Last night before sunset, I had meandered along and beyond the edges of Hawker’s caravan park, my eyes transfixed upon the distant, yet powerful outline of Wilpena Pound or, to be precise its south westerly section. The rugged line of mountains around majestic Rawnsley Bluff, at first appearing like a sharply cut image against the evening sky, only reluctantly fading into the growing darkness of the night was impressive, even from so far away. However, the full scale of Wilpena Pound’s magic remained concealed and could best be appreciated from one of its peaks only, or from an aeroplane. For years, I had longed to see and walk this huge, oval-shaped basin, roughly 2 km long and 8 km wide. NOW I was dying to walk to the summit of its highest mountain, St. Mary’s Peak (1165 m) and let my eyes follow the outlines of the basin.
Wilpena Pound’s crater-like appearance had mislead some of the early explorer’s into believing that they were looking at the remains of a once massive volcano. Well trained geological eyes of today should be able to make out quickly that there is no question of volcanic origin but a lay person like myself will be forgiven, I hope, for first thinking “crater”.
The most stunning aerial view of the pound I have ever seen can be found in the departure lounge of Adelaide’s international airport. Right beside a relatively small window, a wall-mounted, mural-like, gigantic photograph not only dwarfs everyone, it also speaks a powerful language: “Do not leave! Australia is full of wonder and magic and Wilpena Pound is one of them. So, do not leave!” Well, I had ignored that message twice before, but now I was not going to make the same mistake again! At long last, I was able to pay heed to the compelling message of that photograph as well as to follow the advice of geologist E.H.Hargraves,
“Every traveller to the North <of South Australia> should see this wonderful work of his Creator”
Domin, E. “The Flinders Ranges – A Portrait”, p. 30
This morning while I was making slow, and I dare say, impatient progress along the bitumen towards Wilpena Chalet, the words of another geologist, Alfred Selwyn, the first one to compile a geological report on the ranges, came to my mind; words which emotionally speak the same language as Hargraves, while at the same time coming forward with a rather profane, neutral, scientific explanation for “the work of his Creator”.
“Its singularly grand and picturesque appearance far surpassed anything else I had seen in Australia… The Pound is not a volcanic crater nor in any way due to volcanic action but simply due to an undulation of the sandstones that form the summits of all the higher peaks from Mt. Remarkable upwards.”
ibid, p. 29
Having left behind me the curving Elder Range and the narrow Chace Range, both the result of the same process of creation, and slowly turning north to find the ‘entrance’ to the pound, I felt that Selwyn’s explanations were nothing but a let down, nearly an insult. Of course, he was right in that about 500 million years ago movements within the earth’s crust had begun to unsettle the edges of a huge depression covered by the sea, the so-called Adelaide Geosyncline. This in turn had tilted, pushed and shoved upwards the numerous layers of mud, shale, sandstone etc. from the bottom of the Palaeozoic sea. Combined with erosion, this had created todays wriggly line of mountain ranges. Despite that very straightforward, unromantic, scientific explanation, I was determined to view the impressive landform as something more than a “simple undulation of sandstone”. And anyway, what is so “simple” about tilting and bending even just one kilometre of sediments, let alone 60 -80 km?
There is, of course, another explanation for the shape of the pound. The indigenous people have this to say in what, by our standards, would probably be called a story.
YURLU’ NGUKANDANHA
The kingfisher (Halycon pyrrhopygia), called Yurlu by the Adnyamathanha people, had set out to join a ceremony at Ikara (Wilpena Pound). On his way down he lit fires to create smoke in order to signal that he was on his way. Today’s coal fields at Leigh Creek and other places are the spots where Yurlu lit fires.
“As Yurlu was travelling, there were two big Akurras (Dreamtime Serpents) also going south towards Ikara. … You can see those two Akurras near the beginning of their journey just outside Copley. The male Akurra, whose name is Ngarnangarrinha, is the small hill to the west, and the female, Wartawinha, is the big hill to the east.
Yurlu went down the valley … a little north of Varatynha (Brachina), Yurlu saw the two Akurras being covered over by two Murrandyarli lizards. Here Yurlu crawled along really low so the Akurras could not see him. Today there is a rounded hill there, with a spring on top, formed when the lizards covered up the two serpents. It is called Wabma Nambaindanha (meaning ‘covering of the snakes’). … The two serpents went on down towards Ikara. They entered the Pound through Vira Warldu (Edeowie Gap), and camped there at a large waterhole. The highest mountain on the western range casts a shadow very early in the afternoon at the place where they were camped. The male serpent said to the female: ‘Wildya ngulhiinda’. It’s getting dark. That is why that big hill is called Wildya Ngulhiindanha (Pompey Pillar) …
The female serpent told the male serpent to make some steps, which he did very early the next morning before daylight. These are the hills on the northwestern end of the range. They climbed up the steps to see what was going on. When the people in the Pound looked up into the sky at the stars to see if it was time to start the ceremony, they saw some big stars rising, and took this as a sign to start. Their minds were turned in some way, and they did not realise they were looking west instead of east. The stars were actually the big ‘minaaka’, (eyes) of the two Akurras looking down at them!
The male Akurra told his mate to go to the southwest while he went to the northeast. Their idea was to surround the people.
Yurlu came on down, and when he got to Mount Abrupt, he stopped and looked into the Pound. (Mount Abrupt is Yurlu looking towards the Pound.) … Yurlu sneaked on down and saw that the ceremony was well under way,…. Yurlu was just in time to snatch the firestick from Walha the turkey and throw it up in the air. This stick turned into the red stir, Wildu (Mars). …
Walha and Yurlu flew off to the south, still fighting. When they got as far as Yurlurlu (Oolooloo), Walha hunted Yurlu back up north, saying he was going to stay down south and have nothing more to do with Turin’s ceremonies up north. (That’s why those people in the south did not have Vardnapa ceremonies.)
The two initiates fled eastwards, watched by the two Akurras. Ngari Mudlanha, St. Mary’s Peak, is the head of the male Akurra, and Wilhanlanha, Beatrice Hill, is the head of the female serpent, both watching the night of the initiates. Their bodies form the two sides of the Pound. …
After everything was over, the two serpents headed east towards Lake Frome.Yurlu nugukanda
Wirdawirdaindha
Yurlu-tyi nugukanda
Wirdawirdaindha.
Yurlu is going along
Making a smoke
Yurlu is going along
Making a smoke.”
Tunbridge, D. “Flinders Ranges Dreaming”, pp. 141-44
Well, this was certainly a more dramatic account of events and, despite its cruelty, far more to my liking. However, I readily admit that I do find it more than difficult to grasp the concept of Aboriginal “Dreaming” or “Dreamtime”. I will always be in danger of regarding accounts like the above one as mere stories and nothing more, which of course, is not the fairest way of treating such an account. However, of some help was a brief description I had picked up years ago, while visiting Uluru, Ayers Rock.
” The traditional owners of ‘Uluru’ call themselves ‘Anangu’. The most profound and essential aspect of their culture they call ‘Tjukurpa’. The words ‘dreaming’ or ‘dreamtime’ are inadequate translations of this word. ‘Tjukurpa’ does not refer to dreaming in a conventional western sense of things imagined in sleep. Nor is it merely a collection of enchanting stories like Aesop’s fables, … It does not refer only to a past long gone. ‘Tjukurpa’ is existence itself in the past, presence and future. It is also the explanation of existence. And it is law which governs behaviour. “
Mutitjulu Community, “Welcome to Aboriginal Land – Tjukurpa”, p. 1
Dorothy Tunbridge, after years of work and research with the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges, uses the term ‘story’ when talking about particular accounts of the dreaming, but she specifies that the term ‘story’ means an expression of Aboriginal belief which once held ritual and totemic associations. She explains that using the term ‘myths’ is not appropriate and rejected by some people because of its connotation of fiction. The term ‘history’ is equally difficult because, in our understanding, it does not normally have a spiritual dimension. (Tunbridge, D., “Flinders Ranges Dreaming”, pp xii-xiii)
Understanding a story in its entirety may quite often be impossible. Linguistic and cultural knowledge are required to understand allusions and often some allusions are obvious only to the initiated. Some stories are sacred and are not to be told to the uninitiated. In “Yurlu Ngukandanha”, for instance, only those puts of the story which are not sacred have been told. “We leave the events of Ikara itself where they belong – in the domain of the sacred with the elders.” (ibid, p. 141). Nevertheless, those sections which have been told show how stories of the dreaming may serve various functions.
“This is a powerful story in which that great theme of the Dreaming, creation, overlays a hidden theme not revealed to the uninitiated. The creation of coal, and &e origin of the two fascinating mesas of Jurassic sandstone at Copley … of the spectacular walls of Wilpena Pound and several other important elevations are overtly accounted for. The story also seems to account for the southernmost range of the Kingfisher (Halycon pyrrhopygia) whose migration south coincides with the season for the ceremony. The turkey is the Australian Bustard (Ardeotis australis), and the story is a sad reminder of its earlier wide range. “
ibid, p. 141
Thus, this story accounts for the origins of some places, it provides a map, it contains environmental and seasonal knowledge and it associates geological formations with certain Dreamtime Spirits. Other spirits are associated with other formations, for instance Marnbi, the pigeon with gold and the goanna with sandy outcrops. Overall, dreamtime ‘stories’ were extremely important elements in Aboriginal life.
“In the language Yura Ngawarla, ‘telling (someone) a story’… means simply ‘telling (someone) the land or linking (that someone to the land’. … The land is seen as the outward expression of the spiritual dimension. The evidence for the existence of that dimension is there in concrete form, and it is the mythology which interprets those forms to the people. It puts them in touch with that dimension which provides the naming of existence. “
ibid, p.xxxv
Well, having grown up in a totally different environment, I have no hope and no chance of getting in touch with that dimension. Reading the story ‘Yurlu Ngukandanha’ had provided me merely with a glimpse of a very complex subject matter. Nevertheless, approaching Ikara, Wilpena Pound, this “simple undulation of sandstone”, I was glad that I was able to make out not just the summit of Pompey Pillar, but Wildya Ngulhiindanha, not just the highest mountain in the Flinders Ranges, St. Mary’s Peak, but Ngari Mudlanha, the head of the male serpent.
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