Get Up Close And Personal With First Nations Australia

I never really thought about Country until I was older, it was always there, just part and parcel of life, the tangible and the intangible, for all my siblings, cousin brothers and cousin sisters, aunties and uncles, we knew the stories of the night, of the Milky Way.

“Watch out for the Nimbinje,” my father warned.
“Don’t go near that lagoon, the Dirranghan is there.”
“Always announce yourself, crossing that waterway.”
“Jing Gee la..” we echoed, “it’s us coming in for a swim.”
“Never forget you are sunrise people, always look up to sky and give a g’day and thank you to Nuthungali.”

I belong to jiruhnj, goanna people and we are the hoop custodians. These were our totems and one of the great gifts as children we received – there was the family totem, the Nation totem and then our personal one. I was Gil Gil, the Brolga. Our totems made us everyday environmentalists. I knew to always check the mudflats down near the mangroves, look for rubbish and pick it up. I was looking after Gil Gil’s Country.

This was all whispered, stories hushed, and our names were secret words. With a finger to his lips dad would remind us, “don’t tell the kids at school, don’t say those words they won’t know what they mean”. But really, my father with his great wisdom and dry wit was breaking the law. At the time language, dance, ceremony was outlawed and there were severe punishments, these little rituals were part of dad’s connection and survival, it kept him grounded and sane - it was his right to honour his inherited Bundjalung birthrights.

Our old people’s kinship system is tied to Country, be it to the sky, the water and the land, it is all connected through the Dreaming. All have their own expression of the Dreaming and language, and all have lore. It’s just like family relationships, and just as complex, no matter if it’s the Southern Cross, the dark emu, the moon brother or sister sun, or the mountain that unites the rainmaker clouds.

Everything is interconnected and it's often hard to simply explain.

Welcome to Kuku Yalanji Country

Far North Queensland has the same humidity as Bali, but you will feel you are in another world. This is Kuku Yalanji Country, they are known as our Rainforests peoples. From historical Cooktown you cross Savanah country to the ancient above-ground limestone caves at Chillagoe. The Walker family have been conducting tours on Country since the 1980s. Juan Walker and Walkabout Cultural Adventures will show you another side to the stories and you'll view the landscape with a new eye - from lush rainforests of the Daintree, to Mossman Gorge and the Dreaming story of Manjal Dimbi (Mount Demi). This is where the Daintree Rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. Perhaps you might like to explore the traditional fishing grounds at Cooya Beach (Kuyu Kuyu), a special place and you might even learn some of the local language as you spot the bi-lingual place signage in some 25 locations across the Port Douglas Shire. The ancient carvings and artwork have left their mark and it’s like a library for the Kuku Yalangi.

Welcome to Djugun-Yawuru Country

Broome has a vastness. This is 'big sky' country and looks so surreal against the colours of the rich red earth. Here, you will be greeted with the lilting local words of the Yawuru people. "Ngaji gurrjin! Wirriya ngangaran liyan nyamba buru Yawuru,” they will call. ("Hello. We hope you are feeling good in our Yawuru Country.") The West Kimberley and Broome area is traditionally known as Rubibi. It’s saltwater Country that has a multicultural history - known worldwide for its pearl farming and history of luggers and divers. May is Wirralburu season. No rain time, it's the beginning of the southeast winds. The days are still hot but there is a cooling, and the nights are mild. The powder-white sands of Cable Beach against a backdrop of turquoise are so appealing, but do check the time of year, when it’s safe to swim.

Tour guide Bart Pigram comes from the musical dynasty of the Pigram Brothers. Their songs capture the essence of this topical outback country and they were the original backing band for Jimmy Chi's internationally acclaimed musical, Bran Nue Dae (1990). With Narlijia Experiences, Bart take guests on night and day tours on Country. When you step into the giant fossilised footprint from the Megafauna period you are reminded how small we are. You'll learn stories of their Dreaming, the stories from the Bugarrigarra. For something magical, encountering the natural phenomenon of the full moon over the low mudflats at Roebuck Bay is simply beautiful as it creates an illusion of stairs to the moon.

Welcome to Gadigal Country

When you walk through the city of Sydney and catch a glimpse of the sky and water, you know you are on Gadigal Country. Underneath the bricks and mortar are stories untold. The Elders still see Country as it once was, through the passing of the oral stories and knowledge.

The Gadigal live on six-season Country. Its homelands stretch across sandy beaches to swamplands of Centennial Park, where freshwaters flowed down to what is now Pitt Street, the harbour basin channel, where the waters meet. This was a fishing ground and celebrated as a significant site that was cared for with great reverence. Gadigal women were our first merchants selling fish to the impoverished and starving convicts, when drought and food supply were depleted. Under what's now the Sydney Harbour Bridge known as Dawes Point, but originally called Tara, its where the women and young girls would learn to paint markings with Ochre. January for the Gadigal was no meat time. It was too hot to keep fresh meat, so a diet of seafood prevailed, taking only what you needed, and fires were only lit on the sandy beaches and coves.

Sydney is also home to the largest rock art gallery in the world, and we are reminded of the sandstone, where the Gadigal, known as the grass tree peoples, made their mark on Country.

These hidden histories are told by Aunty Margret Campbell on her Dreamtime Southern X tour. Her Aboriginal name is Muughi and she'll expose a Sydney you would never think existed.

Welcome to palawa Country

The formation of kelp into vessels is unique to Tasmania, water collection was survival and artists sculpture Vicki West is testament to the tenacity, and the reclamation of many Nations. There were many mistruths told of Vicki ancestors which continued well into the 21st Century. It is said that Trucaninny and Woureddy were the last of the Tasmanians. Today we know this not to be true. Vicki’s work, gifted by Aunties through the power of knowledge and oral stories is art that bridges the strength of Tasmanians Aboriginal cultural inheritance.

There is a certain spirit and an enormous resilience, combined with joy when you encounter the Peerapper, Tommeginne, the Pyemmairrener of the north east and the Tyerrernotepanner, the Paredareme, central Lairmairrener, the southern Nuenonne and the western Togee nations of Tasmania, which they fondly call Lutruwita - its original name. For decades, their Custodians have ensured a revival of the palawa kani composite language that lay dormant under the destruction and decimation of their people. It was one of a dark history that occupied sections of this pristine and innovative island.

When you meet Careleeta Thomas, you’re in for a treat. The wukalina Walk is an Aboriginal owned and led experience at the wukalina or Mt William National Park. Today the ancient craft of threading the fine shells gathered by the woman does require a keen eye and patience, but it's therapeutic and is very healing.

The walk crosses the country where clans would have gathered, built their fires against the winds, fished and harvested. The colour palette across the Bay is a photographer’s dream, with the textured granite rocks encrusted with bright orange lichen, bright against the finest and whitest sands.