mein- got what a share collapse last few mths, page-17

Clydebigdog

We had this conversation once before.

The Groote Eylandters themselves criss-cross the song lines in sea craft. Always have- first on wooden rafts, then dugout canoes and now mororised boats of various shapes and sizes. When they do they observe strict protocal...singing appropriate ceremonia;l songs either aloud or to themselves announcing their presence and seeking permission from the spirits of totemic ancestors for their activities. More ot less the same protocols that exist for moving around "country" on land.

The mean life expectancy for the Groote Eylandters is 44 years for men and 51 years for women. Mainstreamers, people like you and me, put that down to life style diseases. Not so the Groote Eylandters, they put it down to the desecration of sacred sites and compromised song lines.

And they believe that mining and other activities have compromised those somg lines and sacred sites, both on land and sea.

They also live in a world where the spiritual and physical dimensions are intertwined and become one and the same. Therefore, in order for the spirit of the deceased to travel the song lines for rebirth water clarity, the ability for the deceased to see where they are going is paramount.

The clearest articulation of this resides in a painting done by a Ceremonial old man for or five years ago. Mining activity on Groote has severely affected the Angurugu River; water quality, river levels etc. It is a huge issue. Usually the paintings done depicting the totemic beings on their travels along that water way (my wife's song line in fact) are in vibrant ochres with the represenatations of the totemic beings in clear focus.

This old man began painting the Angurugu River, that song line, or, in reality, the central core of a much broader song line, in acrylic paint...different shades of grey with indistict representation of the totems with their eyes partly blinded. He also provided an explanation of that painting, with the use of an interpreter, at a meeting with GEMCO management, beside the river about eighteen months ago.

While GEMCO had previously argued that complaints coming from the ALC re the water quality and the deteriorating condition of the river were at the urgings of white stirrers, when this painting came to light, it was a wake up call if you like, for GEmco management- legitimising in their eyes that the complaints re the river were coming from the TO's and were bound up with ceremonial belief and practice.

As a result there are now regular "River Meetings" and GEMCO has committed something like forty million dollars in addressing the problems caused by mining- flow off from pits, a poorly constucted haulage road bridge and the like- to that River.