"Dala" A dreamtime story.

[hairymick]

G'day guys,

I would very much like to share with you a story - as told to me by Dr Eve Fesl the other day. I have adopted her as my "Auntie" and I think it is in order to explain who she is and her very special relationship to "Dala" our Australian lungfish. She has very kindly given me permission to share her story. 8)

Auntie Eve Fesl, is an elder of the Gubbi Gubbi people, a loosely knit tribe of Aboriginal people, who for milliena occupied this part of my country. Their country roughly stretched from about brisbane, about 200 miles to the south to about here and west to our Great Dividing range. The tribes or nations consisted of small family groups, nomadic in nature, who travelled throughout their country in constant search of seasonal food.

"Elders" within any tribal group were respected senior members of that group and help a position of trust and leadership. It is my understanding that there were no "chiefs" as such and that important decisions were made by groups of these elders getting together from time to time.

These are the words of Auntie Eve as she told them to me.

part one.



The story of ‘DALA’ by Eve Mumewa Doreen Fesl, OAM, CM, PHD –
Gubbi Gubbi Elder

It was on April 23, 1823 that the life of my people, the Gubbi Gubbi changed forever.

Before this day, we walked our land, along the beaches, through the mountains and along the rivers, staying only short times in various places. We harvested from the land and followed the seasons, picking the fruits and fishing from the streams as food became plentiful.

On that day however, three white men were washed ashore. They were criminals who had been sent to collect wood in a boat. A cyclone had washed them north from Sydney until, exhausted and starving, they ended up on our land.

We nursed them back to health and showed them around, not knowing that when they were picked up by Matthew Flinders in his ship, they would tell all about the wonderful harbour at Redcliffe and persuade their people to establish a penal colony there. This they did, but two years later, it was decided that the area known as Brisbane would be better. In 1825, they set up a colony in Brisbane under the control of a brutal man, who became known as “the Tyrant of Brisbane Town.â€

 

[hairymick]

Part Two.

Gubbi Gubbi fled to safer areas around today’s Kenilworth and the Mary River Valley. My mother Evelyn Monkland, my uncle Clifford Monkland and other members of my family were born on the banks of the Mary River.

My grandmother wove shelter covers from bladey grass and used paperbark as a soft bed to lie on.

At night the family would see the reflection of the stars in the water and hear the ripple of the water and the occasional explosion of air as Dala, our sacred fish, chose to come to the surface to expel the breath from his lung.

It was that these times, the children would be told the story of Dala. As they lay under the stars and beside the rainforest, with its night bird calls, the children listened to the story of the beginning of our culture.

 

[hairymick]

Part Three.

About 4 million years ago, there was no life on Earth. There was plenty of water, but the land consisted only of sand and hills with no plants.

Our Great Spirits looked down, deciding that something must be done to this land which we now call Australia. The land is situated on what is known to us today as a Precambrian shield – we can see parts of this today across the landscape.

Of all the areas in the world, because there has been no steep volcanic upheavals, Australia was capable of sustaining life across its surface, Therefore the decision was made to begin life here.

Firstly, the Creation Spirits ordered that there be water plants in the sea.

Then, about 3 million years ago, they created fish, which could live off the sea plants. – this is known to non-indigenous people as the Devonian Time.

To Gubbi Gubbi however, it is known as the Creation Time – The beginning of Life

 

[hairymick]

Part Four.

A plan was made for at least one fish to come out of the sea. Firstly, they gave it a lung so that it could breathe the air outside the water. Then, so that it could crawl onto the land, they gave it a backbone (vertebrate). And so Dala was made and became the first vertebrated creature in the world.

However, the Great Spirits realised there had to be food on the land for the creatures which were to come. Land plants were encouraged to grow, These would provide food for many of Dala’s descendants. The largest of which were the dinosaurs and giant marsupials.

Dinosaurs and giant marsupials descended from Dala. Our people were developed, some of whom rode giant wombats, which like todays smaller wombats, were gentle creatures. Just near Melbourne Airport, the skeleton of one of these giant wombats was found. When I am in a ‘plane, coming in to Tullamarine airport (at Melbourne),
I look over the land to where the giant wombats once roamed and think of how the means of transport have changed.

 

[hairymick]

Part Five.

As with other fish. When he was born, Dala would forever have to breed among the shallow water weed like those present prior to the Devonian time.

His main home today is the Mary River and if you paddle a canoe along that waterway, often Dala will come up to the side of the canoe to be stroked.

Groups of Dala always come to us today when our families meet by the Mary River, which we call Mumabula.

We had always been told we must protect Dala and places where she and he breed and feed from – the shallows where the water weeds grow.

Dala is a slow growing creature. Taking 2 years to reach 1.2cm (about ½ inch), iving up to 100 years old and growing to about 1.5 metres long (about 5 feet) To us, he was always a wonderful creature, but it is only recently that overseas scientists have said that Dala is the ancient genome.

It is from the care by Gubbi Gubbi and our Great Spirits that we have Dala living in Mumabula today.

Mumabula is a special river.

White people have taken the land by the river so we cannot live by the river today, but we meet there for picnics and get-togethers. When we do, lots of Dala appear – a reminder of days gone by.


./6

 

[hairymick]

Part Six.

MUMABULA

She is the artery pulsing life through the veins of Gubbi Gubbi Dyungungoo, touching our birth places, the sacred pools and spiritual places as she flows.

She gives succour to the rainforest and special trees that cradled the bones of our past generations.

In her womb she bears Dala, who, like a whisper from a long forgotten past, symbolizes the wisdom of our Elders, directed by Ancestral Beings to bring life from the sea for the creation of all vertebraed creatures.

Flowing through time, our duty “Care for Mamabula!â€

 

[Kayak Jack]

Thanks, Mick for sharing that. I enjoy different creations stories. One is as rational and sacred as another. All try to answer the unanswerable - "from whence came we?"

She speaks in a melodious manner, and must be a gentle person. You are privileged to know her, and people like her.

 

[hairymick]

Jack,

Thank you for taking the time to read it all.

Eve Fesl is a quiet, gentle and unassuming lady who carries herself with a sort of dignity that is difficult to describe. I spent some time with her the other day and her words and wisdom touched me.

The Mary River (Mumabula) is sacred as is Dala. Mumabula is the heart and soul of the Gubbi Gubbi and is the centre of their whole existence as a people. It has nurtured them since Creation.

The Europeans who have settled in the area more recently to farm its very rich and fertile soil, understand this and share a similar love and reverance for the river and surrounding valley. Mumabula affects visitors similarly. Anybody who paddles Mumabula in canoe or kayak would agree that it is a journey of the soul. There is something very, very special about it that is hard to put into words but it is real enough.

I paddled a short stretch of Mumabula the other day. It was flowing well becuase of recent rain and at one point, I just stopped paddling and let the current take me and tried to imagine what it must have been like before we white men came. I looked all around and realized that from the river it probably looked just the same as it does now. While sitting there, quietly, I happend to look down and saw a platypus! just on the surface of the water and not 6 feet from my kayak just sitting or floating there and looking back at me. This has never happened to me before - in my life.
Platypus are very rare and allways very shy little fellers and the best one can hope for is a fleeting glimpse of one off in the distance.

I tried to get a photograph but my hands were shaking too much to make the shot and all too soon he dived and was gone. This alone made the 200 mile round trip to this part of Mumabula worth-while and I will be going back there soon - real soon.

 

[coogzilla]

That was really really good!

Regard's Coogs

 

[oldsparkey]

Mick...

I really enjoyed you passing on to us those words of Auntie Eve as she told them to you. They are something that needs to be saved for your history.

Chuck.

 

[bearridge]

I think the High Sheriff put it inta the best words there iz. It will be a mitey sad day when the little pardners caint know what a free flowin' river feels like cuz there aint none left. Books, pichurs 'n movies dont come no where close ta the feelin' ya git when yer on one....campin' on the bank.....settin' round a campfire.....watchin' the same flames flicker 'n dance that folks frum the Dreamtime watched a thousand years ago.

Not jest one.....ya gotta have a heap of 'em 'er they jest git too crowded. Fill anythin' with people 'n it iz ruint fer sho.

reagards
bearridge

NO TRAVESTY DAM

Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. Mark Twain

 

[Bilgerat]

Thanks, Mick! I had to pause and reflect on that story for a while. Makes one think.

Save the Mary!!!

Mike

 

[FlaMike]

Mick,

Is there any chance the Good Doctor has written a book?

If not, then I'd greatly appreciate your posting her stories, every time she tells you one. And to that end, consider encouraging her to do so.

Her story contains some of the soul food than I seem to crave.

And for the story of the Dala, thank you for posting it, and please relay my heart-felt thanks to the kind and much-learned lady.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[hairymick]

Thanks a lot guys.

I didn't know if it was appropriate to post stuff like this here or not - but this story touched me in a way that is difficult to describe.

I have a small part of aboriginal blood in me and I sometimes wonder about things like this and who exactly, my other family is but have no way of tracing it. The tribes of my home lands, Northern New South Wales, have well and truly dispersed and no records were kept at the time of offspring of the aboriginal and part aboriginal children who were born.

I think I am quarter or 1/8th cast but not sure. I don't even know how that is worked out and don't care enough to be bothered to try to find out.
I was raised as a white man, I think, act and compete like one but sometimes these stories just reach in and grab me by the heart.

Mike, I will try to contact Aunte Eve and see if I can spend more time with her. Will also enquire about any books she may have written.

I was on one of the creeks that flow into the Mary (Mumabula) the other day and was finally able to get a photo of our Mary River Turtle. These are great little blokes but are very shy and difficult to photograph. This bloke just sat on his log for me and watched me drift up in my kayak till I was allmost on top of him. They seem to grow to about the size of a dinner plate.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Mick, you are a very complex guy, for being so simple. Or, is it a very simple guy, for being complex? Either way, you;'re an interesting mix.

I hail.

 

[hairymick]

Mick, you are a very complex guy, for being so simple. Or, is it a very simple guy, for being complex? Either way, you;'re an interesting mix.

Why thank you Sir, I think.

Not really complex mate, just a little confused at times.

Race, as in black and white, isn't a real big issue here and where it is, the blacks are way more racist than the whites. (I think I am allowed to say that) :lol:

I couldn't give a rats arse about the colour of a mans skin (and I am in no position to anyway) I judge a man by his hand shake and the straightness of his eye. By what he does - not what he says.

As you can probably imagine, I am somewhat curious about my "other" family and have allways had an interest in the pre - European history of my country.

There is much to be learnt from the aboriginal "Dreamtime" Stories and there is a lot in many of them that closely correlates with the teachings of Christianity - in particular - Creation, only it is put into words that reflect the primitive nature and culture of our aboriginal tribes. I suspect the indigenous American nations have similar stories as well.

There is true wisdom in them that I think is no less applicable today as it was when they were first told.

Here is an example, As I understand it, Aboriginal culture was the original democracy in that there were no "Chiefs" The many and verious tribes had a sort of elected "committee" of elders who made the important decisions as to the wellbeing of the tribe. Once their decision was reached, their word was law and was obeyed. To reach the lofty levels of an Elder, one had to live a good, productive and honourable life and earn the respect of ones peers. At some point, this person was appointed to be an elder by his tribe, probably in corroboree (pow wow) and was cause for much celebration.

Discipline for breaches of Elders "law" was and still is harsh and could result in banishment from the tribe to spearing through the thigh for very serious offfences. Said spearing is referred to as "Pay Back" and is usually carried out by the aggrieved party. Once "Pay Back" is achieved, it is the end of the matter.

This type of punishment is still carried out in some remote communities today and is done with much ritual and ceremony.