep deprivation for this resident of Narrung.

It is estimated that the cost of pumping so far is $14-18 million.
Yet natural revegetation along the lake's shore line shows that the predicted acidification in Lake Albert could be remediated without needing costly, noisy, fumy sleep depriving pumps.

Despite 47° heat, the local Mimulus survives and keeps flowering.

Silt is accumulating around the bund.

A stagnant pool of water is trapped by build-up of silt beside the bund.

The bund is already showing serious cracks and subsidence.

With all the pumping and silting, the Narrung Ferry is out of water to cross.

Diving off the Narrung jetty is no longer advisable.

Willows growing at the Narrung Ferry approach are out of water.

Introduced weed species, feathers, corpses, cracks are
salient signs of the environmental distress.

Silts, showing high levels of salinity, have been dumped
on habitat where Australian otters and swamphens used to live.
What is likely to grow here?

When the wind blows, dust from the Narrung wetlands fills our gutters. Frequent cleaning is causing costly repairs. A local doctor suspects drinking water of Narrung residents has been contaminated by the dust, causing health problems.

In 2008, environmental work was carried out to help restore the Narrung wetland. Due to lack of flows down the river it is now dust,
gone the swans, spoonbills, stilts, sandpipers, egrets, terns and frogs.

The lower lakes and Coorong, the lungs of the River Murray, maintained by the Ngarrindjeri for thousands of years as an abundant delta, supporting the densest pre-Invasion population on this continent, are now being sacrificed to the greed of the Australian nation. Shame!

pics: © Vesper Tjukonai Feb 2009

REQUIEM FOR THE LAKES AND COORONG?

2008-08-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

At Raukkan the sands are strewn with old leather heels, presumably from the boots of Ngarrindjeri wool-washers. Along the lake's rim, five thousand year old stone circles of Ngarrindjeri fish-farming are being scattered by grazing cattle. “What pretty rock formations,” said a local, ignorant of Ngarrindjeri heritage. Grimmer is the exposure of remains from Ngarrindjeri burial grounds around the lakes. The cultural and economic impact on Ngarrindjeri communities is profoundly distressing.

In the 12 years I've lived at Narrung, the church has closed, then the general store and petrol pump, and then the school. It's likely the police station will close soon, and also the ferry too, adding 70 odd kms on the journey to the nearest major centre. Loss of viable habitat, loss of livelihoods, loss of relationships has impacted severely on this community. Instead of the gentle sound of swans of an evening, I hear the mechanical drone of pumps: artificial life support for Lake Albert.

"This peninsula must have been a Paradise for the Aborigines of long ago," observed E. Leta Padman, "with all the variety of food so readily available." "Those who are here today can never realize the condition of this country in the early days. Kangaroos abounded in the thousands," reminisced a Mr Hacket. The "numerous tortoises" Padman describes around 1987 "trundling across the roads and paddocks from the water to higher ground," are now a rare sight and even then they are likely to be encrusted with killer marine worms. "Today the travellers through Narrung can feast their eyes on a great variety of birds," wrote Padman. [The Story of Narrung: the place of large she-oaks, c1987, p24] No more. There has been an 85% reduction in the number of seasonal migratory birds, said Dr Arlene Buchanan of the Australian Conservation Foundation recently.

“Over ten years ago ... a group of us Aboriginal people took the people right through the old waterways and showed them the courses where the water came ... and they suggested to us that they didn't have any time to listen to old Aboriginal stories and that really crushed us way back then. And ever since then, it's been receding ever since,” observed Ngarrindjeri Rupulli George Trevorrow.

"Irreversible ecological collapse,"says the Australian Conservation Foundation, is the "only option" to not bringing flows down the river. Without urgently needed flows it will be "a toxic waste dump." [Josie Taylor. "Govt says the Murray's Lower Lakes can't be saved."06/08/2008. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2326382.htm]

The state of the Lower Lakes and Coorong is "an act of monumental environmental vandalism without precedent in Australian history," observed Greg Hunt, SA's opposition Environment spokesperson. He pointed out that Australia is perilously close to becoming "only the second Government in the world to have presided over the destruction of a Ramsar listed wetland." The first was led by Iraq's Sadam Hussein.

Upstream Dr Jennifer Maharosy warns of “a potential economic and social catastrophe” if measures are not implemented to “keep the river full of water.” Maharosy claims that if "a permanent weir" were built "just upstream of the lakes at Wellington,” there could be "water savings in the order of 750,000 megalitres a year.” She advocates that barrages be opened, allowing the Lower Lakes and Coorong to be flooded with sea-water. [“Barrages Block Sense.” http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/articles155.html]

But local expert Dr Muller suggests that tidal flow through the mouth would not have enough energy to flush the lakes, "leaving vast areas of acidified wasteland." She also warns that "rapid conversion to salinities of seawater" might result in the contamination of "some 100,000 ha," making the region "uninhabitable" and "requiring the permanent retiring of productive land, both irrigated and dryland, and possible evacuation of lakeside communities."

According to a lower lakes irrigator and the Australian Conservation Council a 10-15% reduction of all water allocations in the Murray Darling Basin would let enough water flow down the River for both consumptive needs and restorative environmental flows.

It has been hard to write this without feeling overwhelmed by distress. In 2008/9 are we writing arequiem for the Coorong and the lower lakes?

The recent winter rains have been an answer to prayer and the drought-grey sands have sprung alive with green. Whether the lower lakes and Coorong survive, and the Murray-Darling too, is dependent not just on water flows, but on people behaving better towards Mother Earth and Her waters than they have in the past two centuries.

A Ngarrindjrei elder guided our craft up the Coorong. Although it was deep night, we could make out the curves of the tea-tree and coastal wattle on the dunes. An oyster-catcher called from the south, a shrill “Peep-peep. Peep-peep.” Another joined in: “Per-peep, per-peep.” “Come here! Come here! This way,” it seemed to say. Above us, the veil of cloud thinned. We caught a glimpse of the moon and a handful of stars, and as if waiting for us, the black and white form of our haunting feathered songster. The water around us sparkled. “Put your hand in,” Paul directed. We did and were surprised with an electric shock. How? Why? In and out, we playfully dipped our hands and every time got zapped. This stretch of the water looked the same as anywhere else, and yet it held, 'scuse the pun, a shocking secret. Further on, Paul told us to jump out of the boat. We rolled up our trouser-legs and hoisted ourselves overboard. Splash! Black water came alive with sparks of light: another magical surprise. “Phosphorescence,” our Ngarrindjeri guide explained.

I don't want experiences like this to be lost to our children. Let's put aside our private interests and invest in the Life and Health of the River.

In the words of Storm Boy's author Colin Thiele:

“It is good that some people have known the Coorong and loved it for what it once was -for its untouched beauty, its light, its elemental naturalness,its peace and isolation,for it may soon be destroyed, is already in danger of being destroyed – trampled to death by the modern sacred cows of tourism, development and recreation. [excerpt from“The Coorong”]

If Australia allows this region to die, the consequences, the shame of it, will hang around this nation's neck like a dead albatross. But better, much better is to revitalize the Swan the Ngarrindjera know in the form of the Lower Lakes and Kurangk; so Swan can sing us all to thrive.

"May our Spirits find rest and peace within our Lands and Waters." [Kungun Narrindjeri Miminar Yunnan]

HEALTH, WEALTH, WORDS AND THE RIVER

2008-08-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

Words are a mirror to human experience. The meaning of the English words such as “health” and “wealth” have altered over time, reflecting changes in society.

Today a healer is largely thought of as some kind of charlatan. However, “heal” comes from the Old English hælan, to make whole, says John Ayto. Health professionals are realizing that getting people healthy isn't a matter of treating symptoms, but of balancing a whole series of inter-relationships: family, work, lifestyle, environment, exercise, nutrition. Healthy behaviour takes account of the needs of the whole body, physical, economic, cultural, and spiritual.

“Health”comes from the Old English hælþ “wholeness.” "Health" is "heal" with the addition of þ (th), the Norse þurisaz or Anglo-Saxon þorn rune of transformation. Þurisaz is a very ancient name for Thor, says author Freya Aswynn. [Leaves of Grass, a synthesis of runes, gods, magic, feminine mysteries and folklore] In Norse accounts of Creation, Thor kept giants, representing "the forces of chaos," in their place. In the Norse tradition, Thor, also known as Jord, son of the earth goddess, cares for the land, brings life to the frozen Gerd, earth, and defends the people of the land. People who care about the environment ‘would do well’ to invoke the aid of þ Thor, suggests Aswynn. Thor, in the form of the þ rune, protected Anglo-Saxon rituals honouring life's passages. Bath, birth, strength, hearth, death: English perpetuates Thor's protection by retaining those Anglo-Saxon þ words. Like water, the þ rune is a carrier. It supplies life force, energy and focus to make things happen, says Aswynn. Add þ and you get ‘action,’ advises Edred Thorsson.[Futhark, A Handbook of Rune Magic]

"Time to Act on River Murray" urged the headline of the 8th August Lakelander, local paper for people living around the Lower Lakes and Coorong. "A river system needs to flow from its head to the sea ..." explained "lakes and Coorong Expert" Dr Kerri Muller. "Action is needed now," was the cry in the next issue. [D John Boundy, "Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink." The Lakelander,15th August.] If we focus on the health of the Murray-Darling, from the mountains to the sea, it is more likely to return wealth to the region, than by implementing more hoarding measures, the dire consequences of which can be predicted by past failures.

In the English word family, “health” “heal,” “whole,” “holy” and “Halloween” are cousins. This word family, which links physicality, spirituality and culture, finds common ground with MLDRIN, the call by First Nations along the River for holistic and respectful actions. And perhaps the drought is healing: the desperate lack of water reminds us that the river is not a “resource” but a sacred “source” of life.

“Wealth” which now is mostly thought of in term of economic value, comes via the Middle English wele "well-being," from the Old English wela "wealth, welfare, well-being." It and the “wealth” of “Commonwealth” ultimately derive from the proto Indo-European base *wel- "to will," says Douglas HArper [Online Etymological Dcitionary] What is needed for a wealthy river is a common will to look after its well-being and welfare.

It is to be hoped that the formation of the single Murray Darling Authority will produce healthier behaviour in the Murray-Darling Basin than the constitutional water right of states and landholders. It is to be hoped that the Federal Government will moderate vested interests. Its $400 million buy-back of water entitlements in the northern basin, including $350million in Queensland, is a start. It is to be hoped that this will encourage the wider community to behave coherently for the health, wealth and healing of the river. And already this appears to be happening: Victoria's Murray River Group of Councils recently supported the MDA in taking "an holistic approach to the national crisis including the whole Murray Darling Basin."[Murray River Group of Councils, July 2008, "Communique," http://www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/hardcopy/111751_188338.PDF.]

As the water dwindled around the eroding crannies of the Narrung Peninsula, local dairy farmers, Cathie and David Harvey, didn't wait for the government to act. They saw the need for an holistic approach and implemented biological farming practices. These work with the "natural processes" occurring on a farm. Rather than treating the symptoms with pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, biological farming addresses the cause of any problems. It pays attention to the biota that makes soil healthy, and prefers to optimize "soil, plant and animal health." And healthy soil produces more nutritious food. ["Introduction to Biological Farming" http://www.bioag.com.au/improving_natural_soil_fertility/biological_farming/]

"Biological farming reduces soil leaching and retains soil moisture," observed Cathie. In a record drought, the Harveys harvested a lucerne crop last year and they milk two hundred cows each day.

The Narrung Peninsula elsewhere is described by reporter Shane Strudwick as a "series of vacated dairies that have been mothballed." He lamented: "Families are leaving the region and quality drinking water needs to be trucked in with no subsidies or support from the government."["Australia’s True Catastrophe happening now." 17.3.08. http://rivermurray.com/petition/drought-tour/] In contrast, the Harvey's health-promoting methods demonstrate a staying power that is to be respected. Producers in Australia's food bowl upstream would do well to follow the Harvey's lead and implement biological farming practices.

"A healthy river is essential to ensure that future generations of Australians can enjoy the same quality of life as past generations," asserts the Indigenous Response to the Living Murray initiative. "The river is a place of healing. It provides a place of balance and relief from stress and sickness," came the consistent response to the question: "What is the significance of the River Murray to you?"

"The river is critical to health and welfare."

"The river has major economic importance. It is a source of food, fibre, water, medicine and other sustenance."

"The river is part of song and storylines."

"The river is a birthplace."

"There are burials all along the river."

"The river should be healthy and free-flowing."

"The whole river system should be respected."

"Everyone should come together to make the river healthy and protect its spirit-Indigenous people, landholders and government."

"It is our Lifeblood."

"It is Life." [http://www.mldrin.org.au/pubs/TLMIndigenousResponse.pdf]

THE NEED TO FLUSH

2008-08-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

"18,000 years ago the Murray basin was a salt desert. If we continue to manage as we have for the past 100 years, it will again become one," observed rural writer Asa Wahlquist. ["The Murray in Myth, history and reality." http://asawahlquist.com/content/view/10/11/]

With weirs, locks, barrages, bunds, channels, reservoirs, impoundments, pipelines, dams and diversions, the Murray is not a river. It's a series of pools.

Under drought conditions, it's a chain of puddles. Some call it the longest lake in the world. Some call it a sewer, a cesspit. Stagnant water is not healthy, particularly with Australia's saline soils. In 1977, the Murray River flushed “1.1 million tonnes of salt”out to sea. Only “130,000 tonnes” came from a natural source, 64% deriving from “Victoria and New South Wales,” noted United Nations University researcher Michael Butler. [http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80190e/80190E0d.htm]

In 2002, 5.1m tonnes of salt were “mobilized” annually in the Murray-Darling Basin, 2m tonnes flushed out to sea. This amount is predicted to rise to 6.8m tonnes by 2020. [Michelle Olivier, ”The River Murray: The Big Picture.” http://www.murrayusers.sa.gov.au/big_picture1.php] 850 EC units is the magic figure for maximum safe levels of salinity levels for drinking water. In August 08, the salinity level at the Goolwa Barrage, near the Murray mouth, was 22,990, while at Meninie 5,448. If a weir is built at Wellington, and according to the SA Govt there's a 70-80% certainty it will, what will happen to all those tonnes of salt suspended in the River Murray with no where to go?

"The mouth of the Murray speaks a thousand words about the health of its catchment and its capacity to provide us with the ecosystem services we take for granted," asserts Dr Kerri Muller. Without the lower lakes and Coorong acting as the river's lings and kidneys, "the cancer will spread up to Lock 1 then above Lock 1 then...?" warns Muller.

In 1888, scientist HR Russell stated: “in a new country like this with its local variations in the laws of nature...the fact is forced upon us in a 1,000 ways that we must know or we suffer.”

In 1985, Ralph Jacobi, Federal MP, added: “We, and future generations, will suffer because of our neglect, our ignorance and our abuse if we fail to understand the unique nature of this great river and the fragility of its ecosystem.” Jacobi advocated “impartial and national approaches” to sweep aside “paraochial and vested interests.” He concluded that “Knowledge is the key if we are to solve this...”

[Who Owns the Murray? p280]

Is duilich burn glan a thoirt a tobar salach. It's difficult to draw pure water from a dirty well.

BAD HABITS:A HISTORY OF HOARDING

2008-08-28T00:26:00.000-07:00

An car a h' anns an t-seana mhaide is duilich a thoirt as. Straightening the bend in old wood is a difficult job.

"Mother Nature was giving us a clear message about the health of the river system, but it was not heeded," admitted local mayor Kym Hughes. [“Mayor: How we failed to heed the vital warning signs,” http://blogs.news.com.au/adelaidenow/guestblogger/index.php/adelaidenow/comments/kym_chugh/] McHugh organized a march of mourning across that Bridge on August 10th. About 5,000 people stopped in the middle for two minutes' silence to “underscore this 11th hour bid to save the nation's greatest river,” said McHugh. ["Crowds gather for rally at Murray River." http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/aug/10/aap-crowds-gather-for-rally-at-murray-river] McHugh's confession must be a bitter pill for the Ngarrindjeri to swallow, for all along they have been making strong statements about the need to protect Ruwi. Ngarrindjeri women's sacred law/lore warned what would happen if the Hindmarsh Island Bridge cast its concrete shadow over Living Waters.

Perhaps the reason Mother Nature and the Ngarrindjeri grandmothers weren't listened to was because decision-makers have been stuck in a medieval mindset: dominion over rather than cooperation with Mother Nature.

The word “weir,” for example, has a warrior ethos. It was derived from the Old English werian, to defend and protect, says John Ayto. [Dictionary of Word Origins, p570] In Britain the first “serious” damming (damning?) of rivers was undertaken by medieval millers. The feudal laws of Norman invaders placed the mill-dam under the tight control of the manorial landowner. The term for such a dam is “impoundment” which has the clear meaning of taking water into formal custody. Medieval laws, such as thirlage, which reaped great profits for the landowner seem to have coupled inextricably economic wealth and water-hoarding. Before the Normans' brutal land grab, riparian water-sharing rights which held that a stream of running water could not be possessed were a feature of a land held in common. The Norman Conquest legitimized water-hoarding and entrenched water injustice in its society to the gain of a privileged few. Seems a habit hard to break.

Behaving badly over water began in Australia with colonization. It is a history of hoarding. The gap between water supply and water demand is as old as the province of South Australia. My red-haired Scottish forebear was a water-carter in 1840. (It's been like deja vu watching the water-trucks at Narrung this year.

"Disputes between the three colonies about the river started as soon as Victoria was declared separate from NSW in 1850," point out Daniel Connell. ["Federation? Managing the Water in the Murray-Darling Basin-a historic perspective." http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au/pdfs/Daniel%20Connell%20Paper%20AGHS%20Conf%20Oct%2007.pdf.]

In South Australia, the Rankines, a family of Scottish migrants, probably weren't the first to behave badly over water. But according to Jim Marsh, Barrage Superintendent at Goolwa. they wanted to “try and stop the ingress of sea water into that reach, to hold a pocket of fresh water for their stock for the summer.” So they were probably the first to build a Murray weir: a wooden weir across Mundoo Channel. Marsh didn't say when. Probably around the 1850s. No thought for the First Peoples, the Ngarrindjeri, for whom this area is particularly sacred. Stumps of the weir apparently still remain near the Mundoo Barrage. One of Marsh's stories blames dynamite for its demise. [Rose Geisler, Alexandrina Local History Archive. http://www.stateheritageareas.sa.gov.au/pdfs/stories_goolwa_marshjm.pdf.] Now, the Ngarrindjeri who traditionally used fire technology for environmental renewal, have yarns that hint at pyrotechnics to rid Ruwi of harmful structures.

In 1863, lobbying began to lock up the River Murray . When the river was a major highway, paddlesteamers road-trains, the "inland desert" a prize for land-grabbers, seasonal low flows impeded “progress.” More bad manners: NSW, Victoria and South Australia disputed ownership and failed to reach an agreement, . [“Lock and Weir No 1,” http://www.aussieheritage.com.au/listings/sa/Blanchetown/LockandWeirNo1/10733]

In 1880, upstream water “extractions” due to "desert" irrigation, together with drought, impacted severely on the lower lakes, write researchers Terry Sim and Kerri Muller. [“A Fresh History of the Lakes: Wellington to the Murray Mouth 1800s to 1935,” River Murray Catchment Water Management Board, 2004]

In the 1897/8 Australasian Federation Convention, more drought and depression meant management of the River Murray was debated with "fierceness." South Australia wanted its right to water enshrined in the national constitution. The other states wanted to protect their right to irrigate. Alfred Deakin suggested a formula for retaining state rights with the option for a federal authority. The latter was ignored, while one of the rare rights in the Australian Constitution. Section 100 states: “The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation.” [http://australianpolitics.com/constitution/text/100.shtml] In effect what the Australian Constitution enshrined was the right to squabble over water. The insistence of South Australia that the word "reasonable" be attached to "use of the waters" points to the fears it had about upstream behaviour. The legal battles continue to this day. ["High Court talks on Murray, Coorong." 15/08/2008. http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/environment/high-court-talks-on-murray-coorong/1245685.aspx]

In 1902, upstream extractions lowered the lake to sea level, the water turned salty, water grasses rotted, reeking and contaminating both water and air, record Sim and Muller. Conditions were a “disaster,” said Mr F Garnet, Superintendent of the Point McLeay Mission, (Raukkan). He observed: “Despite the long drought, the waters of the lakes have always been sweet at this time of the year.” Wool-washing, the industry that supported the Ngarrindjeri community collapsed. Garnet lamented: “Its destruction means a loss of 200 pound per year to the natives.”

In 1902, a Federal Parliamentary Commission's enquiry into river levels recommended a proportional share of the river for the states in times of drought; the construction of storage works and weirs at the Murray mouth; and a complete system of locks. Vested interests used Section 100 of the Australian Constitution to thwart these measures.

In 1912, the SA Govt hired a Captain Johnson, Corps of Engineers, USA, to report on a scheme for “locking” the River Murray. The first lock was built at Blachetown in 1922.

In 1915, the River Murray Waters Agreement, designed to work with the Interstate Commission, a federal decision-making body, was signed between states. But the river agreement for management of the whole Murray-Darling Basin became a dud when a High Court challenge stripped the Commission of its powers, recounts Daniel Connell.

In 1935 a string of barrages began to be built near the Murray mouth to stop seawater flowing upstream for 250 kms. [“Effects of weirs, locks, barrages and dams,” http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/murray/content/dwindlingRiver/wiersDamsIntro.htm] The barrages destroyed 90% of the estuarine environment. Power for the construction was provided by the paddle-steamer Capt Sturt. (My mum spent her school holidays on board. My granddad took snapshots. Deja vu again.) “Soon after the first locks were built,” the fishing forebears of Henry Jones observed that the freshwater crayfish began to decline. The species is now gone.

In 1967, drought stirred the SA govt to stop issuing Water Diversion Licences to irrigators. [Who Owns the Murray?ed Peter S. Davis & Phillip J Moore, pp 19, 48.] Professor of environmental law at Uni SA, Rob Fowler, has criticised licences as “a private property right” granted “over a public resource.” He asserted: “It was a market economy solution that just hasn’t worked.” [http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/environment/high-court-talks-on-murray-coorong/1245685.aspx] Today, existing water licences are a complicated matter. The SA govt varies their conditions in order to control water allocation. Licences are divided into "a Water Access Entitlement, a Water Allocation, a Site Use Approval, a Water Resource Works Approval and a Delivery Capacity Entitlement." [http://www.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/licensing/swr/index.html] Each state has implemented different water allocating processes. In 1983, South Australia introduced water licence trading.

Due to reduced river flows, in 1981 the Murray mouth closed. The solution in 2002 was to dredge it open. It was supposed to be a $2m nine-month “Sand Pumping Project.” In 2005, Melissa Fyfe from The Age reported that dredging costs taxpayers $7m a year. [http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/More-help-to-keep-Murrays-mouth-open/2005/03/23/1111525218662.html.] Today dredging continues.

In 2008 the lower lakes reached record low levels. Here at Narrung, to prevent Lake Albert from collapse a $6m bund was built and pumping began at a cost of $600,000 a month. And recently, while the Federal govt announced a $50m pipeline for the Narrung Peninsula, the SA govt announced $30m for a weir at Wellington to secure Adelaide's drinking water.

Recent reports of upstream irrigators stealing water have emerged in the media. "Eight times the volume of Adelaide's drinking water" was being diverted from the Murray through unmetered pumps, claimed the SA Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith. ["Murray 'water theft' pumping angers SA Oppn." Aug 7, 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/07/2327092.htm?section=justin]. “60 cases of water theft “ are being investigated “in the Goulburn-Murray region of Victoria, Australia’s largest irrigation district, says researcher for the Water Integrity Network, Mark Worth. [“Crime and Drought in Australia’s Murray River Basin,” http://www.waterintegritynetwork.net/page/431]

Then, last week alleged illegal dams and irrigation channels on Qld's Paroo River, the healthiest tributary of the Murray-Darling, were condemned by SA's premier as “an act of terrorism against the nation.” [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/15/2336850.htm?site=local] A moratorium on new dams and diversions had been put in place in 2001 by the Qld and NSW governments.

This week rural writer Asa Wahlquist reported that over the past years Queensland irrigators have been taking "record amounts of water from the Murray-Darling Basin," while "other state governments wound back irrigator allocations." ["Murray River drained by Queensland," August 21, 2008, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24215665-5013871,00.html] "This sort of behaviour, it is putting entire regions along the Murray-Darling Basin on their knees," said spokesperson for South Australian Murray Irrigators, Tim Whetstone. "At the moment, for the people who are up the top of the basin, it is first-in, best-dressed, showing no concern for anyone down lower. It is un-Australian."

Meanwhile, the river is losing its vital signs. The Murray Darling Commission states that public storages are holding 4,800 gigalitres of water: 21% of capacity. But the amount of water available to flow down the river can't be determined accurately, because of water diverted into the ownership of states and private landholders. This needs to be rectified urgently.

Cha bhi fios aire math an tobair gus an tràigh e. The value of the well is not known until it goes dry.

MAINTAINING A HEALTHY RIVER, BEGINS AT BIRTH

2008-08-27T23:52:00.000-07:00

Namawi rawul-inyeri thulun-ar. Our footrpints come from the past. [Kungun Ngarrindjeri Miminar Yunnan, Listen to Ngarrindjeri Women Speaking,

Life lessons are written in Ngarrindjeri Ruwi. Here in waters now known as Loveday Bay, Spiritual Ancestor Nurunderi taught Creation-time fishers not to be greedy, but to share the Thukeri from the waters. At first the fishers took no notice, then they made excuses, and the consequences were dire. Nurunderi changed forever a favourite fish into a bony bream. For tens of thousands of years, the Ngarrindjeri have taught their children not to hoard. For thousands of years the river's waters flowed, Ruwi was healthy and people thrived. This region supported the densest population of First Peoples on the continent.

“You are one with the Earth and the Water. So you're connected through both: Mother Earth and our waters, because the waters are the lifeblood. They're the veins in our bodies in fact, and what's been happening is we've been damaging and blocking our arteries up by building all these locks and weirs and all sorts of other things which has made the system sick,” Matt Rigney, chair of MLDRIN, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations, explained to SA's Stateline. [Leah MacLennan, “Coorong Drought,”30/05/2008 http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2006/s2262266.htm]

“I think people have to wake up and understand the difference between need and greed and I think there's been far too much greed has been overtaking common sense in regards to managing our waterways,” chided Ngarrindjeri Rupelli George Trevorrow. He warned: “It is an old saying, that once our totems go, we go. So it's a very big concern to us at the moment.”

The Ngarrindjeri are not alone in their concerns. The Murray Darling Basin is home for 75,000 First Peoples, most Traditional Owners. In 1998, as an initiative of the Yorta Yorta, First Peoples all along the river gathered to form MLDRIN (Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations). It's “an expression of the way the Indigenous Nations have always done business.” First Nations have been keeping the rivers healthy for thousands of years by “caring for country and talking to their traditional neighbours upstream and downstream on the Murray and its’ sister Rivers, Creeks, Lakes, Billabongs and waterways.” [MLDRIN - http://www.mldrin.org.au/about/stratplan.htm]

“The Indigenous vision for the river system is holistic – it incorporates spiritual, cultural, economic and social values. All are inter-related. All the issues need to be addressed together,” stated MLDRIN's Report to the Murray Darling Basin Commission in 2003. Thousands of years of respect for the river makes Traditional Owners “best placed to talk for Country,” but the decision-making has been dominated by immigrant, non-Indigenous “stake-holders.”

George Trevorrow pointed out to Stateline: “Every other group has been engaged, particularly irrigators and dairy farmers, rice growers, cotton growers. You name it, they've all been engaged. Aboriginal people have been a tack on. We don't want to be seen as a symbolic symbol or a gesture of symbolism. We want to be a part of the whole process and we want to engage in a proper way."

Ngarrindjeri knowledge of the river's bounty is ancient. In Ngarrindjeri accounts of Creation, Nurunderi chased a great fish Pondi down a little stream and the fish's frantic movements carved a great waterway down to the lakes. There Pondi was cut up, filling the lakes with a diversity of fish. The food supply supported an abundance that amazed Captain Sturt in 1830. From the cliffs at a bend in the river, now known as Tailem Bend, three thousand warriors watched and readied as Sturt's crew rowed downstream. Despite breaking traditional Law of entering Country, Sturt was allowed to pass by circumspect elders.

According to oral history, Ngarrindjeri old people welcomed the British foreigners to Country in their usual way, asking them to look after it. But the foreign Occupiers disrespect for the River over the past two centuries has broken the law of Caring for Country.

“Does anyone have a solution?”

A government minister or two and invited stakeholders had met to discuss the water crisis for the Lower Lakes and Kurangk, my Ngarrindjeri raconteur explained. Giving me a prime-time re-play of proceedings, he shot up his hand and said eagerly:

“I do. All you convicts and hangers-on go home. Then there'd be plenty of water for us blackfellas.”

Those assembled laughed, said my friend, but I could read something very serious in his face. And I realized that Steve Walker, the Chair of Raukkan Community, had said in a few words what it has taken me weeks to write in over 6000!

The Ngarrindjeri spoke up all the way to the High Court but few listened. The River's slow creeping death is now strangling businesses. Fair cop for us. We are not helpless. We can can change from water hoarders to healers. We as a community have to be prepared to pay the repair bill. But not warranted is the cruelty inflicted upon the turtles, the fish, the wading birds, the Australian otters, the water grasses and the mussels which strew the lake-edge in their thousands, their last gasp for life immortalized in the now toxic mud.

An intimately connected web of Nature, the once wealthy delta of the River Murray, is so torn it will be soon impossible to repair.

WATER-WISE?

2008-08-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

In the 1960's I went to school in Ralph Jacobi's electorate: bless his river-loving soul. Every classroom had a water-wise poster. We were drilled that we lived “in the driest state of the driest continent.” (Unpopulated Antarctica didn't count.) We were taught how we relied on the River Murray for our water supply. SA Water says that these days, the River Murray supplies in an average year "about 40% of the State’s urban water needs." In drought, it supplies "as much as 90%." [Pipelines, SA Water, http://www.sawater.com.au/SAWater/Education/OurWaterSystems/Pipelines.htm]

With our recent record drought, there's record low flows coming down the River. Big big problem for us here on the Narrung Peninsula! But, I reckon the solution lies in the obvious: Water.

In Australia, areas with higher average incomes use more water. This is true too for the world. The average Gambian uses only 4.5 litres per day, while an Australian uses 930. When may forebear was carting water, South Australians made do with no more than16 litres a day, estimates Maureen M Leadbeater. ["Water: South Australia's Early Days." http://www.adelaideco-op.familyhistorysa.info/water.html]And while the global annual average rainfall is 746mm, the average rainfall in Australia is 469mm, South Australia 236mm. [http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=42]

Every living cell needs water to live. 75% of a living tree is water. 75% of the human brain is water. Of the more than 15 million chemical species presently known, water is unique and far more complex than the formula H20 suggests. Water has a great ability to attract atoms from other substances, due to the electrical charges on its molecules. This enables water to act as a solvent in the body. The purer it is, the more essential nutrients, like magnesium, calcium, iodine, selenium and zinc, it can carry to the cells; or the more toxins, including mercury, lead and cadmium, it can carry away. Water plays the same role in the body we call the Earth. 71% of the planet's surface is covered by water, mostly too salty to drink. About 3% is fresh enough to drink. 1 billion people lack enough safe, clean drinking water. Water is so valuable that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment declared that it must be "safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate." Principle 2, 16 June 1972, Stockholm.

Healthy water flows. Hoarded water suffers and sickens. It accrues pathogens and pollutants. "Water quality," observes Juergen Scmidt, "is directly affected by the flow of co-operative energies circulating between people, animals, insects, and plants through out the ecosystem." . [The Hidden Forces of Nature, p38.]

Back in 2005, Austalian scientists demonstrated that people massacring trees reduces rainfall. Apparently, one in every 500 water molecules has its second hydrogen atom swapped for a heavier deuterium version. The heavier water molecules are slower to evaporate from rivers and groundwater, but the leaves of plants and trees, through transpiration, give them off more readily. Less trees: less rain! It's another reason to protect Australia's forests. [Richard Macey, "Fewer trees, less rain: study uncovers deforestation equation," http://www.smh.com.au/news/Environment/Fewer-trees-less-rain-the-deforestation-equation/2005/03/03/1109700611592.html]

The Narrung Peninsula knows all too well the problems deforestation causes to hydrology. It lies in the Coorong District Council where only 19% of native vegetation remains. Dryland salinity has affected 50,000 ha with a further 70,000 at risk. 12,000 ha are irrigated. ["Coorong District Council," http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/publications/incentives-forum/pubs/day3/coorong-paper.pdf] Wide-scale reforestation is not a simple solution. Trees need water to get established. Plantation water-use varies greatly, show CSIRO studies in South Australia.[CSIRO, "Measuring the water use of plantation trees" http://www.csiro.au/science/MeasuringPlantationWaterUse.html]
Water, or lack of it, isn't our region's problem. It is our behaviour!

It's time decision-makers stop behaving like feudal dukes guarding their own interests. For a healthy river, Country needs sociable behaviour. The Save The River Murray Levy, added to every one's SA Water bill since 2003, is an example of sociable behaviour towards our precious source of water. Rubbing shoulders at recent water meetings and rallies around the Lower Lakes were government boffins, irrigators, yachties, greenies, First Peoples and polies. People you just don't expect to see together are coming together, all for the need of water.

So, who stands out as the wisest when it comes to the River Murray? Who are the healers and who are the hoarders?

Eisd ri gaoth nam beann gus an traoigh na h-uisgeachan. Listen to the mountain wind, till the streams abate. [Gaelic seanfhocail, old words: proverb]

“PROBLEMS CREATE SOLUTIONS”

2008-08-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

It was sunset. Ngarrindjeri Ruwi, lands and waters, lay before us. The sky turned from blue to mauve to indigo, and then under moonlight, the vast body of water now known as Lake Alexandrina, began to shine. Lights sparkled from Raukkan, ancient Ngarrindjeri homelands. My companion, an elder, was silent. We nursed a shared grief. With serenity above and below us, it was hard to credit that the lake and its inhabitants were stressed, almost to the point of exhaustion. But the uncharacteristic thin snake of a sandbar way off in the middle of the lake was a sign that something is wrong, so very wrong.

“The problem creates the solution.” Did Confucius say that? Or Dr Who? Whoever. The River Murray certainly has plenty of problems:

Over-allocation that has reduced the River Murray's flow by over three-quarters.
Drought.
Century's old squabbling between states.
Upstream "hoarders."
Downstream "whingers."
Water thieves.
Water gluttons.
Marginalized Traditional Owners.
Endangered sources of traditional food and medicine.
6 million trees felled in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Barrages. Locks. Weirs.
Evaporation.
Inappropriate European farming and crops.
Rising salinity levels.
Pesticides, herbicides that kill soil bacteria, rob the soil of moisture, and mobilize salinity.
Destruction of the natural water-cleansing biodiversity.
Species extinctions.
Inappropriate introduced species.
Impediments to fish passage along the rive
Disregard of the Ramsar Treaty to protect the habitat of migratory birds.
Unusable, undrinkable water, polluted by heavy metals, salt, pathogens, algal blooms.
Exposed toxic soils: sulphur acidification.
Stressed landholders and traders.
Shrinking profits, bankrupt businesses, shrinking communities..
Disoriented, depressed and dislocated families.
Resentment of "environmental" flows.
Increased groundwater use.
Danger of bushfire.
Climate change.
Reforestation altering patterns of run-off.
Reduced return flows from irrigation.
Australia's food bowl concentrated in the Murray Darling Basin.
And as Ngarrindjeri elder Matt Rigney pointed out: Population growth from two centuries of post-Invasion immigration....

If it's true that problems create solutions, then Australia's current water crisis will generate solutions of galactic proportions, given the hordes of challenges.

Rights and Responsibilites

2008-06-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

"Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination."Article 29 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted 13 September 2007

Raukkan Ngarrindjeri Community jetty 2000

Raukkan jetty 2008

"The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate." Principle 2, 16 June 1972, Stockholm, Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment

Narrung wetland 15th June, 2006

Narrung dryland, 27th June, 2008

"The discharge of toxic substances or of other substances ... in such quantities or concentrations as to exceed the capacity of the environment to render them harmless, must be halted in order to ensure that serious or irreversible damage is not inflicted upon ecosystems. ... "Principle 6

“Oxidation of acid sulfate soils potentially releases acid (measured by pH), changes alkalinity(measure of the ability of water to buffer acid conditions) amnd releases iron and sulphate. The (Lake Albert Water Level Management) project could potentially have caused acid and associated contaminants to be mobilised due to flushing of the Narrung narrows or increasing the water level in Lake Albert.

"The pumping of water into Lake Albert potentially could also have increased turbidity (through sediment disturbance) and'or altered salinity in lake Albert.

"At present there has been no apparent change in the overall water quality of Lake Albert...Alkalinity and pH level are currently maintained at satisfactory levels in both the Lakes...

"The water level is being maintained above the critical level of -0.6m AHD which prevents large scale exposure of acid sulfate soils and potential acidification of the Lake.

“The Coorong District Council Water issues Update #3, June 2008"

The Importance of Freshwater Flows:

According to the Ngarrindjeri nation Yarluwar-Ruwe, Caring for Ngarrindjeri Sea, Country and Culture, freshwater fishing has been "fundamental" to Ngarrindjeri "cultural economy since time immemorial." The Ngarrindjeri knowledge of "marine, intertidal, estuarine and freshwater environments" has enabled the nation to "sustainably harvest many species of fish and shellfish." These species are not considered commodities, but many are Ngarrrindjeri ngartji , "totems or special friends," and are significant in Ngarrindjeri "creation stories and have other cultural values." ...

A flood of headlines

2008-06-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

“SA natural icons dying from thirst,” The Independent Weekly
“Govt in damage control over Murray-Darling report,” The World Today, ABC news
“SA alone can't save lower Murray, Coorong: minister,” Yahoo news
“ACF urges emergency action for Murray Lower Lakes and the Coorong,” prismwebcastnews
“SA urged to lead Murray revival,” ABC news
“Murray-Darling Basin is dying: report,” Ninemsn news
“Murray lakes may be lost,” The Age
“Murray on verge of last gasp,” Sydney Morning Herald
“Murray-Darling raindance,” Blogocracy blog

The only floods around here lately are headlines. What the lakes and Coorong need is water.

The Lower Lakes are at the lowest ebb in recorded history:

"In May this year Lake Alexandrina water levels were as low as 0.69 metres below sea level. Lake Albert was as low as 0.74 metres below sea level, placing it in danger of ecological disaster."( Dr Simon Benger, researcher, Flinders University School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management.

"In 2002 it was estimated that median freshwater flows at the Murray Mouth had been reduced to 27% of natural flows... No water releases through the barrages have occurred since October 2006 but saline intrusion has occurred back into the Lakes as a result of the level of the seawater on the downstream side of the barrages being higher than the lake level...The lakes are now at "(- 0.5m AHD), about 1.2m below their normal pool level. Based on geological evidence the Lakes have never been below sea level in the 7 500 years since they formed." Substantial amounts of fresh water are needed in the lakes by October if irreparable ecological collapse is to be avoided. (Lakes Alexandrina And Albert Ecological Condition Progress Report. SA Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resource Management Board, April 2008)

Highly reactive acid sulphate soils

Over 3 000 ha of sediment on lake fringes and wetlands has been exposed to the air. (NRM Porgress Report) There is real danger of forming "sulphuric acid which can then leach into the soil, wetlands and the lake itself killing organisms and ecosystems." (Dr Simon Benger)

There is a likelihood that the water and sediment chemistry can "release a range of heavy metals and toxic metalloids into the water body at concentrations hazardous to human health, water ecology, livestock, flora and fauna...CSIRO data shows that over 1 000 ha of the dried lake margins is currently sulfuric (pH<4).>

High salinity levels

"Salinity levels currently stand at 4258 EC (electrical conductivity) units in Lake Alexandrina and 4168 in Lake Albert, or approximately four times accepted maximum levels for Adelaide drinking water."(Dr Simon Benger) This is Raukkan and Narrung's water supply.

Contaminated ground water

"There is some evidence of local shallow groundwater becoming acidic." (NRM Porgress Report)

Dredging at the Murray Mouth

"Some $2 million per year" has been spent since 2002 on dredging sediments at the Murray Mouth, once scoured clear by Murray River flows. This "is the only thing keeping many species alive within the Coorong as tidal seawater flows in and out of the Mouth. " (Dr Simon Benger)

Damaged Ngarrindjeri burial grounds

Falling water levels have exposed Ngarrindjeri burial grounds. The Ngarrinjderi community is distressed by damage and looting.

"Cattle have been walking through them, people have been picking up skulls and bones and taking them home as trophies..."observed Ngarrindjeri elder Matt Rigney.

Dying vegetation

"Large stands of water milfoil (Myriophyllum sp.) situated to the north of Hindmarsh Island have died as a result of increased salinities in this region. This species provides valuable habitat for small bodied native fish, and a food source for birds such as swans. ...If freshwater returns to the Lakes then wetland plants, which are good
seed dispersers, may return providing sediment conditions are favourable"(NRM Porgress Report)

Endangered fish

"There is potential under the ‘no improvement’ scenario that water quality conditions will deteriorate sufficiently (elevated salinity levels, decreasing pH, heavy metals being mobilised together with elevated temperatures in summer reducing dissolved oxygen) that a major fish kill in the Lakes could result."(NRM Porgress Report)

A captive breeding program is rescuing "endangered native fish found in the lower lakes of the Murray in South Australia." (Mike Hammer, of Native Fish Australia)

Endangered frogs

"The lack of water and habitat has greatly reduced frog populations." (NRM Progress Report)

Endangered birds

"Waterbird numbers for most species declined in 2005, 2006 and 2007. (David Paton, 2008) Australia has an obligation under the Ramsar treaty to protect the habitat of migratory wading birds.

Endangered mussels

"The freshwater mussel is washing up dead on the shores of Lake Albert in large numbers." This occurrence is likely to spread to Lake Alexandrina. (NRM Porgress Report)

Endangered invertebrates

"These species show a reduction in diversity and abundance when salinities exceed 2 500 EC and significant impacts may occur if lake salinities exceed 5 000 EC." Invertebrates are a major food source for fish and birds. (NRM Porgress Report)

Invasion by marine polychaete worms

"Larger creatures such as crabs and turtles are being overwhelmed by the weight of worm formations on their shells and are dying in large numbers. Such effects are thought to be due to rising salinity levels throughout the Lower Lakes." (Dr Simon Benger)

Increased likelihood of algae blooms

"Physical conditions in the river and the Lakes (low flows, temperature stratification, low turbidity) are conducive to algal bloom formation." (NRM Porgress Report)

Low dissolved oxygen

"Temperature and salinity stratification due to low flows could result in depletion of dissolved oxygen in the bottom waters and deeper pools of the river.... could result in large amount of phosphorus being released from the sediments and this may trigger algal blooms... Persistent low dissolved oxygen (less than 5mg/l) levels would impact on fish growth and further reduction (less than 1 mg/L) would result in fish kills." (NRM Porgress Report)

Urgently needed water flows

In excess of 600 GL of water is needed to raise lake levels to +0.3m AHD to improve the "health of the Lakes ecosystems... This would still not be sufficient to achieve reconnection with the Coorong, which would occur at around +0.65m AHD and require approximately 800 GL. Once Lake levels reach +0.65 m AHD, all fishways are operational. Regular flushing and fishway operation would begin to restore connectivity between the
Mouth, Coorong and Lakes enabling fish to migrate and complete their life cycles." (NRM Progress Report)

Artificial life support for the disconnected lakes

In May 470 ML were pumped from Lake Alexandrina to Lake Albert each day. In June it's expected 360 will be pumped, dropping in August to 200Ml and pumping stops at the end of September when funding ceases. The pumps are currently run on bio-diesel with pumping costing $600,000 a month.

"After this time, a greater volume (up to 1 GL per day) will be needed to prevent the lake level from dropping or other options will need to be considered...The decline in ecological character can only be halted and reversed if substantial freshwater inflows are received within the next six months." (NRM Progress Report)

Limited management options

"...we don't have the water in this state to be able to fix these problems; it must be dealt with at a national level," said SA Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald.

"Management options for the lower lakes are limited," Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Parliament, after the fourth-driest autumn on record had left "storages in the lower Murray-Darling ... at record lows.

So without significant flows into Lake Alexandrina, what will happen to Lake Albert at the end of September when funding for the emergency pumping of water stops?

Seawater pumping into Lake Albert?
"This would only be considered as a last resort if Lake Albert was definitely going to
become acidic... flooding Lake Albert with seawater would also lead to permanent ecological change:-

"Loss of freshwater species and food chain impacts.
"Salt intolerant and emergent vegetation species would be degraded and depleted contributing to the nutrient load.
"If seawater was put into Lake Albert and there was no connection to Lake Alexandrina, then a large fish kill would most likely occur.
"After 12 months it would change to a totally marine system. "(NRM Progress Report)

All is connected

2008-06-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Stitch by Stitch,
Circle by Circle,
Weaving is like the creation of life,
all things are connected.
[Ngarrindjeri weaver, Ellen Trevorrow, 2005, quoted in Caring for Ngarrindjeri Sea Country and Culture, p51]

For thousands of years, the Ngarrindjeri in daily greetings, in the retelling of Creation Stories, in pakari prayers songs, in ngrilkulun dancing and ringballin singing ceremonies, in charging objects with the sacred, have observed the cycle of life and maintained connection with Country.

The Ngarrindjeri say: Our lands, Our Waters, Our People, All Living things are connected.

We implore people to respect our Ruwe (Country) as it was created in the Kaldowinyeri ( the Creation).

We long for the sparkling clean waters, healthy land and people and all living things.

We long for the Yarluwar-Ruwe (Sea Country) of our ancestors.

Our vision is all people Caring, Sharing, Knowing and Respecting the lands, waters and all living things." [Caring for Ngarrindjeri Sea Sea Country and Culture, p5]

All is connected.

Land sustains language.

Language sustains the land.

The words of First Peoples, shaped by intimate knowledge of of the terrain, waters, turning of tides, stars, seasons, sing out to Country in ways that are life affirming for all.

Language has an ecological link with homelands.

Language diversity is connected explicitly with the health of the environment, assert anthropologist Daniel Nettle and professor of English Suzanne Romain, in Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages, 2000.

The oral tradition of the Ngarrindjeri holds the origins of their language-groups. Ngarrindjeri language diversity was created from a feast upon Wururi, Grandmother Spider. Connected by silken threads, the hatchlings of the huntsman spider feed on pre-digested food from their mother's mouth, points out anthropologist Diane Bell. [Bell, Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin, p137]

For thousands of years, the Ngarrindjeri have gathered on the island where their heritage of language originated: Kumarangk. But when the Hindmarsh Island Bridge was opened on March 4^th 2000, culturally appropriate access to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) via the ferry was removed.

The impact of this on the Ngarrindjeri community has been cruel. Community Health Worker, Andrea Henschke observed:

"When the bridge was built, the women were diempowered and dispossesed all over again. The impact on their psyche was dramatic and physical health issues have been exacerbated. Diabetes and heart disease are significant issues for older Ngarrindjeri women. Substance abuse and suicide are issues for the young. Violence and abuse against women within the community is of great concern." [V Tjukonai, "The Language of the land" in Women and Sustainability, Woman's Studies Journal, York University, 2002]

"Emotionally it was very traumatic," said Ngarrindjeri elder Veronica Brodie. "We Ngarrindjeri women have had to try and get through the hard times we've had ...There is a great need for love and forgiveness all round." [Veronica Brodie, My Side of the Bridge, pp160,162]

For Country to regenerate, for the lands and waters to be healthy, they need the prayers, songs, stories: nurturing relationship with the Ngarrindjeri. And "the land and waters must be healthy for the Ngarrindjeri people to be healthy," said Tom Trevorrow. All is connected.

The mouth, lakes and Coorong that are the lungs of the River are dying, and without them, the River dies. Now that Lake Albert at the lower end of the River Murray is on artificial life support to prevent it from irretrievable collapse, respect for Country is desperately needed.

COUNTRY:
But the English words used to relate to Country are stuck in medieval European concepts of dominion over the land. In 1066, a Norman duke made himself king and sole owner of England, William the Conqueror's word for "country" was the Old French cuntree, an abbreviation of the medieval Latin terra contrata, "land opposite or before one." [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins, p140] Up until the 15th century, "country" meant a "foreign land;" land to be invaded, dominated and plundered.

This medieval concept of dominion over "country" was transported to this continent, along with the convict labour to achieve that dominion. Today, Australians generally use a possessively article when referring to Country. It's usually "my" or "our country."

"The Creator who gave us life taught us not to fight over Country, but to share," said Ngarrindjeri elder Dorothy Shaw.

The meaning of English words change, because they are not rooted in the soil of their homeland. English linguists talk about English words being "acquired," "introduced" or "borrowed," when in actuality they were imposed from the language of the Conqueror or stolen from the tongues of the conquered in a long and bloody history of Empire-building. Below is a list of English words which came into being care of the Norman Conquest, and almost a millennium later, still maintain a discourse of feudal dominance over the land.

ARMY: "Army," "war" and "range" all have Old French origins, thanks to the Norman Invasion. "Range" originally meant a row or line of soldiers or hunters.

CATTLE:
"Cattle" and "chattel," are the same word etymologically, points out John Ayto. [Dictionary of Word Origins, p102] Both imply ownership via the Old French chatel from the medieval Latin capitale "property," source of the English "capital."

COURT: In the twelfth century, "court," was the royal household and its retinue. It was derived from the Old French curt, from the Latin cortem, from cohors enclosed yard, but extended to mean those who assembled in such a yard: "a crowd of attendants" or a "company of soldier," says Ayto. "Court" became an assembly of judges, likely influenced by the Latin curia "sovereign's assembly" and "legal tribunal," because Norman "assemblies for justice" were " overseen by the sovereign personally," says Douglas Harper. COURTEOUS: from the Old French curties, in the thirteenth century meant "having courtly bearing or manners," and denoted an educated man, says Harper.

CIVIL and CIVILIZE: In the Norman imposed feudal society, superiors, the Norman nobles, were "courteous," while inferiors, the English who were given no recourse to education, were "civil," says Harper, via Old French from the Latin civilis "of citizens." French gave English "civilize," meaning "citified" in the 17th century, and "civilization" in the 18th century, referring originally to a legal process of making a criminal "civil," but it came to mean the opposite of "barbarity."

The colonizing British in Australia justified genocide by regarding the continent's First Peoples as a sub-human barbaric race who needed to be "Christianized" and civilized:
"The aborigines of South Australia ...if compared with mankind in general or with barbarous nations alone: they rank the very lowest, and are almost without exception the most inferior; whether in a moral -- intellectual (mental), or civilized point of view." [amateur ethnographer, William Cawthorne, quoted in Survival in Our Own Land, p4]

DANGER:
"Danger" and "dominion" both derive ultimately, says Ayto, from the Vulgar latin domniarium "power of a lord." This led to the Old French dangier and the Anglo-Norman daunger. To be in someone's "danger," meant to be in the power or at the mercy of a lord or master who could punish, which led to the evolution of danger's meaning of peril.

DESMESNE/DOMAIN
Under the feudal system imposed in the 12th century by William the Bastard, "desmesne," from the Old French "demeine," was land retained by a lord for his own private use and not let out to tenants. It is now a legal term for the possession of real estate. "Domain" arrived in English in the 17th century via Scots but from the same French source as "desmesne." The Domain in Sydney, the Queen's Domain in Hobart, the Domain Parklands in Melbourne refer to land that was set aside for the private use of the British Crown or its representative in Australia. "Domain" has extended its meaning to include estates, and the extent of one's dominion. The idea that landowners can do what they like in their domains dates from medieval concepts of land tenure.

DISTRICT:
"District" was territory under the dominion of a feudal lord. It came from the medieval Latin districtus from the verb distringere, "to seize, compel," source also of "distrain" and "distress." "District" replaced the Old English ymbhwyrft "circuit."

DOMINION: "Dominion," "desmesne," and "domain" all come via the French from the Latin dominium, "property." In Roman society, the domini were masters and owners, particularly of slaves. In the King James Bible, "Dominion" was used to translate Genesis1:28 where God commanded "man" to exert dominion over the earth. "Dominion" was the term the British Empire applied to its territories across the globe. Australia was a Dominion in 1901. In 1953 the term was replaced by another medieval French word "realm," but "Her Majesty's dominions" is still used in a constitutional context, referring to "all the realms and territories of the Sovereign," says Wikipedia.

EMPIRE:
"Empire" and "emperor" arrived via Old French, from the Latin imperare, to command, says John Ayto. "Invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans ... and other enemies of Christ," ordered Pope Nicholas V in 1452. The head of the Roman Church also directed that non-Christians be "reduced to perpetual slavery." This was an ongoing papal policy, for in the 1493 Inter Cetera bull Pope Alexander VI ordered: "Barbarous nations be over thrown."

In the next 500 years, these papal bulls legitimized Europe's global land grab in which "more than 96 million Indigenous peoples" were "lost," asserted Oglala Lakota Birgil Kills Straight, in1992. Kills Straight contrasted his people's traditional knowledge of "natural laws and Mother Earth as a spiritual entity" with "manmade laws based on capitalistic economies and domination over nature." [Valerie Taliman, "Revoke the Inter Cetera Bull"]

Calls to the Roman Church to revoke the Inter Cetera bull of 1493 as a symbolic "end to this tradition of subjugation" to this date have gone unheeded.

ENVIRONMENT:
"Environ" came via the Old French environer, "to surround protectively or hostilely. "Environment" developed in the 17th century, meaning "state of being environed," notes Douglas Harper. [Online Etymology Dictionary] In the 19th century it became synonymous with nature and neighbourhood and in the 20th century accrued an ecological association.

ESTATE:
Both "estate" and "state" are basically the same word. Both come via the Old French estat from the Latin status "way of standing, condition," source of the English "status." William the Conqueror paid for his armed forces with confiscated land. So, social standing became aligned with private land ownership: estates.

FARM: "Farm" derives from the Anglo-Norman ferme, the fixed yearly rent due to the lord under Norman occupation.It replaced the Old English eorð-tilð, earth tillage and suppressed the practice of seeking Moðor Eorð, Mother Earth's blessing before tilling the soil.

FENCE: Abbreviation of "defence," from the Old French defens, to ward off. "Fence" replaced the Old English pearroc enclosure or ærhege, hedge of sacred trees.

GOVERN: "Govern" came via the Old French, via Latin, from the Greek kubernan "steer a ship," source of "cybernetics," says John Ayto. In the thirteenth century "govern" meant to "rule with authority," to rule and regulate. It replaced the Old English leodweard guardianship of the people.

MONEY: Coin after the Norman Conquest was known by the Old French name moneie which became the English "money." It's derived from the Latin moneta. Juno Moneta was the Roman Mother Goddess who guarded the Temple & mint, and who bestowed blessings upon coins to be circulated. Juno, source of the English June, derives from an Indo-European word meaning "vital force," and Juno Moneta ensured that this was shared. In contrast, William the Bastard taxed the English to the point of oppression. While the workers became impoverished, the Norman aristocracy squandered the country's money in their fortified castles. Money is a medieval construct which maintains an inequitable distribution of the world's wealth. Ironically, on the Australian $50 note, Ngarrindjeri elder David Unaipon (1872-1967) has the honour of being depicted. Author, orator, preacher, scientist, inventor, Unaipon was a strong advocate for social justice, especially for his people. "Release the bonds," he pleaded.

OCCUPY: "Occupy" comes via Anglo-Norman occupier from the Latin occupare seize forcefully.

PARK: After the Norman Conquest, land which once held in common was enclosed for royal hunting and took the Old French name parc. Putting military vehicles in an enclosed area gave rise to the verb "to park," says John Ayto.

PARLIAMENT: After the Norman Conquest, parlement, from the Old French parler speak, was a conference or a consultative assembly. It soon became "parliament" a legislative body. It replaced the Old English moot which took place at a holy hill or mound, a sacred oak tree, a stone monument, or crossroads. In each borough, the head of each household had the right to appear. William the Conqueror placed the boroughs under the military control of loyal lords, and business was conducted at a centralized weekly indoor assembly, the court of Hustings.

A Parliamentarian was, in the 17th century, the name for "one of the sides of the English Civil War," notes Douglas Harper, and only came to mean a member of Parliament in the 19th century. In South Australia, the Ngarrindjeri had their right to vote taken away with Federation in 1901, not to return again for another 6 decades.

PEACE: "Peace" in 12th century English meant "freedom from civil disorder," says Douglas Harper. [Online Etymology Dictionary] "Civil disorder" is a euphemism for the resistance of the local inhabitants to the Norman Invasion. "Peace" was brought about by a brutal "smash and burn" policy which saw much of the north of English levelled to the ground, its population massacred. "Peace" is derived via the Anglo-Norman pes, from the Latin pax, from pak, source of the English "pact" and "pole." Presumably, when a pact was made between rulers disputing territory, a "pole" was placed in the ground to mark changed boundaries. "Peace" replaced the Old English sibb, related to the English "sibling" and "gossip." In Old English, sibb "peace" wasn't a truce after war, but the result of fostering relationships, alliances and kinship.

PROPERTY: The English word "property" derives from the Old French propriete, from the Latin proprietas, "ownership," notes etymologist John Ayto, [Dictionary of Word Origins, p415] In 1085, William the Bastard, commissioned the Domesday Book in order to know exactly what he possessed and how much taxation he could reap. Land, livestock, crops, people all were considered his property.

PROVINCE:
"Province" derives from the Old French province, from the Latin provincia "region of conquered territory." [Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, p375] In 1834, an act of the British Parliament and signed by another King William, authorized the theft of First Nations' Country, declared it "waste and unoccupied," and legitimized the "Colonization" of the "British Province or Provinces" of South Australia.

SOVEREIGN: The sovereign, supreme ruler, comes via Old French, from the Latin super-anus, from the Latin super "above." "Sovereign" replaced the Old English an-wealda. Weald was Old English for "power," as well as "forest" or "wood," source not only of food, but also a sacred place where the power of deity was met. Union with the Goddess, Queen of the Land, gave the elected Old English cyning king the power to rule, but a Norman "sovereign" imposed power from above.

TERRITORY: Coming from the Latin territorium, possibly from terra land or terrere "frighten," says Douglas Harper, "territory" etymologically is land where intruders are warned off. The doctrine of Terra nullius used by European empires to legitimize land thefts, was based on the ancient Roman law that Res nullius: things not owned, which included the property of an enemy, could belong to the first possessor. In the preamble of the 1834 South Australian Foundation Act this territory was described as "waste and unoccupied:" Until the Mabo High Court decision in1992, Australia maintained the lie of Terra nullius.

Ngarrindjeri elder Tom Trevorrow points to tourist information signs in the Coorong National Park which say: "The Coorong was the territory of an Aboriginal group called the Ngarrindjeri." Thus, with the use of the English past tense, Tom and his people are still written out of existence.

TREATY: Treat, the verb and the noun, treatise, treaty and tractor came into English from the Latin tractere to drag, says Ayto. The Anglo-Norman verb treter in the 13th century meant to deal with, hence "treatment" in a managerial or medical sense. In the 14th century "treaty" became "an action of discussing terms," notes Douglas Harper. "Treatise" replaced the Old English larspell, literally "lore speech," " to treat" replaced lacnian, to heal, while "treaty" replaced settlements under the Anglo-Saxon code of honour. The Anglo-Norman treaty bought off rivals for the Crown, or to avoid more bloodshed was a victor's form of blackmail or revenge over the vanquished. In 1979 a National Aboriginal Conference preferred the term Makarrata to "treaty." Makarrata is a Yolgnu word for the ritual which after a dispute restores good relationships, good feelings, by removing blame or guilt.

DEGRADING ENGLISH: Some Old English words survived the Norman Invasion, but often meanings, especially of words related to land usage, were degraded under the influence of Norman-French:

BRIGHT:Derived from the old English bryght, from the Indo-European *bhereg to shine, says John Ayto, "bright" shares its origins with Brighid, Gaelic Earth goddess. The Shining Ones are the Gaelic Fae spirits of nature. Brighid who also has the title Sireadh Thall "Seek beyond," was Christianized as St Brigit or St Bride. [www.ceilede.uk.co]

EARTH:
Before the Norman Conquest, the Old English for "country" was folcland, Land of the people, or Earð, respected Mother Earth. Before turning the soil to plant crops, Old English farmers chanted a sacred invocation: Erce, Erce, Erce, Eorþan Modor Earth, Mother of Earth. Earð or Eorða derived from the Norse norn Urða who draws water from the Well of Urð to water the Tree of Life. Now "earth" is synonymous with dirt, or an inanimate object revolving around the sun.

GROUND: In old English grund was the "deep," a place of mystery, related to grynde, abyss. Grund was not lifeless, but inhabited by grund-wyrgen, fierce female portents. Grund was the Underworld, or Otherworld, home of spirits, similar to the Gaelic domhain, world, universe, the Earth, from the Old Irish domun, from the Indo-European *dheub-, which gave rise to the English "deep" and "dive." The Irish might say: Ta an domhain saibhris aige, "The world of wealth is at him." It is the domhain Mother Earth who gives the wealth, in contrast to English where wealth is ascribed to a person as status: "She is wealthy."

HOLINESS: Today "holiness" is the province of religion, but in Old English holy ground was a sanctuary protected by sacred trees. In Gaelic law, felling sacred trees was an offence punishable by death. Hail, hale, hallow, heal, health, holy, and whole come from the Germanic khailaz a place of good omen, says Ayto. Holiness is also related to the Old English rune mother hægl, the hail-like cosmic egg of Creation. [RWV Elliott, Runes, p49]

LAND: Today any area of ground is called land, but the word comes from the prehistoric Germanic *landam, a sacred enclosed area, says Ayto. The ancient sense of the land as sacred and a house of deity is still found in the related Welsh llan church.

LOT: A parcel of land that can be bought and sold was in Old English hlot. A hlot was actually an object which decided a share of land held by the community in common. Some plots of land were more productive than others, and so casting lots handed the decision to the gods.

THING: In Old English a þing "thing," from the verb þingan to invite, was a deed, an event, a cause, a reason or motive, a discussion, a matter of business, assembly, council or court of justice. A þingere was an advocate, a mediator, a priest interceding for the people, a þingestre was a priestess, a female advocate, and þinggemearc was the reckoning of time by events. The Icelandic parliament is known as Althing, points out Ayto. The Norman overthrow of the þing led eventually to the corrupting of a "thing" to an inanimate object. I'd like to think of myself as a "thinger" or "thingster," an advocate for respecting the life in all "things."

WEIRD: Today "weird" may mean strange, odd, eccentric, but its original meaning has been corrupted. In the Old English mind, the Earth was crafted by the sacred intention of the Wyrd, derived from the West Saxon weorþan to become, from an Indo-European base *uert- to turn, to wind, and possibly to will and to speak. From *uert- also came the Norse triple-goddess Urðr, known in Old English as the Wyrd Sisters or Three Wyrds, as well as the Old English deity Eorða, Earth. Today, many tourists to the Coorong drive across dunes and through Ngarrindjeri sites at least 12,000 years old, without a second thought for the mess they leave behind on the earth.

WILDERNESS: Today wilderness means a region unspoilt by humans, a tourist terra nullius treasure, and home of wild creatures. In Old English wilde meant free. The Old English wildēornes was a place where creatures and humans alike were free to roam. Wildēornes was a place where deities dwelt and were revered. From dēor is derived "deer" but in Old English dēor meant animal, says Ayto. Dēor may derive from the Indo-European dheu, shining fire, source of "deity" and "divinity." In 1066 William the Bastard gave a quarter of his conquered land to the Church of Rome. It banned the English from visiting the wilderness places for what it considered Pagan worship. Wilderness then became wild, uninhabited and home to the heathen.

ENGLISH APPROPRIATIONS: Furthermore, when English comes into contact with other people's language, it often appropriates words without regard for cultural contexts. English linguists call them "loan" or "borrowed" words:

EMU was appropriated from the Portuguese ema "cassowary." [Australian Aboriginal Words in English, p51]

GALAH was appropriated from the Yuwaalaraay nation, north New South Wales. Originally gilaa, it has been corrupted to mean a "fool." [[Australian Aboriginal Words in English, p84] The long living, mating-for-life galah is a highly intelligent creature.

KANGAROO was taken from the Guugu Yimidhirr gaŋurru, "a large black or grey kangaroo." Captain Cook in 1770 made lists of words from the Guugu Yimidhirr while making repairs to the ship Endeavour. When asking about the names of several marsupials, ganurru was recorded as "kangaroo," but this was "wrongly taken to be the name for any species of kangaroo or wallaby."[Australian Aboriginal Words in English, p57]

LAW: English appropriated the word from Old Norse lagu, replacing the Old English oe, law, says John Ayto. Lagu is the plural of lag, layer. It is also a rune, points out RWV Elliott, which means "water as a source of fertility." Laguz according to some German writers, says Freya Aswyn, means "love or life." In the Norse tradition, layers of honour flow into the Well of Wyrd, says Swain Wodening Canote. Each new life draws upon the ancestors' layers from the Well. Thus Germanic peoples saw themselves as being created by "the law, their deeds being the law, their customs being the law."

TOTEM was appropriated from the Ojibwa ototeman "belonging to a family or group," says Ayto. Totem was assumed to be an animal or natural object representing the emblem of a clan. In Ngarrindjeri, ngartji is often translated as "totem" but ngartji means so much more: friend, messenger, relative, guardian. George Trevorrow explained to Justice Matthews: "Ngartji to non-Aboriginal people is like a totem which each one of us has and each group belongs to...A ngartji is something more than a close friend. It's more than your best friend. It is something more closely to you." [Diane Bell, Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin, p205.] And just as I was writing, this "friend" appeared next to my PC:

GLOBAL ENGLISH: English has become a global language. It is the utilitarian currency of the market place, enabling the conveyance of commodities, property, ideas and services. But when English-speakers try to relate to Land that is neither inanimate nor someone's property, English words fail.

GREGARIOUS FIRST LANGUAGES: In contrast, First Peoples' languages are "gregarious," says French socio-linguist, Louis-Jean Calvet. They foster belonging, they nurture relationships and respect diversity. They cross boundaries into liminality and can accommodate the "inexplicable" and "ineffable." [ L-J Calvet, Language Wars: Language Policies and Globalization, p6]

The British imposed English as the official language across its empire, supposedly to unify; in effect to suppress. Since 1800, the number of First Nations' languages spoken fluently has dropped by 90%. The percentage of First Nations' language-speakers declined from 100% in 1800 to 13% in 1996. Of the 250-700 First Nations' languages spoken by around 700 First Nations pre-British Invasion, now only around 20 are considered "viable." [State of Indigenous Languages in Australia-2001]

The extinction of languages is "part of the larger picture of near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem," writes Nettle and Romain. [Vanishing Voices, 2000]

English is everywhere in Australia. Under British occupation, First Peoples' languages were banned in misguided policies of "Assimilation." Australia has been engineered as a mono-lingual society in the erroneous belief that universal English delivers social cohesion. It hasn't worked. The "mono-lingual mind-set" was evident in policies of the Howard Federal Government. Indigenous Affairs Minister ignored a report which found that "students achieve better levels of learning" when " the home languages and cultures of students are reflected in their learning experiences and learning environments." [Indigenous Languages and Cultures in Northern Territory Schools Report 2004-2005] The minister believed that "ensuring" all "Aboriginal children" learnt English would give them " the same opportunities as white children." ["Indigenous school plan criticised," The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May, 2007.]

In contrast, the European Union encourages its citizens to be multi-lingual. In Article 22 of its Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU declares its respect for linguistic diversity, linking it with acceptance of the diversity between peoples, and respect for cultural difference. Article 21 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of language. Languages are in fact "instruments of inclusion," says Clyne.

Australia currently does not meet the aspirations set out in Article 13 of the United Nations 2007 Declaration on the right of Indigenous peoples. It states: "Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, language, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons."

It appears that our local community paper, the Lakelander, does not meet the aspirations of Article 13. The work of Ngarrindjeri artists was featured on the front page of Issues 15 and 20, 2008, but in both instances there was no appropriate acknowledgement of their nation's name, despite a particular request by at least one artist and despite a local Indigenous population of several hundred. In a previous issue, a report on a significant local concert omitted all mention of the Ngarrindjeri Welcome to Country speech by the Chair of Raukkan Council.

Yet English names dominate the landscape, flora and fauna. The grass-tree that once grew prolifically on the Narrung Peninsula is found on websites with the racist name "black-boy." "Black boy," was the name given to enslaved First Peoples. Yet today this tragic history is trivialised with "black-boy" being used as the name of an Australian bore, camp, cave, cottage, creek, falls, forest, flower essence, grass-tree, eucalypt, hill, hollow, horse, insect, kennels, money-box, motel, outstation, park, plain, ridge, rose, springs, steamship, trail, walk, way, and winery.

"From the time of European settlement, English has become Australianized in speech communities: the European and the Indigenous communities," writes researcher Ian G Malcolm. Malcolm points out that while linguistically there is little to distinguish the two dialects, speakers of First Nations' English "suffer discrimination when it comes to receiving services intended to be equally available to all Australians."

Significantly, the First Nations' way of being in the world is not relinquished upon learning English. "Life-space" and "frameworks of activity and relationship" are maintained, observed Malcolm. [Inquiry into the Needs of Metropolitan and Urban Dwelling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.]

Furthermore, First Nations' writers have "reinvented and redirected the language imposed on them into a powerful tool of resistance and resilience," writes Diane Bell. [Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin, p143] The following are English words which,in First Nations' contexts, demonstrate continuity of pre-invasion cultural frameworks.

COUNTRY: The First Nations' English usage of "Country," has no possessive article, as in "Caring for Country."

"Country in Aboriginal English," says academic Deborah Bird Rose, "is not a common noun, but a proper noun." [Rose, Nourishing Terrains, Australian Aboriginal Views of Landscape and Wilderness.]

In First Nations' English, Country is a "living entity" with a "will towards life," observes Rose. First Peoples relate to Country in a kinship relationship. " People and Country take care of each other," writes Rose. Country was created, is recreated by Ancestral custodians.

Country is a "big book," says Ngarrindjeri rupelli, George Trevorrow . "Now, over the years, people been taking ... like tearing pages out of our book ... and that leaves us with a big blank." [Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin, p307]

The Ngarrindjeri translate "Country" as Ruwi, but unlike countries of the British Empire whose boundaries shifted with the latest conquest, Ngarrindjeri Ruwi is sacred and inviolable.

Ruwi cannot be translate simply. Ngarrindjeri Ruwi, points out Bell, is the "living body" of the lands and waters, creatures and peoples. "Ngarrindjeri Ruwar," sings elder Victor Wilson: "one body,all the people." [Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin, pp622-3] So when the Ngarrindjeri speak, their language connects them to the living Country who sustains them.

Different attitudes to Country:

LANGUAGE: English is a language full of individual names for things, right down to the smallest molecule and far out into the universe. English separates each thing, so it appears to exist on its own. In 1870, a German zoologist had to invent a word to describe relationships between living creatures and the land: ecology. In contrast, comes the observation of First Nation's linguist, Jeanie Bell: "Our languages are the voice of the Land and we are the carriers of language."

LAW: Unlike English (Norman-Roman) law which is imposed from above and values property, First Nations' Law arises from the Land and values knowledge given by Spiritual Ancestors in the time of Creation.

"We are asking non-Indigenous people to respect our traditions, our rights and our responsibilities according to Ngarrindjeri laws." [Ngarrindjeri Yarluwar-Rwue Plan]

SACRED describes First Peoples' cultural practices, woven into the seasons of the Earth-world and Sky-world. "Sacred" denotes ancient knowledge to be respected and protected.

"What is sacred?" replied Ramindjeri Ngarrindjeri Paul Norvill. "Culture is sacred!"

"We are deeply offended that a Government in this day and age has the audacity to order an inquiry into our secret, sacred, spiritual beliefs." [Statement to the Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission, 1995, signed by the Ngarrindjeri women.

SOVEREIGNTY in First Nation's English usage refers to connection with Country, traditional lands and waters, never sold nor ceded to any foreign power.

SPIRIT: In First Nation's English "spirit" is used as an adjective, as in "Spirit Country," a reminder that the physical realm is not separate from, but is enlivened with Spirit.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF MONO-LINGUAL AUSTRALIA:
84% of Australians at the 2001 census are mono-lingual: they do not speak a language other than English at home, says the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Romain and Nettle's assertion that language diversity is connected with the health of the environment appears true for the Australia. Parts of the continent are so degraded they have been described as "ecological basket cases," "triage" areas, and "sacrifice zones" with an estimated repair bill of $65 billion. [Background Briefing, 15/9/02, ABC Radio National]

May we re-phrase this English discourse of dominance over the land to one of respect for the Earth and Her peoples. The UK has laws which protect the language rights of Cynmru speakers in Wales and Gaelic speakers in Scotland. May Australia likewise value First Nations' languages and learn how words can connect us with Country and restore Country.

© Vesper Tjukonai, June 2008