Shane shares his people’s ancient connection to the land, the story of the billadarang (platypus) and the formation of the landscape and river system of the Snowy Mountains region in the Acknowledgement of Country video.
Acknowledgement of Country video (2:26)
Warning – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following video may contain images and voices of deceased persons.
Narrator – Nooringe
[Ngarigo greeting]. Southern Cross School of Distance Education acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Lands on which this video was filmed. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging of the Ngarigo, Walgalu, Ngunnawa and Bidhawal peoples and extend our gratitude for their generous sharing of knowledge and expertise about the importance of the sites we will visit on this virtual excursion.
Ranger
We're going to have a little bit of a walk through Jillabenan Cave now and that for the Walgalu and the Wiradjuri and the Ngunnawa was very spiritual for women.
Shane Herrington
Just like to talk about a little dreaming story that we have. It's a creation story of the water for our part of the country. The Billadarang, so the Platypus. So when we look into the sky of a night time, when we see a big full moon, what's actually happened there is the moon, he actually steals the water from the landscape. And so each time he grows and grows and grows, he grows and becomes full in the sky. And when he's sitting up in the sky and he's got that big ring around him, he's actually full and looking down at all the animals and laughing. He's laughing because he's taken all the water.
What actually happened, the Billadarang, he dived into the dry river bed, creek bed and he swam all the way up, all the way up to the moon in the sky that was sleeping and wasn't watching, and with his digging stick, the spike on his arm, he busted the moon. And when he busted the moon all the water fell back onto the landscape. When it fell onto the landscape, it created all the rivers and the creeks that we can see at the bottom of the valley.
Narrator
Please enjoy your virtual excursion, while acknowledging the various Aboriginal communities who permitted the production of these videos and generously shared their time, knowledge and expertise. Yeribee, farewell, and safe journey.
List of sources and acknowledgements
- Curriculum and Learning Innovation The Snowy Scheme Site Study (2005) NSW Department of Education
- Australian Alps National Parks (2006) Aboriginal People and the Australian Alps Education resource
- Snowy Monaro Regional Council (2016) Aboriginal Communities
- Plowman, S (2007) Thematic History 1823-1945 Cooma-Monaro Shire New South Wales. Victoria Design and Management.
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