The bibbilah of the Euahlayi (Yuwaalayaay) came from the box tree country according to Katie Langloh Parker (The Euahlayi Tribe A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia) This communal connection was …
“based on belonging to one country or hunting-ground; this name a child takes from its mother wherever it may happen to be born”
*Bibbil, poplar-leaved box-tree. An Eucalyptus
With the “Bibbil” or “Bibil” being the dominant tree species of that range.
The only eucalypt growing around the Cumborah ridges, except for silver leaved ironbark ( Eucalyptus melanophloia ), is the bibbil or bimblebox aka poplar box. There are Kurrajongs as well but of the western or desert variety Brachychiton gregorii , not the Brachychiton populneus of the central west. The Mulga starts here too and the Gidgee along the Rotten plains towards Lightning ridge but no Black box or Coolabah as the ridges have precious little clay or surface water.
In Bush Tucker, Boomerangs & Bandages ‘Bibil’ is the word for all the box trees (Grey, Yellow & White) but not the Bimble box or Black box. Such discrepancies are common in Indigenous knowledge books because names were changed locally to prevent mentioning the dead. I will go with Katie’s term ‘Bibbil’ for Eucalyptus populnea because she recorded what she was told from her time at “Bangate” – less than an hour’s drive Nthwest of here. Also she was writing about 120 years ago, much nearer the horse’s mouth so to speak.
So I call the people who lived in the opal bearing ridges around Cumborah the Bibbilah & wonder at their achievements. Ted Fields Snr referred to the Cumborah camp as Gali Gurranaa and it was a legendary place where Byamee (aka Baiamai, Biami, Baimae, Biamie, Biaime, Byarmie and Byarme) created a spring for thirsty warriors. Click on the link below to hear the correct pronunciation https://www.dnathan.com & short explanation from old Ted below
‘In the dreamtime Gali Gurunha lived at Gingie,(original property name) and some of the warriors coming back from the Narran River came on dry times, and had no water. Gali Gurunha dug the underground river from the Barwon to Cumborah Springs. We believe Gali Gurunha created the spring to save the warriors, this is not tradition but history’.
Old Ted wrote more extensively in YUNDIBOO – “Back in Burruguu (the time of creation) hunters were coming in from the Narran. As they came in all the waterholes dried up. They couldn’t leave Cumborah where there were plants carrying water still growing eg the “nhungga”(Kurrajong) & “gaagaluu”(Parsonsia eucalyptophylla). Gali gurranaa lived at what they call the deep hole at Gingie reserve. He dug an underground river then from the Barwon & created a spring at Murramanaarr (Gingie Station now) & another which is called Gali gurranaa (now known as Cumborah spring)”
Ted Fields Snr tells us that the Gali gurranaa spring was destroyed when they built the village, but households in Cumborah still use the spring water. There are also gravel pits around the town & old Ted wrote “Outcrops of gravel are scarce in our region. Where they occur, you can be pretty certain that they were used for burials.” That may explain the over 100 TinTs and 100s of body wrap size scars in abundance around the gravel outcrops. The underground water here at Murramanaarr was not a spring but a paleochannel with inferior quality water. My Father- in- law remembered using stock & domestic water from the paleochannel in the 1930s but changed over to tank (dam) water as it was better. Unfortunately, despite 3 visits from the hydrologists of UNSW – paid for by the DEG (Dharriwaa Elders Group) – they never managed to test the underground ex-Barwon paleo-river… must have forgotten their shovels? The ‘old clever people’ accessed the paleochannel down to about 9 meters in multiple places with digging sticks – says it all really.
Speaking of academics, I’ve heard back from Michael Priest of Fungimap 3 months after I sent him samples of the fungus found at the camps & on TinTs– Michael emails – “The fungus has been identified as a species of Tropicoporus, however he (the expert) has not yet been able to put a species name to it. Extraction of DNA may help, but I haven’t heard if that has been successful or not.”
Now the Etymology of Tropicoporus (Lat.): refers to a distribution of the genus exclusively in tropics – Interesting name for a fungus growing in semi-arid Northwest NSW but who am I to question the mycologists? The Black-Hoof or Sang Hwang mushroom used to be Phellinus linteus or Inonotus linteus but is now Tropicoporus linteus. A rose by any other name .. well not exactly beautiful but a very important medicinal mushroom in Asia & the Americas. I can’t find any Australian records in Inaturalist but the Atlas of Living Australia claims to have records of Inontus linteus.
From https://medicinalherbals.net/phellinus-linteus/ Phellinus linteus is a medicinal mushroom fungus used in East Asian traditions for various ailments… anti-asthmatic, anti-diabetic, anti-eczema, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
Ive also found another of those mad triangle CMTs up in the Cumborah ridges just the same as the one here. We know that a diamond scar carved into tree trunk indicates a special place but what about a broken trunk angled so that it will make a diamond when it casts a shadow. So much we don’t know & so little time now. I wont be around much next year & when I am I will be too busy for CMTs. I can understand the DEG & the WLALC ignoring the Trees in Trees – the most skilled of all the CMTs – as they are more interested in money & power. After all that’s the whitefella way & we ‘learned’ them good, but I cant work out why academics in this field bury their heads in the sand? I would have thought scholarly curiosity would be the main personality trait that brought them to a university career in the first place?
