GUDJEKBINJ WITH OUR FIRST INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

We set off from Darwin on Thursday 15 May, at about 9 am (realising that we wouldn't be able to cross the tidal East Alligator River to western Arnhem Land until late that afternoon we didn't have to start too early).

My companions were Meredith McGuire and Jim Spickard, professors of anthropology and sociology from the US, and Ray Medlicott, area manager for the Conservation Volunteers. Meredith and Jim are interested in all wildlife; Meredith is also a keen birdwatcher. And of course they wanted to meet my Aboriginal relatives. Ray wanted to see the state of the tracks at the outstation - he wanted to help improve the place for tourism but till now had had no luck in finding funding. Neither hod I.

The 250 km trip was uneventful, and we crossed the river about 3.30 pm. Jim was entranced by the scenery described by Baldwin Spencer, Chief Protector of Aborigines, in 1912 as "much the most beautiful spot that 1 had seen in the Territory". (Spencer, Baldwin (1928). Wanderings in Wild Australia, McMillans, London). And with his continually wanting to take photographs it was a slow drive through the floodplains and escarpment.

We reached the Mumadewerre outstation sign at about 6 pm. The next turnoff was supposed to be Gudjekbinj - Baby Dreaming, but the sign was missing and so we drove on. The track after that turned out to be Marlwon, the next outstation on from Gudjekbinj. And so we returned to the previous track. I wasn't worried knowing we were either on land belonging to my sisters' or my son's clans.

I was hard to see much in the fading light and the tall speargrass that crowded both sides of the track. After a few kilometres the track become badly qullied (all outstation tracks are graded and repaired after the Wet Season each year. We had just beaten the road crew to this particular one). Not wanting to tackle the journey in the dark we camped just below a towering hill, put up our little dome tents in the short dry grass, and unfolded our chairs. The little metho stove was soon in service heating water for plunger coffee. Sitting back sipping the perfect cup under a perfect block sky littered with diamond stars watching the rising of a great orange orb of a moon was my idea of an evening well spent.

We were just about to turn in when we heard a vehicle coming - I prepared an apology just in case we were on the wrong land. And then out of the darkness chugged the Gudjekbinj tractor, driven by my son Peterson and towing a trailer crammed with people - little kids, my sister-in-law Stephonie, Golonj Terry and daughter Hopie.

Peterson told me they hod all been concerned when we didn't show up and so waking the kids had then set off in the dark at some risk to themseslves, to find us.

The kids took immediately to Jim and surrounded him asking politely for fruit. Fortunately we'd brought heaps - he took them to the car and started doling out apples. And then after arranging to meet us the next morning at the outstation my relatives left. We went to sleep accompanied by the slow, regular 'oom ... oom' of a distant Tawny Frogmouth.

It was at breakfast that we noticed the wildflowers. There were purple snapdrdgon-like blooms (Stemodia lythrifolia), a sea of pale blue and pink pompoms (Borreria exserta and Gomphrena sp.), mauve Buchnera lineata,, the occasional lone, blood red, frilly-peteled Pimelea punicea and the white star-like Mitrasacme sp. In damp patches grew gorgeous mauve and yellow Sowerbaea alliacea interspersed with the now drying heads of Purple Clover-weed (Uraria cylindracea). The dewy grasses overhanging the track glinted in the low sun like a profusion of diamente brooches. It was like dining in a garden.

At Kikikyaw my companions took one look at the ancient sandstone, and set off exploring. I showed them the tiny shelters which were the old people's homes and the paintings on the walls. They were in seventh heaven! About the first proposal from both Ray and Jim was that the art be documented (as far as we know it hasn't been). Everywhere there were new and interesting plants including small palms, namely Gronophyllum spp. and Livistona inermis the Mimi palms. Small prickle-leafed Acacia sublanata grow below the towering rocks.

Scats of different shapes and sizes throughout the rocks indicated Common Rockrat, Northern Quoll, Black Wallaroo, Nabarlek and Short-eared Rock-Wallaby. Oenpelli Python according to Peterson is also found at Kikkikyaw although we didn't see any. Rainbow skink (Carlia amax) was quite common here and 1 disturbed a rather stout, large skink among the rocks which looked very much like Ctenotus coggeri. A symphony of bird calls echoed off the rocks all around us.

The track to the outstation took an hour or so to negotiate. At one point the Land Cruiser became stuck on a steep creek bank, in soft sand (the same creek crossing we'd had problems with before). Jim reversed back, then we dug out the sand and replaced it with logs and broken branches; and started off again. We never had any more problems with this crossing.

Whenever the going was smooth 1 took my eyes off the track and pointed out birds and calls to Meredith. Tall stringybarks (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) echoed with the whistles of Black-tailed Treecreepers, the melodic staccato `chinks` of White~throated Honeyeater and the soft 1 chips' of Striated Pardalote. A Grey Goshawk swept past, and then we surprised a Brown Goshawk sitting quietly in a tree minding its own business. However the birding wasn't startling, not surprising with all the water still lying around. I interspersed the gaps with information on plants and tales of my Aboriginal relatives.

This tree was Woollybutt/Mandjulem (in Kunwinjku) (Eucalyptus miniata), the inner bark good for sores; that one Darwin Stringybark/Manboloqur, the bark used for paintings, the saplings for didgeridoo (mako). We passed small Acacia latescens their drooping grey-green foliage spattered with silver-yellow balls, . Banksia dentata are still flowering, the great yellow heads poking out of the holly-like green and white leaves, and woody cones with their laughing mouths.

Anyone feeling hungry could have filled up on the little white tubers of Cartonema spp. (family

Cartonematacae) which grew everywhere. There are also the distinctive flowers of Trachyneme sp., a plant related to parsnips and carrots (Apiaceoe).

Grevilleas were flowering everywhere, long racemes of watermelon or Barbie Doll pink, red, golden-orange surrounded by quarreling birds - Blue~faced Honeyeaters, Yellow-throated Miners, Silver-crowned Friarbirds and White-throated and Brown honeyeaters.

Along the airstrip and there was the outstation, a collection of khaki metal buildings under tall stringybarks, At a table outside Peterson and my Guk guk (grandchild through my sister's daughter) brought out their paintings. They were on stringybark and painted in ochres. The bigger of Peterson's paintings was of emu 'kukwon' (ready for cooking), fish and brolga and kangaroo. Although not finished, it was a masterpiece of perfectly proportioned animals, their legs gracefully intertwined. The fine, even lines and crosshatching had all been painted with a shredded reed.

We then set out to examine the track to Yirrkakak. It was worse than the other track and on several occasions we had to drive around fallen trees. We passed Bod (Fly) Dreaming, not a good place to stop for obvious reasons! Nor did we stop at the dangerous termite mounds of one of the Baby Dreaming sites. Baby spirits dwell here, and anyone damaging a mound is doomed to multiple pregnancy.

At lost we reached the beautiful gorge and deep pool. Peterson respectfully called out to Ngyalod the Rainbow Serpent from the water's edge, to let him know we were there. From there Peterson, Ray and 1 went to look for a suitable site for a camp, and found one in sandy soil under the eucalypts overlooking the a spot where the river was shallow, and ran gently over rocks. The others sat at the water's edge watching for birds and wishing for fishing lines as they saw large barramundi surface.

Kikkikyaw
Jim was exhausted by the time we got back to our tents below the hill and so we just threw all the equipment in the back of the vehicle, waved goodbye to Pay who was returning to Darwin, and set off to make camp at Kikkikyaw. There among the rock pillars and arches ringing with the musical calls of
birds we set up our tents once more, only a few dozen metres from the rock shelters used by 'the old people' up until only a few decades ago, and the rock paintings. And while Meredith and I busied ourselves with sleeping bags etc Jim set off to make the most of the golden light falling like gauze curtains across the ancient rocks.

Night among the sandstone, The birds slowly quietened, and the huge golden moon rose into the pitch sky from the depths the outcrops draping the spiky silhouettes of palms over the rocks.

Meredith said the next morning she felt safe knowing the 'old people' hod been there.

That day we were going to start a combined birdwatching/first aid course for my relatives. Meredith had a qualification in wilderness first aid and both she and Jim were happy with my suggestion that we use local, natural resources wherever possible. I told them Yabok (older sister) Esther's tale of how she and other relatives hod splinted the leg of an old fellow with the bark of a cypress tree when he broke the, limb miles from camp. This was going to be fun! We could also collect colour here far the weaving for all around us grew Wirdiwirdl, Haemodorum corymbosum and other species which produced the most beautiful pink and red dyes.

My Aboriginal relatives were supposed to arrive about ten, and so we set there discussing what we could use. Finally Meredith and I set off to do some exploring and birdwatching. The Black-tailed Treecreepers were being quite elusive and even the flowering grevilleas and other trees were virtually deserted although still quite early. I pointed out the great flowering heads of the Golden Bridal Tree, Xanthostemon paradoxus (Myrtaceae) - one of my favourite plants.

The understorey of the open forest was mostly grass but in some areas low herbs were common, such as Petalostigma quadriculare (used for bush medicine), and Pachneyma complanatum a leafless plant which bears round pink flowers on its bare stems (cladodes).

The stream
Spotting some flowering brush among the rocks we crossed a small creek that ran between the edge of the forest and the rocks, The shrubs were Calytrix brownii (Myrtaceae) and flitting around the tiny white star flowers were butterflies, a dozen or so Cressida cressida cassandra, large papillonid
butterflies with clear forewings and black, red-spotted hindwings; the gorgeous tortoiseshell and peacock blue, Blue Argus (Vanessa cardui) and Orange Locewing (Cethosia penthesilea). There were also wasps and bees - unfortunately all the latter were European.

The ground was covered with wildflowers, including pink yellow-centred Merremia sp. and the pink, maroon-striped blooms of Pityrodia ternifolia, a food plant of the startling orange and blue Leichardt's Grasshopper, an insect endemic to the Arnhem Land escarpment.

On the edge of the shallow water grew long-stemmed bladderworts, the orange-spotted cream Utricularia fulva, and the bright yellow U. chrysantha. Across the rocks sprawled Grevillea formosa, a shrub endemic to the Arnhem Land escarpment, and now popular in Darwin, streets and gardens, Unfortunately there was riot a yellow bloom to be seen, just its beautiful silver-green divided leaves against the weathered
sandstone.

Growing in the water were little purple lowers (I've forgotten the name) and floating on the surface were Eriocaulon setaceum little flowering stalks with long trailing roots. Tiny sundews Drosera sp, cute little glistening rosettes of green and red, grew around the water. Large dark brown, yellow-striped tadpoles (probably of the tree frog Litoria personata though they looked larger) hung in the clear water.

Walking back. among the rocks I looked for the rare blue butterfly, Adaluma urumelia wondering if the specimen Peterson hod caught there previously was a "one-off". It wasn't - this species was the most common blue butterfly among the spinifex! (SEE FLORA AND FAUNA).

Reaching camp we discovered my relatives still hadn't turned up, and it was now midday. So we just sat under the rocks and talked. Jim told me he'd be interested in running a program out there for his students - we could write it together. Of course the track would need to be upgraded and what about portable fans? We threw ideas around like confetti. There was rock art to be documented, anthropology and biology programs, peace studies, a community work program, And, I asked, what about teaching students and my relatives first aid together? All it seemed had promise.

About 3 pm we heard the tractor and looking towards the outstation saw Peterson tying the rope to a big tree that lay across the track. He looked exhausted. Jim went out to give him a hand, and then we sat him down and gave him as much as he could drink and eat. The trailer had blown a tyre the night before and having no replacement the family couldn't come to us. So they decided that we should come to them. Knowing that Jim wasn't happy about driving on the rough track Peterson set out after breakfast to fix it up, and hadn't stopped till he reached us, not even for water!

It was too late for us to run the course, but we had to go to the outstation anyway - Jim had offered to cook dinner for all that night. And he wanted to buy Peterson's painting, This time because of Peterson's mighty effort the journey to the outstation was much easier, and we arrived about 5 pm, But first the painting. Jim asked Peterson how much. My honest son replied that the bark was cracked, and he'd have to ask his wife. They talked for some time but it was obvious they really didn't know what was a fair price.

Jim thinking there would be hard bargaining asked me what 1 thought. If the bark hod been okay I said, a fair price would be $1000 or more. But $500 might be acceptable given the cracked bark. Jim agreed so I asked myson. 'Alright!' he said straight away and the deal was done.

My Guk guk then moved in with his little paintings. He not only showed great promise as an artist but also as a salesman from the little I saw of the exchange! Jim bought a neat little painting of a rock snake with mimi which encouraged the lad later to bring out his other work.

Jim began cooking over the open fire using the big pots my sisters boil their pandanus in, while Stephanie and I cleaned up the eating area. My older sisters spread a large tarpaulin on the ground but decided it wasn't good enough for the visitors. So a newer tarp went down. Then Esther and Meredith and I went for a walk in the open forest to look for yams (Eriosema chinense). Esther may be 78 years old but she could spot those little dried up stems very well, She baked the yams in the coals beside the big black pots containing Jim's dishes, pasta and vegetable/salami stew.

And then both the water and the power failed. Jim cooked by torchlight until Peterson using a great long electrical lead was able to link up to the outlet of the next building. Some years ago when the water pump failed my sisters then in their late sixties had to cart water from the nearest stream.

The food was delicious and we ate in silence. Afterwards Meredith and some of the women discussed health and healing, and the rest of us talked of sundry issues. Then a more sensitive topic was raised regarding some opposition to the project. I invited Jim into the discussion, and discovered that as a Quaker his approach was similar to mine and Peterson's,. The way to tackle it we all agreed was to include the dissenters as much as possible. Where was this great cultural divide between black and white that so many talk about?

That out of the way, Peterson gave the visitors a little thank-you speech in Kunwinjku, and then called upon my sisters to sing. We joined in songs about the crow and cockatoo, but I wanted more. "What about the Mimi song!" I asked. "You know that song!" Yabok Miriam protested (I'd heard it once!). Anyway I did remember the tune and words once she began, and so we sat there under the starry canopy chanting and clapping our hands.

It was an easy drive home because of Peterson's hard work on the track. And the night birds were pretty good - we saw three Owlet-nightjars and the some number of Barking owls.

The next morning Meredith and I went off chasing Sandstone Shrike-thrush, a bird endemic to the sandstone of northwestern Australia and one of this country's most wonderful songsters (see FLORA AND FAUNA). The bird was singing unseen above our campsite but once we began to look, flew to the rocks about thirty metres away. We clambered over rocks and walked gingerly through the prickly spinifex, past the 'old people's homes' and ancient paintings When we heard the bird singing again, Meredith peered up through the trees. "Look behind you," I suggested. Meredith did, to find the bird had crept out of the rocks and was now sitting just a few metres above her. "Holistic birding", Meredith called the experience.

Then we all returned to a little creek Meredith and I had found, for a wash. I had checked its status - it wasn't a dreaming site. But I was still careful not to break the water plants that are the mermaids' hair -they cry otherwise! We sprawled in the cool water watched not too warily by yelow striped tadpoles and water striders, which soon ignored us. A little masked frog Litoria personata perched on a rock only a few inches from my left eye and watched me curiously.

We left about 11 am driving back down the track. Not long before the turnoff I heard Long-tailed and Masked finches and leaping out of the car Meredith and I bounded through the long speargrass after them. Long-tailed Finch flew off before I could show Meredith. However she did see Masked Finch which remained sitting in a tree not far from us.

At the turnoff we had lunch sitting in the shade of the vehicle. We had nearly finished when a utility truck appeared. Among the crowd of children and adults in the tray, was Louise, Peterson's sister and therefore my daughter. Noticing the grass seeds in my hair she gently began to remove them while I introduced Jim and Meredith.

We had to wait for the East Alligator to drop so that we could cross, and while standing there looking out across the muddy water I felt an arm around my shoulders, and before I could turn was enveloped in a bear hug. It was one of the people my relatives had said had some concerns about the project.

I was so truly glad to see this dear lady. 'Kohlanj', I said, 'we need you out at Baby Dreaming. We need you to talk with students next year about how to make peace.' I wasn't kidding. This was a woman of great wisdom and courage. I introduced her to my American friends, "Meredith and Jim, here, is our peace studies lecturer!"

We parted company at the Border Store Meredith and Jim. going off to stay in Kakadu for the night and me returning to Darwin with my partner. Unfortunately the car broke down under Grasshopper Dreaming not far from the crossing. But with the help of Gary, the local AANT mechanic we got back to Jabiru and hired a car, reaching Darwin at midnight, It was a mere hiccough to what my relatives have to go through at times!