For those who asked about more Ngarrindjeri commentary:
Another speech of Tom's that may be helpful
KUMARANGK
KNOWN TO MANY AS HINDMARSH ISLAND
Am I liar, fabricator or a hindrance if I say that my people and I known as the
Ngarrindjeri occupied the Land and Waters of the River Murray, Lakes and Coorong
Region over many thousand generations, over many thousand years.
Am I liar, fabricator or a Hindrance if I say that over thousands of years my people
developed Cultural and Spiritual beliefs between themselves, the land, the waters, the
trees, the fish, animals and the heaven.
My friends, I have said it before, and I will say it again, my people and I are not
Liars or Fabricators, therefore it seems to us that we must be a Hindrance to certain
people.
We must be a Hindrance, because we see and feel the land as a living thing, like our
own bodies and we respect the land and strongly believe that certain parts of the land
should not be interfered with because it is like interfering with your own body,
because everything is connected, the earth, the waters, the trees, the heaven.
We must be a Hindrance, because we see and feel for certain parts of the land and
waters which our Ancestral Beings created, told the stories and the Law and our Elders
carried out the important Cultural, Environmental Ceremonies.
>From these important Cultural Ceremonies we are told and taught to respect. We are
>told and taught that the land is a living thing, we must respect it.
We are told and taught that the waters are a life giving source we must respect and
protect.
We are told and taught that the animals, birds, trees, fish and plants are our food
source [that] we must respect and protect.
We are told and taught that the animals, birds, trees, fish are our totems to each
clan group within the Ngarrindjeri Nation; we must care for their land and waters.
We must respect and protect.
We are told and taught that ceremonial places for men, and ceremonial places for
women, are connected with the land, waters and heavens; we must respect and protect.
We are taught to respect and protect through our knowledge, and also through a
belief which we call our Mee-Wee. Our Mee-Wee is a gift which is given to us at
birth and is a sense which is mainly felt in the stomach. It tells us what is good
and what is bad. It tells us what is right and what is wrong.
But I tell you friends it tears at your heart and mind and makes you very sick inside
your stomach when your Cultural and Spiritual beliefs are questioned by authorities in
charge of this Country.
Who can't understand, or refuse to understand, and we have people who become experts
of us and our Culture through reading books written by other experts who learned by
reading books written by other experts. I wonder how many of these experts lived upon
the land with my people, ate their food, drank their water, and took their time to
gain their respect and a real understanding of my people's Culture and Beliefs and
relationship to the Land and Waters?
Then I wonder if they did would it have made any difference in the past or today?
People must stop and think: Why is there soil erosion? Why is there salinity? Why
is there so many animals, birds and plants that are extinct? Why is there changing
weather patterns? Why is the rivers and lakes drying up and becoming polluted? Why
is the Coorong dying? Why is the Murray Mouth silting up? Why is there so much
severe health problems and sickness around? Seems to me, and my people and many other
people that there is very little desire to respect and protect.
Maybe a bridge from Goolwa to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) might solve some of the se
problems and provide a healthy Environment for our future generations in this Country.
I think not.
In closing it leaves us no option but to say that we must be a Hindrance to this money
making development Culture which chooses to develop on places which are Culturally and
Environmentally significant to us and maybe this is why we are classified as Liars,
Fabricators, and anti-developers, which I say again, we are not.
All I can say is that my people are sorry that our Cultural and Spiritual Beliefs and
Heritage is built into the land, the waters, the trees, the birds, fish and animals
and the heaven, and we are sorry that it conflicts with some peoples' Culture who like
to change and develop certain parts of the Environment which are very significant to
our Cultural and Spiritual beliefs, but this is our belief, this is our life, and I
thank those who understand us, believe in us, support us and know that this is right.
THANK YOU.
Tom Trevorrow: Speech to public meeting at Maughan Church, in [June?] 1998.
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