Further Information

Transcript from
Spirit
excerpt from Lady of the Lake, Aunty Iris’s story
Video
Koorie Heritage Trust

You can see the beauty that was here when the Great Ones were here. That’s what I call our tribal mothers an’ fathers an’ you can see the spirituality that must have been here to keep them here an’ what we still feel now as we come to this revered place…because this was the home of our great ones an’ the enjoyment that they had with the lake and the swans an’ things like that that were around them an’ the food that they could gather, even thought it looks a rough terrain and everything else with rocks here there an’ everywhere, this was the thing that made their home, these rocks, an’ their spirituality to me is still here because of the things that are here that belonged to them The fish traps and other things, the swans that were everywhere, the food that was here, all these things to me…the wonderful world of my great ancestors the aboriginal people, the Kerrupjmara, that lived here…an’ died here as well because there was running fights everywhere here. We are probably standing on the body of somebody underneath these rocks an’ things like that…an’ that’s a thing that I don’t think we should ever forget that…that there was blood running everywhere in this land that belonged to our people but there is also a beauty here that I don’t think anywhere can match. You can talk about other parts but to me this is the most revered place that you could ever wish to see…is all this beauty that’s here with us an’ the way that people explore it and see it an’ they could never see it through the eyes of the Aboriginal people. To me that’s the greatest thing you could ever ask for a homeland because even though third, fourth, fifth sixth, whatever generation you like, will come here an’ know this was the place of the grass roots level an’ that’s what I feel.