Day 18 – Flinders Range to Iga Warta
Travel Location: Iga-Warta,Australia
Today’s drive took us from the Flinders Ranges north towards the Gammon National Park. We started early in a quiet and peaceful environment of the National Park Camping ground. The first destination was the hot springs of Paralana. They are located just near Arkaroola and it takes a 4WD drive of 26 kilometres to get there. The drive itself is amazing. Driving through the narrow gorges, seeing the different layers of sediments exposed on the mountains and cliffs. The spring itself is water coming from the ground between two big rocks. The water flow is slow and there are many plants, but also flies. The water of the springs is naturally radioactive and thus we did not touch them.
The destination for today is Iga Warta. This is a settlement within aboriginal land. We were rushing through the bushes, coping with the road which went through creeks, flood paths and dips until we reach the aboriginal land. We got out of the car, our ears buzzing with the ramblings of the car and it’s fight with the terrain. We walked into the reception area where four white and one aboriginal were sitting. They all were relaxed and watching us. After walking towards them and say “G’day” and “how are you?” we looked for the office. A lady asked if we are looking for accommodation. So, after some introduction we found out that she was Josephine we spoke to earlier too to book the place.
It was quite a change of pace for us. After an initial chat, we got our camping ground and were all set for the campfire which was about the talk of aboriginal beliefs. However, the rain set in. Well, that may not be remarkable for Malaysia or Switzerland, but it is for the driest state on a dry continent. They didn’t have rain for a couple of month (nor sure when it was the last time) and the rain was a real blessing. Instead of the campfire, we sat down in a covered area with Therry. He is aboriginal and did grow up in the area.
His grandfather was working in the area. Being a bit of an entrepreneur, he got a wagon and a donkey to transported wool and goods from and to the farmers. Because of the depression in the 1920’s, some of the farmers did not have the money to pay him in cash and he bartered some livestock. Not knowing where to go with it, he got a deal from a local farmer that he can get part of the land for his service to fence them. Because he was Aboriginal, they could not make a contract (Aboriginal people could not own land), but everything was sealed by a handshake.
The story didn’t end well. The mission nearby was looking for new land and his grandfather offered the people to move where he stayed because of the access to water. However, the mission took his land (which he was not allowed to own). Later, a national trust bought/got the land and even later they declared it Aboriginal land. Therry does not own the land; he can also not purchase it. Everything he builds on it, which is fixed to the ground, will be the property of the trust. That’s the reason he built everything on stilts, with exception of the water pumps.
Another interesting topic was the sacred sites. Two stories here among many that would be worth mentioning. Firstly, the people from the Flinders Range believe that they are at the place where life and mankind began. All other people, for example we Asian’s and European’s moved away from this place. However, people return to the place and tune in to listen to mother earth. Our visit was thus not by chance, but an unconscious drive to return to the land where everything started. Initially the white settlers (or invader) were seen as ancestors that pas between two lives. The aboriginal believed that between lives you are translucent. They initially thought that the murders and rapes occurred was a punishment they deserved. Only later they realised that this was not true. Still, they believe that the white settlers are returning to the homeland and despite everything they are family.
Another story, unfortunately not retold in great detail here, is about the aboriginal dreaming stories. Their dreaming stories are how the world was created and as well a guide how to live. One of the stories is that a bird was travelling north to a ceremony and it made a fire to cook and to indicate that it is coming. One of those locations is Leigh Creek where the reminders of the fire are the coal fields. Therefore the mining of the fields is mining a sacred site. That is the reason no aboriginal people work in the mines there. A big hope for them is solar energy, as it could replace the mining.
