Here in my backyard. Knees and hands sunk into the soil, head down and eyes closed. 

Back in time.

Fences gone.

Traffic gone. 

Buildings gone.

Voices emerge of a language I don’t know. They speak with happiness and wisdom.  Stories of way back.  Teaching of the land.  They chatter.  They chant.  They sing.   

I see bare feet of young and old.  They walk, run and dance with purpose and presence.  For they are here.  Long ago, they are here. 

I see the hands of people. Rough skin and careful movements, harvesting, weaving, clapping, cooking, caring for the land.

I see strong and gentle minds.  Listening to the Spirit of the land and the sky and the water.  Wise minds that work with the Spirit to keep everything in balance.  

Untrapped breeze.  The smell of gentle fires and enough food for everyone.  Enough time for everyone. 

The birds belong to the sky.  They sing with the people.  The lizards, and wallabies and kangaroos are plentiful.  They belong to this land.  The people belong to this soil.  The land and the people are one.  All belong here, with the slowness of time.  

I see eyes.  Eyes glancing over the familiar grasslands, looking far, far beyond.  Over the hills.  Through the trees, into the bushes.  Eyes of people who know where they have come from, where they are going and where they are – right here, right now. 

I see tears in the depths of my soul.   Although  I come from a land far away in a time far from then,  I share the blood of the human people and I am here now.  

I will never know your sadness as you felt it.  I just  know my sadness for you and I feel it.  My knees and my head bend to our stories of sadness – they are our stories of loss.  

Loss of the many first peoples.

Loss of their way and their cultures. 

Loss of their touch to keep things in balance.

Loss of the landscapes.

Loss of the many plants and many animals.  

This is not ‘my backyard’ – this is the home of the First Peoples, and the land to which I now belong.  A broken land that welcomes me.  

My sadness and my hope are one with this land…this land here, Bunurong land.

This soil, under my knees, under my hands…this is the land of the Bunurong People.