One of my favourite trees

This is one of my favourite trees - kaan-ya or Nuytsia floribunda (WA Christmas Tree.) This species is sacred to the local Noongar people:

‘When I die I shall go through the sea to Kurannup where all my moorurtung (relations) will be waiting on the shore for me, waiting with meat and drink for me…Kurannup is the home of my dead people and I must go to them, and my kaan-ya must be free to rest on the kaan-ya tree (Nuytsia floribunda) before it journeys through the sea. Since Nyitting (cold) times (long time ago) all Bibbulmun kaan-ya have rested on this tree on their way to Kurannup; and I have never broken a branch or flower, or sat under the shade of the tree because it is the kaan-ya tree only winnaitch (forbidden, sacred).’ (Noongar informant Joobaitch, see Bates in Bridge 1992: 14).

According to Daisy Bates:

‘No living Bibbulmun ever sheltered or rested beneath the shade of the tree of souls; no flower or bud or leaf of the tree was ever touched by child or adult; no game that took shelter beneath it was ever disturbed.’ (Bates 1938 in Bridge 1992: 153)

Nuytsia floribunda – Photo by Ken Macintyre.

There are conflicting views about the relationship Noongar people had with this tree and whether they made use of it, but from what I have heard, the spirits of the dead rested in its branches before moving on. If this is the case this tree would be considered sacred - and I tend to think Aboriginal people wouldn't have interfered with it.

You can find out more about it from this article: Traditional significance of Nuytsia floribunda

 

Doctor in the house: overcoming family histories

One of our family stories involves my mother who was studying to be a doctor in Holland in the 1950s. The school was expensive and it was decided to withdraw her - apparently she wasn’t applying herself and my grandmother needed help with the other kids (possibly my twin aunties). 

The same story was repeated later when my mother was training to become a nurse in Western Australia and was called home to Mt Barker because her mother was having a ‘change of life’ baby. The pregnancy was difficult and my grandmother was not well. My mother was smart, and has had a good life but I wonder how different her life would have been if her family life had been different.

My own history is full of stories like this, of plans interrupted, many blind alleys – courses and qualifications I started but never finished. I bombed out of my Diploma of Visual Art in the early 1980s and had to settle for a Certificate of Visual Arts instead. There was a rather large monkey on my back when I signed up for a Bachelor of Visual Arts almost 20 years later.

I must have grown up, because even after all of my false starts I was the first in my family to gain a university degree. I went on to do Honours, then a Doctor of Creative Arts (art/philosophy), basically a PhD. It’s not quite the highest level of education you can get, but it will certainly do me. It took me 8 years and it was bloody hard work.

I’m sure other families have similar stories.

PHOTO ∆ From left: my mother, twin aunties, my aunty (1 year older than me), me and my brother (1 year younger).

Red Squirrel

 

This is the amazing work of Geert Weggen, a Dutch/Swedish internationally award winning photographer who specialises in photographing red squirrels. 

I saw these photos on Facebook and they delighted me so much, I saved them to share on my blog. Just so beautiful. 

Geert's works have been shared worldwide in various publications.  He has also published several books, puzzles, calendars and postcards, and been involved in a Disney movie and product launches for companies.

Who knew squirrels were so 'human'?