A new generation of Aboriginal people – members of the world's oldest living culture – are learning the traditional ways of their people, practised for tens of thousands of years.
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Last week, young members of the Dunghutti people from Walcha and Tenterfield went on a five-day “Kids on Country” camp at the Inglebah cultural heritage centre.
“We aim to get our kids connected to country, connected with their culture, connected with their language – and make them proud,” elder Fred Reid said.
“They are the future, and we’ve got to keep our culture alive. It’s a revival – but we are getting there slowly. We pass our knowledge onto our young ones, and that’s how it’s been for thousands of years.”
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This is the second time the Kids on Country camp has been run at Inglebah.
Amaroo LALC chief executive Mark Davies set up the heritage centre on the site in 2016, with funding from the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services.
“I walked out on country here,” Mr Davies said, “and realized the potential of what we could do: practise our culture in a safe environment, and showcase it to the wider community.
“In the two-and-a-half years we've started doing that, we've come a long way, with relatively little funds. This is self-determination. A lot of people said you'll never see this happen – but today we have, for the second time.”
More than 50 families lived on the reserve between 1893 and the 1940s, the last family leaving in 2000. Their burial sites on the reserve are sacred to their descendants.
"For all of us here today,” Mr Reid said, “this is where it all started, our grass roots, our connection. We know our ancestors, the old fellas, are around us; they are with us right now; we feel it. That's why it feels so good, being out here.”
Around 50 people took part, 40 of them between two and 18. While only the Dunghutti group from Walcha attended last year's camp, this time a dozen people from Tenterfield have been invited.
“We've had expressions from other Aboriginal organizations to come along,” Mr Davies said, “but we have to limit it till our resources/infrastructure are right.”
Reggae Towney gave a welcome to country in Dunghutti.
She has volunteered in the community for the last two years, teaching young people to speak their traditional language.
They began with hello and goodbye; now they are talking fluently.
“It makes them feel stronger in themselves by doing it,” elder Garry Towney said.
Fred Reid conducted a smoking ceremony to bring in good energy. After a cleansing dance (badanguma), the youngsters dance “fun” dances, crouching and hopping like kangaroos, or strutting like emus.
Later in the week, Kamilaroi astronomer Len Waters taught the children Aboriginal star-gazing; a basket-weaving group came up from Tamworth; the LLS introduced them to the endangered long-necked turtles that live on the land; and Fisheries NSW showed them how to angle.
On Thursday, the group went out to Apsley Falls, where local elder Sue Green told them the Dreamtime story of how the Rainbow Serpent came through the gorge, and where the Dunghutti people were created.
Once all the infrastructure is in place, in the next couple of years, Mr Davies will open up the centre to the wider community, so they too can learn about his people's culture.
For more than 20 years, Fred Reid and, later, his sons have travelled to schools around Australia, teaching about Aboriginal culture through dance, storytelling, and music.
Their Maluerindi performances aim to “bridge the gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
For that to happen, though, he believes non-Aboriginals must acknowledge what happened to his people, and learn about them.
“Before Australia becomes one, I feel the true history of this country must be told for us all as one mob, one Australia, to go forward.”
He is himself a member of the Stolen Generation, and believes telling his story will help young people better understand the past injustices Indigenous people have suffered.
"I know a lot of people out there will judge our people, but they don't understand the problems that lie behind that.”
When Europeans arrived, Aboriginal people were forced to assimilate into a Western way of living.
“We weren’t allowed to practice culture, ceremony,” Fred Reid explained; “language wasn’t even allowed to be spoken.
“We were put onto reservations, missions, out of town; you had to have a special permission slip to go into places where non-Aboriginal people could.
“If you didn’t have that permission slip, you were thrown in jail.
“The sadness of that, we as Aboriginal people will never forget; it will always be there.
“What we need to do today is move forward, heal. It’s about healing the spirit within, so we can carry that forward for our kids.”
He’s spoken to a lot of young Indigenous Australians around the country, and says that a lot of them are ashamed.
“They've still got that shame factor in us, because of what happened before.
“That was put on us, and we're telling our kids don't be ashamed. Be proud of who you are, and where you come from.”
Aboriginal identity, Fred explains, is based on connection to country, culture, and language.
“One old uncle said to me, when there’s no more land, there’s no more life.
“That really sunk into me.
“Those are true, true words, because of the spiritual connection our people have with land.
“A lot of non-Aboriginal people don't understand that spiritual feeling we get inside.
“A tree is just a tree, a rock is just a rock, to most non-Aboriginal people, but that tree and that rock go deeper for our people, in a spiritual sense.
“It's not a religion; it's all about connections, where you yourself have got to be self-balanced.”
