The Tjawa Tjawa Women Ancestors

Only three more sleeps and then ….

…. we head off into the Great Sandy for 7 days of Dreaming Tracking… The Elders, the Marlpa (Companions) and me… oh, and about 40 other people… in 8 cars (4WDs)… bumping over spinifex and getting bogged in tali (sand dunes). Oh, what fun!!!! Oh what freedom!!!

We’re going on the long-waited-for Tjawa Tjawa Dreaming Track Trek.

We’re heading south into Nururrupa Country… down, down, down into the most beautiful story-filled red-desert Country you could ever imagine. Following the dancing-footsteps of the Tjawa Tjawa Women Ancestors… following their adventures.

And one of the joys of it all is that I’m not organising this Trek … pure bliss!

Actually, I mean I am co-organising it but the main organiser is the Pilbara and Kimberley Aboriginal Media (thanks Neil Turner, Warwick Nieass, and everyone else).
and so that means that there’s lots of people on board doing all the food-getting and the vehicle-righting and all the other million jobs one has to do before one can take off into the desert…
… and, well, you name it

And all I have to do is organise Kapululangu’s side which, this time, is only about looking after our Women Elders – and also the Women Elders of Mulan and the Women Elders of Kururrungku (/Billiluna). … … 14 Women Elders… Phew! And to achieve that small feat I’ve got three great Marlpa (volunteers) to help make even that a smooth ride. (Thanks Claire Simpson, Phillippa Thomas, and Jane Beckman).

This is the first Dreaming Track Trek organised by another organisation… and this time the purpose of the Trip is to make a film… not the normal doco type films we’ve made in the past (and they were great and the resulting DVDs magnificent) … but this time it’s going to be a feature film … with some of our own local Aboriginal women and men acting… and the Kapululangu Women Elders singing and our younger women Dancing… and it’s all about collecting the stories and telling the stories of the Land in a way that captures and portrays the adventures of those old-time Ancestor Women … and their adventures with a few Ancestor men they met on their journey. (Funding by Screen Australia – thanks to those folks too).

So we’ll be following the Tjawa Tjawa Women … as they travelled through this Country making the sites… and we’re going to two main sites and will set up camps at each place for three days and move out of each camp going to different sacred sites and doing ceremonies there… or film making… or in some places just documenting the stories for our future generations and not to share with the world. Especially at the very important sacred sites…

I first came into some of this Country we’re going to visit this week, way back in 1992 and I was awed by what I experienced there… This land is so precious and so potent. We are going back to one of those sites that is really powerful for women … and the Elders haven’t visited it since I was there with them 22 years ago. It is going to be very very special to be there with them.

I’ve spent most of today developing a Risk Assessment to give to our local Medical Clinic and to the Police… on the basis that if anything happens to anyone on the Trek they may need to evacuate someone by helicopter. And today our local Aboriginal Council fixed my Troopie … getting it ready for the Trek… had a hole in one of the dual fuel tanks so that had to be replaced, and a new floor put in the cab (the holes I’ve been watching the road wiz by through have been getting bigger and bigger!) It’s so satisfying having the support of our local Community to be able to undertake these journeys.

Of course, we’re going to be a long way out of internet connection on this Trek… but when we get back I’ll tell you all about. But we’re not going just yet… as I said there’s three more sleeps to go. And as getting ready for these Treks are almost as much fun as the Trek itself … I’ll be back with more news as we start getting ourselves on the Track.

Btw, Needing more Marlpa (Companion) volunteers for October through January… If you are interested please email us at kwc.vols@gmail.com
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