MUNGABAREENA ON THE MURRAY

[Maureen K Clifford]

MUNGABAREENA ON THE MURRAY



There’s a place along the Murray where the wild grey wood ducks wade,
and if you’re quiet - near the grassy river edge
in the shallows you’ll see platypi, scrabbling for yabbies fat ,
muddying the waters round the weed and sedge.

Mungabareena rests and waits beneath a clear blue sky.
Rainbow Bee Eaters hunt there upon the wing
catching the unsuspecting, buzzing, pollen laden bees
that they beat to death on branches ‘fore they sting.

Mungabareena patiently waits as she has through time
beside the Murray , basking in the midday heat.
In November seven Koori tribes will gather here together
for the trip to Kiewa valley and the tribal meet and greet.

Mungabareena lazes as the river wanders by
for it knows that soon will come the time of feasting
on the Bogon moths that sleep in deep and cool and darkened caves
through summer heat. They’re protein rich and quite good eating.

The river here is pristine though ‘tis said the currents strong
it runs deep and cold with a fierce undertow.
The lands traditional owners acknowledge the spirit
and only swim deep in the waters they respect and know.

And over time the elders of the tribe Wiradjuri
have helped to heal wounds caused by grazing cattle,
Replanting native trees, to help regenerate her soil
though at times that task appears an endless battle.

For the wetlands there at Mungab have been despoiled over time
but now the Red Gums have a chance to grow.
The ‘place of plenty talk’ most folks know as Mungabareena -
Yalmambirra will make strong again. His vision will make it so.


Maureen Clifford © 05/11

Footnote - Yalmambirra is a Wiradjuri man from Albury in southern NSW. In 2000 he began a crusade to revegetate and
rehabilitate 48 hectares of riverfront public reserve. The role of co-ordinating what became ‘The Mungabareena Reserve
– Wiradjuri Reconciliation Project’ proved a difficult and often thankless task, but Yalmambirra is not a man to walk away
from a challenge.

Having left school when he was 11 years old and wandering for 33 years in what he describes as an “educational
wilderness”, Yalmambirra enrolled at Charles Sturt University. At age 46 he graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Applied
Science (Park, Recreation & Heritage), and went on to complete a Class 1 Honours Degree. He is now doing a
PhD and is employed by the University as the Koorie Academic (Wiradjuri).

[Maureen K Clifford]

Just received this response from an on line friend of mine on ABC Pool re this poem - I was rather pleased.

Hi Maureen,

I was immediately captured by the honourable mood of your poem and its gentle but consistent pace. It placed me there watching in awe in the moment of time of the read as the river flowed by as it has for God knows how many years; the moment of time of this poem just the moment of time of that body of water floating up and around the bend.

You've done your research well! It's a great initiative of the Bush Poets to be returning to and profiling indigenous names of places and locations and in doing so showing the beauty of a beautiful culture that truely respected this land as their mother.

You might be interested to know that I've read of the Murray named in Wiradjuri language as Millewa. As the river moves through country however it gets renamed in the language of the people of the land it is moving through, so being a long river I guess it has a few traditional names and there are different tribal stories of her creation. Even still today Kooris (NSW Aboriginal People) strongly identify with which river is their river in what we know of as the Murray Darling basin and there is much healthy rivalry about which river is the best and what water is best, stiller muddy water or faster clearer water! Of course I'm proud that I got born and lived around the mightiest of them all, the longest one, (the coldest one as it comes down fast from the mountains)which also quietly saddens me as she is now the sickest of them all. But if she gets sicker, we will all suffer from her sickness.

I love that you have honoured Yalmambirra. I did not know of him but have read of the very difficult efforts they have faced in offering protection to the site. Good news though. I have heard that a very rare and thought extinct native fish has been found in the billabongs there which has spurred further support and $$ to protecting the area.

I'm glad that my writing on Mungab has offered some inspiration and thank you for the acknowledgement. Maybe we'll have some success in getting people a little more interested in hearing more about the first stories of this land.

This sort of work of including traditional words and language in the naming and understanding of the significance of places is important and the least we can do to offer some support to the survivival and spread of the surviving knowledge.

You have written your poem from a very respectful place and you have spoken of people in honour and with pride and great respect for them. I'm sure this poem will be warmly received.

Can't get over how much you are able to write!

Speak again soon,
Your friend, Tim.

Tim is himself a pretty accomplished writer and songwriter and it was Tim who recorded and sung my poem 'Lucy' for me last year - here is the link to that - http://pool.abc.net.au/media/lucy-audio-tape