The land of the Dreaming, Australia
The ancient spirits of Australia, the Wandjina, came with Jiderra, the Stellar Iridescent Whale.
Aboriginal drawing of an Orca whale and baby, c. 1700AD.
Aboriginal dolphins among people, Northern Territory, c. ?.
Contemporay rendering of traditional aboriginal whale image.
Whale Rock, Fowler's Bay, on the edge between the Nullabor Plain
and the Antarctic Ocean, where Jiderra pressed his body against the land.
Jiderra's blowhole, Fowler's Bay, where the Mirning gather by threes,
at noon, on the day of the full moon, to breathe the rainbow air, gift of Jiderra.
Preparations for calling the whales.
A Mirning man sings, accompanied by click sticks, calling the whales.
From the great south sea, they are called.
The whales come, as they have for centuries.
A corroborree, celebration of the coming of the whales, 2000 AD.
The appearance of a white Southern Right Whale, off the coast of the Nullabor,
in 1998 signalled the time for the Gathering, and singing the Forgiveness Song,
The Forgiveness Song, to be sung over a fire
kindled in the chest cavity of a Great Whale,
asking for forgiveness, for our abuse of the Cetacean Nation
and all of Nature.
All along the coasts of Australia,
the indigenous people had close relations with the Dolphins.
In the Red Heart of Australia, thousands of miles from the ocean,
is another Dolphin, hidden in a cave.
It calls us into the Dreaming............
Dawn, April 19, 2002, in the Red Heart.
Giving voice to the Dolphin Spirit............
