First Nations Song - Yolgnu legacy on the Northern Beaches

Written By Rebecca Gray

In north-east Arnhem Land, the home of the Yolngu people, spirituality, story, magic, song and visual art all coalesce as the basis of one of the richest and most enduring of the world’s cultures. The past is never far from the present and belief is the close brother of truth.

Larry Gurruwiwi is a force of nature. A multi-instrumentalist with an incredible voice Larry is also acknowledged as the greatest traditional Yidaki virtuoso aka Didjeridoo player in the world. It’s a role he inherited from his late father the legendary Galpu Clan leader, Mr D Gurruwiwi. Larry continues his father’s legacy working with his brothers and extended family under the name of “Malawurr,” which is the Galpu name for “Family”.

With haunting songs in language about connection to land and spirit, Larry spreads his ancient culture in a transcendent modern fusion of sounds that anyone from any culture can connect and heal through.

This week just passed i hosted a series of events featuring Yolgnu brothers Larry and Vernon Gurruwiwi , all the way from North East Arnhem Land. It has been a huge privilege and honor to work with such a beautiful group of humans sharing Yolgnu history, culture and song through live performance, yidaki workshop and a collaborative Sound Healing.

But this didnt even touch the sides……….I am very aware of how much more work needs to be done to establish a genuine understanding in our community of what our first nations peoples culture is and how important it is for us to put in an effort to cultivate further reconciliation, peace and respect.

As “Balanda”, White people, who live on this land, it is our responsibility to make the effort to learn from the people who have peacefully inhabited this country for tens thousands of years.

I am excited to continue this journey with the Gurruwiwi family and will be bringing more of this magic and their song to Sydney in the coming year.

Lets look a little closer to the local community of Sydneys Northern Beaches…..

THE NORTHERN BEACHES OF SYDNEY and OUR FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE

The Northern Beaches is a vast coastal wonderland of natural resources. Last time the Gurruwiwi brothers were here we walked to Mona Vale beach and through the foilage i was amazed to be showed an abundance of edible and medicinal native plants that i had no idea about. I felt extremely ignorant and ashamed that i had no idea of these and in this moment i realised it was MY RESPONSIBILITY to make an effort in understanding my home and its rich history. So how?

The Aboriginal Heritage Office in Freshwater, is a museum and keeping place that charts the history of Australia’s First Nations people with stories, images and artefacts. It’s a history that is both fascinating and intensely spiritual, as well as dark and brutal. This is a great place to start any study of Aboriginal history on the Northern Beaches.

The Heritage Office is open to the public Tuesday-Thursday, 9am-3pm, for walk-ins, or contact them to discuss talks, guided bushwalks and activities for schools and other local community groups, as well as their work documenting and protecting Aboriginal sites and cultural heritage.
Email info@aboriginalheritage.org or go online for further information.

A little more about the Northern Beaches:

In the early days of the colony, three Aboriginal men – Arabanoo, Bennelong and Colbee – were kidnapped from Manly Cove by colonists with the aim of studying and learning language from them in the hope of communicating and ensuring the smooth establishment of the new colony.

Manly and the rest of the Northern Beaches was once rich in Aboriginal life and culture. But colonisation, dispossession, disease and displacement destroyed much of this way of life, and war, genocide and violence killed most of the Aboriginal people.

However, their story remains here like a gentle breeze wrapped around the landscape; it’s in the water, the sky, the land.

To experience this, open your eyes, open your heart and open your mind, and you will see, feel and come to understand the world’s oldest continuous living culture, having inhabited this land for at least 65,000 years.
Manly Cove was also the place where Governor Phillip was speared in the shoulder by an Aboriginal man during a whale feast. It has been postulated that this man may have been fearful of also being kidnapped, or that he was meting out a form of ritual punishment.

Arabanoo – the man, the lookout - The uplifting nature of Arabanoo Lookout, situated in Balgowlah Heights and gazing across Manly and Sydney Heads, belies the sadness of its origin story.

While signage at the lookout tells a tale of the first Aboriginal man to live among the white colonists, further study reveals that Arabanoo was taken against his will. Later, when he returned to Manly Cove, he was deeply grieved to find that his people had been decimated by smallpox. Arabanoo, too, eventually succumbed to the disease.

The people, the place

Expand your vocabulary and understanding of First Nations names and places with some traditional language:

  • Kai’ymay or Kay-yee-my – Manly Cove

  • Gayamay or Gayamaygal – the clan of the Manly area

  • Karadji – medicine men and women healers

  • Car-rang-gel – inner part of North Head

  • Eora – The name given by the earliest European settlers to the Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sydney basin. Unfortunately, this term was originally misunderstood and actually meant “person here” or “this place”.

  • And if you want to say “hello/where are you from?” say Warami.


Rebecca Gray
Next

The Chakras and Sound - a modern miscommunication