00:00:12
g'day my name's Niall then up and I have
00:00:16
an ancestral connection to this river
00:00:19
through my father's side which is young
00:00:23
now
00:00:23
hello my name's steve hopper i was lucky
00:00:26
enough to land a job as the state's
00:00:28
first flora conservation research
00:00:30
officer in the department of fisheries
00:00:32
and wildlife and the more I looked at
00:00:35
flora and where I looked at country the
00:00:37
more I became interested in how do we
00:00:40
care for this place and chart a way to
00:00:43
live sustainably with it it's it's just
00:00:47
bleeding obvious if people have been
00:00:50
here for fifty thousand years and we've
00:00:54
inherited what they've gifted to us and
00:00:56
surely there are things we can learn as
00:00:58
a as a society from knowing our people
00:01:02
when we talk about language for us as
00:01:06
Aboriginal people it's when we actually
00:01:08
speak our mother tongue in our homeland
00:01:12
that's when the vibration breaks into
00:01:15
the spirit world and has that vibration
00:01:18
breaks into the spirit world that spirit
00:01:20
will come to us as it comes to us it'll
00:01:24
be with us and it'll guide us through
00:01:26
our day and it'll present us with
00:01:28
situations where we see the spirit at
00:01:31
work and then that helps us and they're
00:01:34
in a situation like this we'll be
00:01:36
following in the footsteps of our
00:01:38
ancestors and basically by walking
00:01:41
together I think it's a much more
00:01:43
powerful way to understand country and
00:01:47
learn from each other then traveling
00:01:49
separate paths so the river itself is to
00:01:56
me of common interest across all
00:01:59
cultures
00:02:01
this exercise I think there's really
00:02:04
about exploring how we can learn from
00:02:07
each other as we travel down from this
00:02:09
place into the heart of a modern city
00:02:12
and realize as a as a deep history
00:02:15
they're culturally geologically
00:02:18
biologically so that's what this is all
00:02:20
about to me it's about learning so
00:02:24
therefore it's education and there's one
00:02:28
of my work colleagues said as we sat
00:02:30
down and we talked about the ancient way
00:02:32
is there's a lot of synergies in this so
00:02:37
hence the synergy of the Aboriginal
00:02:43
world based on if you like large doses
00:02:47
of common sense and then here we are
00:02:50
with this modern world based on large
00:02:53
doses of scientific principle and
00:02:56
knowledge
00:04:26
Cora Cora knitting a long time ago the
00:04:30
world was cold dark and desolate
00:04:38
300 million years ago the planet was
00:04:41
witness to the Permian ice age
00:04:45
Australia was part of a super continent
00:04:48
called Gondwana
00:04:56
the sky was so heavy it crushed the land
00:04:59
flat and famous
00:05:02
the Woggle the Rainbow Serpent
00:05:06
a vast force moved under the earth and
00:05:09
across the land forming ridges and
00:05:12
rivers so when you look at a piece of
00:05:19
country like this from a noon hour
00:05:21
perspective
00:05:22
as you're looking at it you can actually
00:05:26
see where in our stories the Great Wall
00:05:29
girl moved across the land and as it did
00:05:34
the way we look at the world had created
00:05:37
valleys like this wherever it went and
00:05:39
pushed up hills on either side of it
00:05:43
this is a really unusual place for
00:05:46
southwestern Australia we you know we
00:05:48
sit here on the edge of what's called
00:05:50
the jörgen block which is a massive area
00:05:54
of granite rock that runs from here this
00:05:57
this is right on the western margin over
00:05:59
to the other side of Calgary into the
00:06:01
Gulf fields and right up north into the
00:06:05
murchison river area down almost to the
00:06:08
south coast but the Swan coastal plain
00:06:10
itself is where greater India including
00:06:15
Tibet and the Western Australian part of
00:06:19
it the Australian plate ripped apart as
00:06:22
Gondwana the great southern continent
00:06:24
started to separate about 150 million
00:06:27
years ago to me it's it's just this
00:06:30
tremendous marker in the landscape
00:06:33
between the Great Rift Valley of the
00:06:36
Swan coastal plain with massive sand and
00:06:40
this ancient nucleus of Earth that has
00:06:44
been here for so long it's essentially
00:06:46
timeless how do we know these rocks are
00:06:50
half the age of the earth itself the
00:06:51
earth is 4.6 billion years old these are
00:06:55
about two and a half billion years you
00:06:58
have to focus on on certain elements and
00:07:01
they're radioactive forms to get the
00:07:03
clock that gives you that answer I know
00:07:06
in know our culture some people say well
00:07:07
we've just been here forever
00:07:09
it's from the perspective of your
00:07:13
lifetime and mine that's absolutely
00:07:15
right
00:07:18
as we look at this and we bring into
00:07:21
with the concept of time for us as
00:07:25
Aboriginal people time means very little
00:07:29
because it's either daytime or nighttime
00:07:33
of course you've got you your six
00:07:36
seasons cycle which take you through
00:07:38
where you are in different places in
00:07:42
your caliber your home country and
00:07:46
traveling through here would have been
00:07:48
part of that so we were able to do that
00:07:51
and live in complete isolation from the
00:07:54
rest of the world untainted by any other
00:07:58
culture for many thousands of years
00:08:11
the spirit birds build platforms to hold
00:08:14
up the sky the spirit ancestors of flora
00:08:18
and fauna find their place on earth 250
00:08:23
million years ago the glaciers melt
00:08:26
leaving strange rock clusters and
00:08:29
evolutionary ancestors of flora fauna
00:08:33
and mammals appear flora and fauna of
00:08:37
the southwest the more it's looked at
00:08:40
and investigated the more special and
00:08:42
unusual it is it's incredibly rich in
00:08:48
species especially in plants and a
00:08:52
number of the smaller groups of animals
00:08:56
with plants half the plants you see here
00:08:59
I found nowhere else on the planet when
00:09:04
we think about what might have been here
00:09:06
a long long time ago particularly in
00:09:11
relation to fauna there was of course a
00:09:16
time when there were very very large
00:09:18
animals and the myths and the stories
00:09:22
are still shared and talked about and in
00:09:26
particular in this area here was a giant
00:09:28
kangaroo and of course that's called
00:09:34
younger and then in particular this big
00:09:38
lizard it was a huge lizard and it was a
00:09:41
go and we call it Karda and I understand
00:09:46
that that that one in particular is
00:09:50
called Meg Alania the megafauna goes
00:09:55
back forty fifty million years and every
00:10:00
continent has it Africa still has it
00:10:02
but most of the other continents the
00:10:07
megafauna is extinct largely the
00:10:10
kangaroo I guess would be the biggest
00:10:12
animal we still have the younger but the
00:10:16
fossil record is there and Australia
00:10:19
again is so different from the other
00:10:22
continents
00:10:24
so when we talk about the importance of
00:10:27
flora and fauna to us as Aboriginal
00:10:29
people particularly here in young our
00:10:32
country they're all part of the story
00:10:35
and that's what connects you to country
00:10:38
and they're part of the totemic system
00:10:43
they're part of you you're part of them
00:10:57
the spirit woman gingerly puts the spare
00:11:00
children in her head and jumps into the
00:11:04
sky and her hair became the cosmos the
00:11:09
Milky Way
00:11:15
the spirit woman needed to a time she
00:11:18
gives the gift of a rainbow but she
00:11:21
cannot reach the earth
00:11:49
she waits HTR containing a reflection of
00:11:54
the rainbow falls to earth the color
00:11:57
those here it seems the establishment of
00:12:02
a warmer climate
00:12:03
hence the flowers and birds become more
00:12:07
colorful and mammals gained the capacity
00:12:10
to see color we are in a in a place here
00:12:15
particularly on the west coast that is
00:12:17
Mediterranean and climate that borrowed
00:12:19
European concept that winter wet summer
00:12:22
dry is is what happens and we have a lot
00:12:27
of evidence that rainfall is changing
00:12:32
you know when we talk about rain for us
00:12:34
it's the crying rain so we call it na ne
00:12:38
Boram kept the crying rain and as it
00:12:42
falls of course brings all the colour
00:12:46
and we see that in the flowers and
00:12:50
everything as they grow as well as the
00:12:52
beautiful rainbows vulgar hua Walden and
00:12:57
of course rain nurtures and cleanses
00:13:01
nurtures everything and cleanses
00:13:03
everything even cleanses our thoughts
00:13:05
and give us the opportunity to realize
00:13:08
that you know there's this beautiful
00:13:11
place and it absolutely needs needs rain
00:13:19
for us as Aboriginal people we're born
00:13:22
in a catchment and where the rain falls
00:13:26
and the water flows so does our spirit
00:13:30
and as we're born in that situation that
00:13:35
rain falls the water flows then that's
00:13:39
our home country that river knows us and
00:13:44
everything begins its life journey and
00:13:47
water so that's the baseline and then we
00:13:53
can only grow from there I think that
00:13:56
applies across all cultures there water
00:13:59
is life
00:14:06
about 200,000 years ago modern humans
00:14:10
evolve and move Eastwood's crossing into
00:14:14
the continent Australia
00:14:19
human spirit ancestors become real
00:14:22
having all the qualities and
00:14:24
vulnerabilities of modern humans
00:14:30
it is not a separation from the spirit
00:14:32
world but a continuation of the cycle of
00:14:36
birth life death and spirit
00:14:50
okay so things you should be looking for
00:14:54
now as a synergy is what's still
00:14:58
happening here in this this part of the
00:15:01
world you know there's still this wind
00:15:04
blowing through beautiful and our
00:15:08
ancestors would have felt that same
00:15:10
breeze blowing on them no the birds
00:15:13
calling in the distance and the faint
00:15:17
noise coming there from the water
00:15:20
falling down the waterfall and running
00:15:23
down through the valley and eroding this
00:15:26
away so it's that that feel of being
00:15:30
somewhere special and knowing that you
00:15:35
can form this relationship with
00:15:37
everything in it the rocks now they're
00:15:41
timeless to me this energy I think comes
00:15:47
from a reinforcement of a specialness of
00:15:51
this place that has just talked about as
00:15:56
we as we explore this country from a
00:15:59
scientific perspective it's just full of
00:16:02
tremendous surprises there are very few
00:16:06
places on earth where you consider on
00:16:07
rocks as old and ancient as this with
00:16:12
plants as old and with such a deep
00:16:16
ancestry untrammeled by the usual things
00:16:20
that scrape landscapes clean and here we
00:16:24
are for our few fleeting moments but we
00:16:27
could still create a continuity of
00:16:29
knowledge that's accumulated and then
00:16:33
passed on over generations for eons and
00:16:38
that gives you that that sense of
00:16:40
belonging to something and being part of
00:16:44
it and it being part of you
00:16:48
I draw a great inspiration from than all
00:16:52
our perspective about we are just
00:16:56
vessels on a long seamless time scale
00:17:00
with responsibilities to insist
00:17:02
ancestors and going forward we have
00:17:05
responsibilities and I think that's one
00:17:08
of the big lessons that in big city
00:17:12
culture Western culture now often gets
00:17:15
lost that individuals can hide in the
00:17:17
anonymity of cities and know that their
00:17:20
whether they consciously understand or
00:17:22
not they are responsible for for living
00:17:26
for breathing for caring
00:17:34
mass movement across the continent known
00:17:38
as the dispersal period when people
00:17:40
rapidly occupied Western Australia Nagas
00:17:47
populate their country their butcher and
00:17:50
conform to their law their Condor
00:17:58
threats to survival come from changing
00:18:01
environments to survive no not observe
00:18:06
remember and communicate across
00:18:09
generations
00:18:29
from the scientific perspective I think
00:18:32
long-lasting cultures very clearly
00:18:35
demonstrate that humans can see through
00:18:39
significant change and the new our story
00:18:44
exhibit exemplifies that really well I
00:18:47
just behind us and as we go down the
00:18:50
river and end up at its mouth
00:18:51
the big story down there is is
00:18:55
tremendous human adaptation because of
00:18:58
over the last 50 thousand years we've
00:19:01
gone from an interglacial period in
00:19:03
terms of glaciers in the northern
00:19:05
hemisphere
00:19:06
we're in interglacial conditions right
00:19:09
now and then the last glaciation that
00:19:13
covered large areas of the northern
00:19:15
hemisphere and the Australian Alps and a
00:19:17
little bit in Tasmania that reached its
00:19:21
peak about 20,000 years ago and that's
00:19:25
one of the things that Aboriginal people
00:19:26
did was adapted to the new situation and
00:19:29
knowing that the impact of the new
00:19:32
situation would be great on the
00:19:36
community there are other factors of
00:19:38
course such as your normal six season
00:19:43
cycle that changes and varies and we
00:19:48
need to adapt and I think a DAP tation
00:19:50
is a good word to be able to use for
00:19:53
that and that brings about change and so
00:19:56
if you're a coastal people like the word
00:19:59
Jack's new land was appearing before
00:20:03
your eyes this land here on the skirt
00:20:06
was as as it had always been
00:20:14
fifty thousand years ago a sustainable
00:20:17
population formed a hunter-gatherer
00:20:19
lifestyle established across the land
00:20:22
and on the coastlines sophisticated
00:20:27
family and totem systems are given to
00:20:30
the Nama who develop a rich sustainable
00:20:33
relationship with the land
00:20:43
knitting stories form the law for social
00:20:46
and moral order and establish cultural
00:20:49
patterns and customs for everyone
00:21:06
well ancient way is based on obviously
00:21:10
stories and that remarkable line about
00:21:14
mrs. boss if you've got no story you've
00:21:17
got nothing is very applicable and
00:21:21
because of that story what where does it
00:21:25
come from
00:21:26
bringing the language into it
00:21:29
bringing the cultural component as
00:21:32
people live on the land as they traverse
00:21:35
the land and everywhere you go you see a
00:21:38
story that you can be told anywhere you
00:21:42
see it physically and as you see it
00:21:44
physically then of course that brings
00:21:47
you to a point where you as a person
00:21:52
begin to understand it
00:21:55
I think Knoll has articulated
00:22:03
beautifully look the power of
00:22:08
understanding landscape from a problem
00:22:12
Nora
00:22:13
perspective I think all all people have
00:22:16
to some degree similar experiences and I
00:22:19
I as a scientist who you can't be but
00:22:21
moved I think coming to a place like
00:22:23
this and just it absorbing you but as a
00:22:29
scientist I'm trained
00:22:31
subconsciously yes you can absorb all
00:22:34
that sort of stuff but Western Cartesian
00:22:38
philosophy is about seeing objects not
00:22:41
signs as Noah was talking about so I I
00:22:44
really think Western ecologist Western
00:22:48
evolutionary biologists can draw from
00:22:51
their strengths and inside of people who
00:22:55
understand country from an Aboriginal
00:22:58
perspective
00:23:03
another cold time twenty two thousand
00:23:07
years ago the last glacial period it is
00:23:10
extremely cold and dry and the human
00:23:13
population dwindles Nama adapt by
00:23:18
developing fire and farming techniques
00:23:24
oral histories concern loss of fire and
00:23:28
a constant struggle with the unforgiving
00:23:31
environment
00:23:34
see levels are lower than present
00:23:36
extending coastal plains up to a hundred
00:23:39
kilometers the law sets down the need
00:23:44
for the well-being of the tribe and not
00:23:47
of the individual
00:24:03
as we move across the land and find our
00:24:08
way to different areas traveling the
00:24:12
song lines the great walk trails the
00:24:16
campsites
00:24:17
we're shedding our skin we're shedding
00:24:21
out here and as it falls
00:24:24
what happens is it's taken into the
00:24:28
ground by all the little insects ants
00:24:32
microscopic biota etc and we call those
00:24:37
trees
00:24:38
quele so if I introduced myself to you
00:24:40
in language I'd say Nunchuk well harder
00:24:44
which means my name is Carter the goanna
00:24:48
well is the tree of names so it knows
00:24:53
every person that's ever lived and
00:24:56
inhabited this area through the DNA of
00:25:01
that skin and the hair for the hair to
00:25:05
be there it has to be fire to burn it
00:25:09
into an ash which then goes into the
00:25:12
root systems of the plant so we're
00:25:14
talking about every plant animal bird as
00:25:23
our DNA in it because they eat and
00:25:28
interact in this environment so those
00:25:33
trees are just so important in the
00:25:36
overall equation and here they are
00:25:39
standing here whispering as the wind
00:25:42
blows through their leaves with this
00:25:46
hustle and bustle of the city an
00:25:48
aircraft flying path
00:25:50
life just goes on so to me the river
00:25:56
really is the connector and even if you
00:25:59
are striking big deals and higher City
00:26:02
office taking decisions that have global
00:26:07
impact you are still connected to this
00:26:10
land I think between the river and Kings
00:26:13
Park earth is enormous ly blessed with
00:26:17
this juxtaposition of the land the
00:26:24
plants and animals the culture and
00:26:29
everything that 21st century offers
00:26:32
including developing new buildings it's
00:26:36
a synergy of ancient ancient ancient
00:26:39
life with this modern new
00:26:45
and it's just awesome and then their
00:26:47
kings park all car carretera a lot of
00:26:52
people call it is the largest piece of
00:26:56
natural vegetation in a city in the
00:26:58
southern hemisphere just incredible
00:27:03
while they're doing billion dollar deals
00:27:05
in here for mining etc their city for us
00:27:12
and everybody is this unbelievable piece
00:27:17
of land and it's got everything in it
00:27:30
the big flood the beginning of the
00:27:35
modern warming with glaciers melting and
00:27:38
sea levels rising rapidly
00:27:45
the spirit ancestors kata
00:27:49
and the Echidna
00:27:53
emerge to take care of all the spirits
00:27:56
who are buried in the area that will be
00:27:59
flooded
00:28:01
about 7,000 years ago Australia forms
00:28:05
its current shape after much of the land
00:28:09
emerged underwater
00:28:12
Norma Louise nearly a third of their
00:28:14
Borja their territory this modern city
00:28:29
of Perth is extraordinary one of the
00:28:32
richest endowed cities on the planet in
00:28:36
terms of plants animals and culture and
00:28:41
that story is just waiting to be told
00:28:44
20,000 years ago if you reflect also the
00:28:47
sea-level changes that were going on
00:28:49
just out past ripeness there is a thing
00:28:52
called the Perth Canyon that starts at
00:28:54
about 70 meters below sea level and
00:28:56
plummets down over the continental shelf
00:28:58
and forms a canyon as big as today's
00:29:01
Grand Canyon is you say the sea level
00:29:04
has risen and fallen and risen and
00:29:08
fallen and I understand it's risen quite
00:29:10
some distance lately I don't know how
00:29:14
many years but as a result of that our
00:29:17
stories that have passed down over time
00:29:19
talk about a time when you you could get
00:29:22
walk right out there I'm gonna have pie
00:29:25
another 20 okay so right now certain
00:29:27
beyond yep
00:29:28
really and I believe that could have
00:29:33
been as recent as 7000 years ago so the
00:29:39
sea level has gone up and down and it's
00:29:41
gone up and down and with each with each
00:29:44
major glaciation period in the northern
00:29:46
hemisphere at least in Australia the
00:29:48
water was tied up in grecia so the sea
00:29:50
level dropped and then as the glaciers
00:29:53
melted the sea level rose and quite an
00:29:56
amazing rates the last glacial maximum
00:29:59
was 20,000 years ago and as the place he
00:30:03
has melted this the sea was rising to
00:30:06
meters every century and on this
00:30:08
continental shelf of got that equates at
00:30:11
the fastest 240 meters of land
00:30:13
disappearing each year that's why in our
00:30:17
stories the reviews to flow that way
00:30:18
once and now
00:30:19
then it's flowed out this way north of
00:30:22
where the island is and there's that big
00:30:25
trench out there and then of course
00:30:27
there's where it flows now and we begin
00:30:28
our journey up the other end there at
00:30:31
the beginning of this one River or the
00:30:33
devil arrogant yes and now we've made
00:30:35
our way all the way there here to where
00:30:38
it finishes it's the end of our journey
00:30:42
being beautiful been a real pleasure
00:30:45
eight-state
00:31:25
well obviously when you look at this as
00:31:29
being a classroom out here there's just
00:31:32
so much to learn about it's endless and
00:31:37
coming from the base of stories stories
00:31:42
of country how things came to be how the
00:31:46
birds the animals the plants the trees
00:31:49
everything in nature had a role to play
00:31:53
it's just a great classroom you know no
00:31:56
walls if there is then there the trees
00:32:00
no ceiling and if there is it's the
00:32:02
clouds it's endless
00:32:35
you
