Last in the series about Saturday Market Day in Kununurra: a Miriuwung Gajerrong elder.

“Miriuwung and Gajerrong culture
Our ancestors created Miriuwung and Gajerrong country in the Ngarranggarni, the Dreaming. At the dawn of time our land was covered by the waters of an enormous flood. The waters eventually receded, placing some of the Dreamings, the ancestral beings, on the landscape. Other Dreamings roamed the land, creating creeks, billabongs, hills and escarpments on tracks through our country. They created the different soils, plants and animals, and all the seasons of our country—ying-geng (the wet season), gerloong (big storm), barndinyirriny (dry season) and wan-gang (cold weather). During these sagas of journey and creation, our ancestral beings, who were simultaneously human and animal, also established the all-encompassing moral and practical rules by which succeeding generations of Aboriginal people have lived for thousands of years—our Law, languages and ceremonies.

Our Dreamings became different features of our landscape, and are still present in our country today. Every part of our country has a song. Our Dreamings make connections between our people, plants, animals and parts of our country like water holes, creeks, hills, mountains and tracks through our country. Yarndungarll (dingo), lemoogeng (blue-tongue lizard), diwanang and jalareng (wedge-tailed eagle and egret), bilbiljing (grass-hopper) goorrgoorrjing (tawny frog-mouth owl) and gerdan (frill-necked lizard) are some of the Dreaming stories and places on our country.”

Source: Miriuwung-Gajerrong Cultural Planning Framework Miriuwung and Gajerrong Peoples’ Guidelines for Developing Management Plans for Conservation Parks and Nature Reserves under the Ord Final Agreement. Endorsed by Yoorooyang Dawang Regional Park Council, October 2008. (www.csiro.au/files/files/pn4w.pdf)

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