Australia.

Melbourne – Earth Wisdom Weekend

Ok, Friday… we checked out of the YHA in Melbourne and took only part of our stuff to Warrandyte. Sounds simple? Well, it wasn’t and it took a lot of time. I had to prepare the stuff we would need for the weekend, empty one of the kids backpacks to have some space and and and… I had already started the night before and everybody was on my case to leave it for the the next morning, but I knew how much time and nerves these things take. My time and my nerves!

So after getting up, doing all the bags, having a quick breakfast in the youth hostel, we run towards our bus, stopping only briefly in a supermarket to get some food for the weekend. Only in the bus I could finally relax.

We were about to go to a Earth Wisdom weekend.

Our Purpose for Sharing the Weekend
To pay our deepest respects to the Elders past and present who have cared for this country, Wurundjeri lands, for many millennia. May the blessings of their care be felt and reignited in this gathering. And may the creator being Bunjil take this new dreaming woven by good people to encourage a healing paradigm shift in our shared story, our shared world.
To give people interested in indigenous culture knowledge a full immersive experience in living and contributing to tribal life. And to keep this wonderful culture alive by the sharing of knowledge.
To gain better understanding of your local “homeland” and the special places that abound. To encourage people to discover sacred land and look after these places, developing greater connection to “country”. To understand and practice special cultural values and co-create meaningful rituals, bringing home insights we can apply to our daily lives.
To deepen our respect for Elders and each other by sharing a live and real experience. Through storytelling, art, dance and creating a new story based on the historic cultural values of this land.
Taking Care of Elders & Children
One very important indigenous custom was to take care of your elders, make sure they have a cuppa, something to eat first and foremost, do they have a seat? Little signs you care go a long way for elders to be part of your community. Same goes with the little ones. Raising them is not just the responsibility of the Mother & Father. We’ll all be taking the role of Uncles / Aunties or Brothers / Sisters throughout the weekend, fulfilling our vital roles in the raising of the little ones. (fb page description)

This would was our chance to learn something about the indigenous culture in Australia. When we arrived to put up all our tents and prepared everything for the night before we went to the fire place which became our meeting point for the entire weekend. The kids run around, played, had fun and were hardly ever seen apart from when they were hungry.

Around the fire we met Uncle Max for the first time. Yuin elder Uncle Max ‘Dulamunmun’ Harrison, who is an initiated Yuin man, is the knowledge holder and teacher of the guides at NNCA. They have undertaken his teachings passed down to him by 5 masters of Aboriginal Lore. Uncle Max is a widely respected elder, he has been on the National Board of Elders, released several books on Aboriginal Culture including ‘My Peoples Dreaming’, given knowledge and is a recognised teacher of the University of Wollongong.

We went to our tents not too late as we knew we had to get up at 6:15 am for the “Greeting grand-father sun’s” ceremony.