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There is a scrub tree here that grows on the floodplains known as Mirrii or leafless cherry/ ballart. Its scientific name is Exocarpus aphyllus and it’s a root parasite on the coolabah mainly, but other eucalypts as well. The Mirrii is used to “make a decoction to treat sores & colds. This plant was also […]
“Sometimes the things we think are lost are only hidden, waiting to be discovered” } Cloud Cuckoo land by Anthony Doerr. I use this quote after seeing the photos below in my ABC newsfeed. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-11/mystery-community-of-aboriginal-and-indonesian-families/101901188?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web. The photos found in an Italian library show a group of Yolngu people living in Makassar Indonesia in the 1870s. […]
Im sure Im not the only one that’s well & truly over the annual Australia day/ change the date debate. Why not just make it the last Friday in January so the date changes every year? That way everyone can have a long holiday weekend & nobody gets offended. Easter moves around & God doesnt […]
Christmas is coming & we are trying to finish harvesting chickpeas and drenching sheep. The cool wet spring has pushed harvest back 6 weeks & extended the sheep worm epidemic. But, regardless of how busy I am I will always make time for the CMTs & the descendants of those who created them. A group […]
Mombarai was the Gomeroi word used for the cicatrix/ cultural scars displayed on the upper body. It’s thought the clan’s mark or “drawing’ was also inscribed on a tree where an important person was buried. . In some cases a piece of bark was removed from a tree south […]
You don’t have to go o/s to experience culture shock you know – it happens right here at home. If gossip was an Olympic sport the community of Walgett would be world champions. They would also be on the podium for the self-promotion, self-interest & self-serving triathlon. So be it – as Ive said before […]
When Aboriginal people come to visit we rarely discuss politics but now the personal has become political when it comes to skin colour. I don’t know when Australia will achieve total colour-blindness but for the last 2 centuries you had certain advantages in life if your skin tone was closer to Anglo white. Now […]
Although thousands of people are paid large salaries at our universities and museums & publicly funded bureaucracies like AIATSIS and the ABC none provide help & mostly don’t even bother to reply to emails. The exception is the NLA (National Library of Australia) that archives this website so the CMTs will always be accessible on […]
The anthropological Vs natural debate re trees growing in other trees is over – Jen Silcock’s soon to be released paper on the subject will remove all doubt statistically & I will remove it pictorially. This old bimble/ poplar box ringtree residing on the neighbour’s neighbour has an old standard type scar. Sometime ago someone […]
Since spending time hanging around old Aboriginal camps Ive noticed what is known as ‘post contact artefacts’. Mostly old kerosene tins with thick wire handles for carting water. Wooden coolamons, as useful as they were for carrying stuff, could not compete with the kero tin for durability and carry-ability. Tobacco tins, tin cans, horse shoes/nails […]