Connecting with Spirit around this Land

Two 'Places' that I once sat in for hours and hours and hours, getting to know them and imbibing some of their 'stories', it the process of drawing them, became part of my custodial responsibilities, via the 'spirits-who-reside-in-this-land'.

This one above, (so called Calvert's Peak by white invaders), is just one of the peaks of the Peak Downs, a stunning landscape just to the east of Clermont, where the #StopAdaniConvoy has just spent the weekend standing in support with the Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council, bringing attention of this important place/area, to the rest of the country, which Gautam Adani wants to desecrate, by digging the largest coal mine in the world, the Carmichael Mine, in this time of Climate Crisis.

When you Google Earth this area, you can see mines all around, (the white areas are all mines of some description), right beside areas of Significance.

Bob Brown said in one of the videos I watched last night, that for many in the convoy, it was the first time they had visited this awesome area and many didn't want to leave, to return to their homes. They want to come back at some future time, to explore and spend more time there.

(Despite these stunning peaks being called the Peak Downs National Park, it was near impossible to get close to any of them as they are or were, locked in behind 'Private Property signs, back in 1997, at least.) Apparently you can walk in thru the long grass if you know where to stop and park, on the side of the roads nearest to the mountain that catches you eye most.

When I was there, my then partner and I, found a tiny unmarked track in towards one, later identified as Calvert's Peak, and camped overnight in the bushy grasslands, When he walked off into the distance, hidden by the grass, as I sat and drew, I began to get worried late in the afternoon, when he hadn't returned, as I had no real idea of which direction, or even which side he made his ascent. If he didn't return, if he'd fallen and broken a leg, how would I search for him ? Thankfully he did return in the semi-dark twilight, while I was finishing my sunset drawing (top). The stunning, glowing 'Peaks' certainly kept my anxious mind occupied whilst I awaited his return.

Below is my drawing of part of the Minerva Hills, from a cattle station, owned in 1997 by a Texan, called Sam Gunn, which is a bit further south, below Emerald, where we had camped for a number of days, prior to finding the Peak Downs.

I didn't spend very much time there, when I was there in 1997, but I did stop long enough to find my way into both of these places as the spirits called to me, to come and meet, to sit and learn, to sleep beside their trees, and slip into the Dreaming stories, carrying them deep within my inner being.

Today I read a chapter in Adrian Newstead's book, 'The Dealer is the Devil - An Insider's History of the Aboriginal Art Trade', and in chapter 4, 'Cultural Revival Is Survival', were words I needed to read today, words from Guboo Ted Thomas.

" Guboo was [considered] something of a rebel amongst [his people], because he believed that white people could connect to the Dreaming of places, in the same way. He also understood how difficult it could be .... for those raised within cities of the western culture, apart from nature, to fully enter into the Dreaming as a living reality. So he'd sit them down to spend hours and hours making a pair of clap sticks with a tomahawk and a rasp, stilling their minds, listening and watching the wilderness around them for a day or two. "

I consider myself very fortunate to have been born to my mother Liffy, who took us out into the bush, quietly searching for Lyrebirds dancing on their mounds deep in the Victorian wet sclerophyll forests, as often as she did, and camping in the VW Beetle in school holidays, throughout Victoria, every chance we got. So I was able to spend hours in silent quietness, alone with just the bush and the birds surrounding me. At 8 years old, my world became more introverted from my wider western world, when I developed a speech impairment, which further enhanced my internal and spiritual world view on things.

I found my first pair of clap sticks, 'peeled pristine white, and broken to size, by birds beaks', as I dawdled along a mountain forest track, behind the rest of the family, 'whistling to the birds'. They accidentally knocked together as I found first one, and further along the second one. They had such a beautiful tone, and I likened them to the piercing 'tjook tjook' of the Lyrebirds distinctive call. My current pair, are also very special, found at the back of Bessie Liddle's stall at the Tjungu Festival at Yulara in 2016 Made of Wire Wood, by an acclaimed clapstick maker, they have an even higher tone, and I now use them for healing spirit work, as they can be heard far & wide, like a lyrebird deep in the forest.

"........ Guboo taught .... that the Dreaming of a place is the collective memory of each event that has occurred in the lives of all sentient beings who have lived there. Every person and every action, leaves it's imprint, it's memory, behind in the earth. Any place can become significant through it's association with your own, your family's, your friend's and the wider community's collective memory of events that have taken place there. To these are added all the known and unknown events that have occurred in that place. You may, or may not, be aware of many of these events. Nevertheless, by holding this place to be special to you personally, you become a custodian of the stories, which keep it's Dreaming alive. This site is of significance and a part of your walkabout. "

(thank you to Adrian Newstead for writing these words).

I needed to read them today, after thinking about my drawings of so called 'Calvert's Peak'? last night, after watching the various videos of the Stop Adani Convoy's visit to Clermont. I had decided to find and post this picture, as I hadn't fully 'placed' the exact location of Clermont, until then. I knew it was somewhere north of Emerald, which is just north of the pencil drawing, near Springsure.

(The returning journey of the convoy will have been traveling past the Minerva Hills National Park, as I type. It makes an impressive vista when traveling southwards). This smaller range sits separate from the greater mass of Minerva Hills National Park, to it's north (and is now/then? run as a cattle station by a Texan called Sam Gunn, whom we met when we drove up to the homestead asking for permission to camp and draw.)

From 1995 to 2007 I was very fortunate to be able to travel around this large land, where and when, the spirits led. I 'knew' I had to make these journeys, I thought it was to meet people, and was a bit puzzled after my first circumnavigation, when I reflected on how many, or how few people, I had actually made connections with. I looked thru my visual diary of drawings and realised that it was 'Places' that I had 'met' and become to 'Know', quite intimately. I feel that I can 'journey back' to these places anytime I 'set my intent', as I have 'lived' there in such intensity, with a deep connection, allowing all the spirits and their stories to percolate within me. The few people I did connect with then and in later years are/were also very important connections, some of whom feature regularly in my current life, either in body or in spirit, as do these special places.

For more information about the Peak Downs click on this drawing. And for more info and videos about the Clermont area and the W & J people scroll back up to the top and click on some of the highlighted links

And for more info re volcanic activity in the region click on this photo. As usual, I do wonder what it's 'original' name means.......

#SpiritoftheLand #PeakDowns #Clermont #StopAdaniConvoy #BobBrown #Springsure #MinervaHills #GubooTedThomas #AdrianNewstead #Clapsticks #Lyrebirds #Spiritworld