We have lived in these regions for according to their records at least 30 thousand years.
We lived when the age of change happened,
for instance we went from megafauna, to an ice age, to what it is today.
So we have been through environmental changes and our stories are a reflection of that.
What a lot of people don t realise about the stories is sometimes whilst the story
is about something that happened on earth it also is shown in the remembrance of the stars.
Because you can point to some stars and then it will trigger that story.
But here, we re up in a place called the Cathedral Range s. It s proper name is Narnarthum.
Narnarthum is the place where fire was gathered and distributed amongst all the Kulin.
There are three areas this applies to, four actually. It starts over at the northwest.
Many years ago my people, Kulin, we all ate our food raw and always in winter we were sick.
However there were these seven women and they never complained about
the cold and from their camp always issued these beautiful smells.
Now Waa who was white back then Waa is what I call crow or raven, he started smelling these
beautiful smells so he started to watch them and noticed in top of their kannans,
their digging sticks was this glowing red. So he watched them more and watched them more
and snuck a look into their camp and he saw that they used that
glowing red to start what we call fire. So he decided that he is going to get that fire
off them. So he watched them and watched them and learnt that they loved honey ants
but were afraid of snakes. So he gathered all these baby snakes
and stuck them in a hollow log and sealed it on a path the women walked.
So he waited for the women to come by. Hey, hey you women! Over there, honey ants
yum, honey ants . Where we can t see them .
Over there in the hollow log. Honey ants, yuuuum! .
So they went over and they still couldn t see the honey ants. So he said:
Use your kannan s, use your kannan s in the hollow log. Honey ants. Yuuuum .
So they broke open the log and when they broke open the log out shot all these baby
snakes so the women used their digging sticks to beat the ground because sound on the ground
would scare the snakes away. So they were beating the ground so hard
that the tops of their sticks broke off and Waa swooped down and took them.
Now this happened in the north to north-west. So Waa took off with the sticks so the women started
yelling Come back you thief, come back! . And they were yelling so loud it attracted
the attention of Bunjil, the creator. So Bunjil came down to see what was going on.
The women told Bunjil how they had kept the secret of fire and now Waa had stolen
it from them and had took off with it. So he called two nephews. One was Djurt-djurt,
a small dark man with wings and the other was Thara, a tall pale man with wings.
And he said Djurt-djurt, Thara you get after Waa and get those sticks back off him.
So they took off after Waa and Waa seen them coming so Waa flew faster
and Waa was heading in a south-easterly direction and he kept flying fast.
He flew so fast that one of the sticks caught fire and he dropped it at a place called Mooneo.
And the name Mooneo means first hill burnt by fire and that is in the Dandenong Ranges.
From there Waa decided to change direction and head from that
south, south-easterly to a northerly direction. So Waa started flying in that direction.
In the meantime Djurt-djurt and Thara landed at Muneo and Djurt-djurt said to Thara
Your bigger, stronger and swifter than me you go after Waa and get all
the other sticks back I ll stay here and use my wings to keep the fire alive .
So off Thara went after Waa and as I said because Waa changed direction Thara started
flying faster and he started gaining on Waa. Waa flew faster and still Thara was gaining
Finally Waa flew so fast that all the sticks caught fire burning him, turning
him black, and he let go of the sticks. On the way one hit a finch, which is the one
we call today the fire finch and they landed at a place called Narnarthum. Now Narnarthum is known
to be in the Cathedral Ranges where we are. So Thara picked up the sticks and took them back
to Bunjil. Bunjil gave two to Thara and said Now you take all
the men and show them all the uses of fire . He called his daughter Karakarook Kara Karook
you take these two sticks and show the women all the uses they can have for fire . He did.
When Thara and Karakarook came back Bunjil said Thara, take this stick
and plant it north and west, for that shall be the stick the you rub to create fire . He did.
Today it s called the grass tree, the kangaroo tail the black boy, and if you are into Latin
the Xantho-something-or-other. And that s the piece that you break
a bit of the stem, split it open, and that s the bit you rub into to create fire.
When he came back, he gave him the last stick and he said Plant that south and east,
for that shall be the stick that you rub to create fire . He did.
Today that stick turned into two plants. One was called the Coranderrk, the
Australian Christmas Bush, a the other is now known as the Australian mulberry bush.
And you break a twig of that, strip it, and it is the bit you rub into to create fire.
Now after they did all that task Bunjil said Thara didn t I send Djurt-djurt with you?
Where is Djurt-djurt? So Thara went back to get Djurt-djurt.
Poor Djurt,djurt, he died keeping the flame alive,
so Thara brought his body back to Bunjil. Bunjil picked up little Djurt-djurt in one hand,
picked up his axe with the other and struck him in two.
When he split him in two, he picked up a bit, blew on it and threw it out
and it became known as Djurt-djurt, the swamp hawk. The smallest of all the hawk family.
With the other half, he blew and threw into the sky and it became known as Djurt-djurt,
the evening star, the first star you see at the beginning of night.
Now after that Bunjil had decided now Kulin and all the Earth had everything it needed.
So he decided it was time for him and his family to leave. He started calling them together.
In the meantime, he called then Balin Balin who, whilst he s discussed as a crow,
he s actually a southern grey curlew and he contained in his dilly bag all the wind.
Balin Balin, come, I need wind, I need more wind!
And when the wind was big enough he aimed it at the women and it carried them into the sky.
On the way though, they dropped what remained of the kannans, but that s a story Geelong people,
the Wathaurong people will have to tell you.
And today, where they landed in the skies we call it Pleiades the Seven Sisters.
Now as I said, in the meantime he sent his nephews and his daughter to gather all his family.
When they all arrived, Bunjil decided it was time to leave so he stuck his
spear in the ground and got hold of it and got all his family to link arms onto his other arm.
And he asked Balin Balin for more wind. More wind! More wind Balin! .
And when the wind got big enough he pulled his stick, his spear out of the ground and it
carried them all the way up into the skies. Now it s said that if you ever want to get to
Bunjil s camp you have to follow the Milky Way, for the Milky Way
is the smokes and sparks from Bunjil s fire. And that is how we got the Milky Way, how we
got Pleiades, how we got the evening star, how we got the fire finch, how the crow got black,
but more importantly, why I eat my food cooked.