Biladu-njan warr-ngat? Narrin-ik Mandy. Marramb-ik Wurundjeri-wilam, Wurundjeri-baluk-ut Baggarrook/ bagurrk. Marramb-ik dhumba Woiwurrung. Marramb-ik mundanai Liwik-bulok nugel-ik, ba Lal-lal ba Gugung nugel-ik. Marramb-ik mundanai Murrup Galada Birrarung.

How are all of you? My name is Mandy. I am a Wurundjeri-wilam, within the Wurundjeri-baluk patriline. I speak Woiwurrung. I embrace my many Ancestors and many Grandfathers and Grandmothers. I embrace the Spirit River, Birrarung.

We are born with our Ancestors’ yurlendj (intelligence/knowledge), murrup (spirit), wurrung (Language) and sadly also their trauma. These are all embedded in our murrup and continue through the generations. This is our genetic memory, which comes from Deep Time. Deep Time surpasses all other ‘times’ in the Western sense of the word. Deep Time began before time itself and will continue indefinitely. Those from the Stolen Generation or who have not had access to Culture or Country also hold this genetic memory but in a dormant state. It wakes when they reconnect with family and Country.

For Wurundjeri women, our purpose is simply to continue our Ancestors’ journey as they live inside us and they speak through us via Language. Language is a Baban Darrang (Mother Tree), it has seen the good times when the landscape was manicured by fire and people lived in harmony with the environment by being environmental scientists (reading the seasons), animal husbandry experts (reading the animal breeding seasons), geographers (mapping Country), politicians (creating affiliations with neighbouring Language Groups and Clans), investors (crafting sophisticated hunting techniques, tools and weapons – wangim), philosophers and spiritual leaders (singing Songlines and telling Creation Narratives) and astronomers and astrologists (navigating by the stars and naming Creation Spirits in the stars such as Altair Bunjil).

Baban Darrang saw Country being mapped by the Creation Beings through Songlines. Songlines tell the narrative of who you are, where you came from and where you belong. It is your narrative. Your Country is also your narrative, specific to you and your family. You take Country with you also in your murrup as Country is spiritual as well as physical. There is not only one layer of Wurundjeri Country, but there are six that are all interconnected and woven through your murrup or your spiritual self. These layers define who you are and how you connect to all elements of Country.

These six layers include:

Biik-ut (Below Country),

Biik-dui (On Country),

Baanj Biik (Water Country),

Murnmut Biik (Wind Country),

Wurru wurru Biik (Sky Country),

Tharangalk Biik (Forest Country).

The Below Country, Biik-ut, is where we collect the ochre for dance and ceremony.

The On Country, Biik-dui, is where we dance and conduct ceremony.

Water Country, Baanj Biik, forms part of our Welcome Ceremony where visitors are offered water to drink as a sign of good will and that resources are safe during their visit.

Wind Country, Murnmut Biik, is where Language and the smoke from our Welcome fires transcends to Bunjil.

Sky Country, Wurru wurru Biik, is where Bunjil and Waang watch us in their physical form.

Cosmos, Tharangalk Biik, is Bunjil’s home in the stars. Bunjil lives there with his helpers and two wives the Gunuwarra (Black Swans). Tharang/Darrang (tree) and galk (stick) is the Forest Country above the clouds.

The true key to connecting to your Country is through Language and ceremony since so much cultural knowledge is embedded in it. For example, we know that Marbeangrook the evening star is a female star due to the word ending, the suffix, that denotes female – gruk/gurrk/grook. This shows that Country and its cultural landscape are gendered, where women have specific places such as birthing trees. The birthing tree itself is important; however, the cultural landscape surrounding the tree completes the cultural narrative of place.

Ceremony is the other way that Wurundjeri women and girls continue the Ancestors’ journey and remain connected firmly to Country and Culture. Wurundjeri women do this through the Murrum Turrukurruk ceremony, a coming-of-age ceremony for our young women. Due to the effects of invasion and the attempted genocide of First Nations people and Culture in Australia, ceremonies ceased and Language was not spoken every day. Language and ceremony have been sleeping for five generations in my family and we needed to stop this happening for a sixth generation. This was done through the revival of Murrum Turrukurruk when in 2014 around twenty young Wurundjeri women and girls, along with a couple of girls from other Language Groups, went through the ceremony.

This was the first time it was done in over 185 years. Older Wurundjeri women, including two Elders who had not been through ceremony before, also went through with the young women. This in an instant broke that transgenerational cycle of trauma and smashed the colonial frameworks that attempted to destroy our Culture.

The Baban Darrang also saw destruction of Country and Culture and was chopped down, but it did not die. The roots of the tree were firmly planted into the ground giving the tree a strong foundation. It gave the tree energy to sprout shoots and during its life it was able to drop seeds. The root system is Language and the branches are Culture. If the branches are cut, Culture does not die. The seeds that it has dropped are the next generations, and the shoots are the community leaders helping the Elders keep Language, Culture, spirituality and connection to Country strong. We are now those Baban Darrang and will never let our Culture go back to sleep for our feet walk our Ancestors’ path, our mouths speak our Ancestors’ voice as we are strong black women!