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THE PROSPERO PRODUCTIONS VISIT 16-21/6/2003 Last week I was out at Baby Dreaming again, this time with a film crew who were making a series featuring a snake-catcher who travels Australia rescuing snakes. Prospero Productions already produce a series 'Australian Wildlife Rescue' for US television. But first the producer wanted a re-enaction of the event that led to my adoption by Aboriginal people, the catching of a water python at a wetlands near Fogg Dam, 70 kms from Darwin. The presenter, Bruce was a thickset heavily tattooed little man with regular features and a pleasant smile. He had several earrings in one ear and dressed in black. The leather hat jammed on his head was rolled up on the sides like a slouch hat, and he swaggered around like a cowboy, with his thumbs stuck in his belt. Apparently he rides to the rescue of snakes on a big Harley Davidson motorbike! The first two days were spent filming near Darwin and in Kakadu National Pork. Day one we accompanied the crew to the wetlands where I'd caught the snake many years before. Then, this area was a huge lagoon. But with the decimation of buffalo and pigs it had become overgrown with vegetation - large white and mauve waterlilies (Nymphea spp.) and tiny fringed lilies (Nymphoides spp) and masses of spike-rush (Eleocharis sp.). Such a beautiful place. As I had been hunting with Aboriginal people when I caught the snake, the film crew wanted several of my relatives in the water with me, and so I was accompanied by my sister-in-law Dolly, son Peterson and grandson Jethro. Several other young relatives we left by the cars. For six hours, accompanied by the film crew we ploughed around in the water gathering up great armsful of soggy vegetation in the hunt for file snakes, water python and turtles. When Bruce 'arrived' I was to greet him and tell him what we were doing. "Ngalmangi!" (long-necked turtle) - the meeting was interrupted by a yell from Dolly, "Excuse me!" I said to Bruce and the cameraman as I joined the others in diving on the prey. Unfortunately it escaped. Peterson demonstrated on film how to repel crocodiles by slapping the water, and Gunyok (sister-in-law) dug up a few lily bulbs for us to eat. However it was not enough and by lunchtime we were famished. It was then we learned there was not enough food for us all. However Vicky, the production manager went without so we could feed the young children withus. There was a heap of chips, chocolate bars and soft drinks which the kids loved. However my family have enough health problems as it is, and so I asked that the crew not bring such food to Baby Dreaming. During breaks in filming I pointed out birds to Duncan Chard, the producer who was also a birder. Tree Martins flew above the water, and Long-tailed, Crimson and Double-barred finches watched us from the nearby pandanus. A White-bellied Sea-Eagle quartered low over the wetlands and Leighton Debarros the camera man swung around to film it. We were all quite exhausted at the end of the day even I suspect, the energetic Vicky who had spent much of the day entertaining the toddlers to their great delight - I think she made some friends for life!
Day 2, 3 - Kakadu The helicopter whisked us to a huge rock platform which towered above the escarpment, settled to let us out, and then flew circles above us Leighton filming all the while. I kept my eyes peeled for Arnhem Land endemics such as Chestnut-quilled Rock-pigeon. However the only obvious inhabitant was another endemic, Block Wallaroo, a large dark rock-kangaroo. It left the scene in a hurry. The scenery was breathtaking - our platform was surrounded on all sides by ragged cliffs, jutting ridges and deep canyons. Then suddenly I was jerked backed to reality by the helicopter. It flew to within a few metres of our heads, the blasting wind from the rotor blades nearly blowing us off our perch.
Baby Dreaming We drove through the beautiful country between Gunbalunya end the East Alligator Leighton filming much of the time from the front seat, and Duncan sitting in the roof rack giving directions via radio. At Gunbalunya we had to search out several relatives including my son Wesley who was to play didgeridoo for a corroboree scene Duncan wanted to film. This stop took some time with Wesley unsuccessfully trying to persuade younger relatives to join us - he wanted to show them the country. Then we called in to see Dowida who spoke for the dangerous site of Noworo that Wesley wanted me to see. With permission granted to take us there, Wesley climbed aboard and we took off for Baby Dreaming We were to camp at Kikikyaw, Little Bird Dreaming. This area at the very end of the Arnhem Land escarpment consists of ancient sandstone rock pillars, arches, platforms and outcrops surrounded by fine white sand in which grow little elegant fan palms Livistona inermis, stockier, tallerpalms Gronophyllum ramsayi and on assortment of eucalypts and other trees. Between the trees grow spiky spinifex Triodia sp., Wirdl wirdl Haemodurm sp. (used for colour for weaving) and other herbs. At sunset the sienna and burnt orange rocks look as if liquid gold has been spilled upon them. It was a magical film set. I took two of the film crew to the outstation, asking the others to stay in camp at first - I thought my relatives might be overwhelmed seeing all these strange white folk. While we were away Leighton and Glen the sound man, and Bill stationed the generator and ran the cables through to lights they'd erected on the rocks. I set up my tent away from the crew, hoping to rise early each morning to search for snakes, particularly the large (4 m.) Oenpelli Python said by my son Peterson to inhabit the area. The next day we picked up my relatives to drive to Yirrkakak, a beautiful little gorge with a deep waterhole. Here Ngyalod the Rainbow Serpent hod eaten a crying boy, a warning to naughty children! We did some filming here, and then went off searching for file snakes in various billabongs. Alas we had no luck. Vicky was concerned at the lack of snakes and asked me on a scale of ten what the chances were of finding some the next day. I understood how she felt - the success of this episode was down to her. I did suggest the crew return a few months later when the hunting would be better, but they weren't interested! Wesley come back to camp with us to prepare for the corroboree the next night. He asked me if I had brought a naga (a loincloth) he could wear. But I hadn't included such an item in my kit, and so Wesley just rolled up the legs of his shorts. But he seemed troubled and when I asked told me that Naworro a dangerous spirit had appeared to him in a dream and he was afraid for the children who would be attended the performance the next night. I asked him if he had also seen the Yawk Yawk spirits (Mermaid Dreaming, my dreaming). When he replied that he had, I said that probably meant the mermaids were here as well, and that they would look after the children. He agreed and seemed much happier. For body paint Vicky and I ground the white rocks Wesley had collected from a stream near the outstation, and mixed the powder with water. Meanwhile Wesley plucked a frond of the fan palm and with a few deft twists mode it into a wide brush which he then dipped into the wet ochre and flicked over his face, body and limbs. Sitting on a rock in front of the crew he began to play the mako (didgeridu) his brother Peterson had made especially for the performance. I had never heard him play before and was deeply touched at the sight of my son, sitting in that place as his mother and her relatives must have done decades ago. The next night Peterson and Wesley painted themselves and put on an incredibly beautiful performance under the stone walls both dancing and singing about the Blue-tongued Lizard (q). Esther who come along to 'make sure the men sang the correct songs' provided the background chants. The music was so haunting (I thought of Debussy's Afternoon of the Fawn - I forget the French) it took my breath away. In 16 years of marriage Stephanie, my daughter~in-law had never seen her husband Peterson painted up and dancing before - she was enthralled as was I and the crew. She only had one complaint - the way Peterson had tackled the absence of 'nagas'., by tearing up a bed sheet! Unfortunately some at the outstation missed the performance. All came the next night but other activities were scheduled. The crew were experts in their respective fields. Leighton DeBarros and the director Duncan Chard worked on the Big Cat Diary series made for the BBC and screened on ABC television (Leighton is also the camera man for the Survivor series). Leighton had us in stitches with his tales. When Stephanie asked if he'd seen lions in Africa he told us of how these animals had actually climbed in the car after somebody played a hyaena tape. The humans deported in a hurry! Duncan is a birdwatcher although working 17 hour days didn't leave much time for that particular activity, Also the middle of the Dry Season is not the best for birdwatching. Nor was it particularly good for finding most reptiles (also part of my job). So I arose before sunrise every morning to hunt for snakes, alas unsuccessfully. Bill found tracks so wide they looked as if someone hod rolled a large tyre along, and I glimpsed an Olive Python. Otherwise I only found goannas (namely Varanus tristis and V. panoptes), and some endemic geckoes (Oedura gemmata, 0. marmorata, Gehyra nana and G. pamela). Nothing the film crew was really interested in. Then relatives at Mumadewerre, the next outstation told Peterson they had caught two the previous night - unfortunately the reptiles had already been eaten. We arranged to meet them next day at the nearby Goomadeer River where it crossed the Maningrida road. But we weren't going to catch the snake by wading, not in these waters. The Goomadeer here is home to big crocodiles including one 4 m. long. The idea was to fish for the snakes. But first we had to catch the bait. While Hopie tried to tempt the little fish onto her handline, I waded knee-deep to throw a castnet staying well away from the edge of the big holes. Alas the net snagged on a branch. I called to the crew on the bank - would one of them enter the water to stand behind me? That way we would present a bigger silhouette to the resident croc. Leighton responded immediately, grabbing a big stick as he entered the water. With the bait Stephanie caught two file snakes and the crew were happy. On the way back to camp we spotted an almost ripe pandanus fruit hanging about two and a half metres from the ground. Parts of this fruit ore edible and so the crew decided to film Bruce talking about it. Leighton started the camera rolling while Bruce. attempted to twist the fruit off. But the stem was too tough. So Leighton drove the car in, climbed on top and cut halfway through the stem. Bruce again tried to twist the fruit off, and again failed. By this time Peterson, Stephanie and I were giggling - we knew how hard it was to remove a pandanus fruit in such a way. Leighton again drove the car in and cut through the stem a little more. But he misjudged and the fruit fell at our feet. Nonplussed Leighton picked the fruit up and stuck it atop the pandanus where it sat like a giant pimple. Bruce found a stick to hit the tree. Leighton directed that as the fruit fell, Peterson and I were to move into camera range. But the soccer-ball-sized fruit toppled straight towards Peterson's head, and I had to perform a minor rugby-like tackle to save my son! Leighton again drove under the tree and this time wedged the stem of the fruit in the crown of the pandanus. It now looked like a pimple on a peduncle. Again Bruce whacked the trunk, so hard his bat broke. But the fruit remained where it was. Bruce's bat was now the length and width of a wooden spoon. "I can't use this damn thing," he growled. By this time we were all laughing so hard that we could hardly stand. However we pulled ourselves together, found another bat-like branch and the scene was soon completed, Leighton thought Kikikyaw 'magic - one of the "most wonderful places" he'd even been (and he has filmed throughout Australia, Africa, South America and SE Asia). He offered to approach a friend who is Bill Oddie's producer. Bill, one of a British comedy trio called The Goodies is a renowned birdwatcher presently making a series on Africa and Leighton thought he might consider a production at Baby Dreaming. It may not happen of course but it's nice to know Leighton liked beautiful Kikikyaw that much! Coincidentally The Goodies are a favourite of Peterson and Stephanie, and they find Bill Oddie the funniest member of the trio!
The Last Night From the first day in Arnhem Land Bruce had grown quieter - I suspect he was surprised to learn that in Arnhem Land the snake-catchers were the women, particularly the respected 'old ladies'. And those who had snake dreamings didn't show 'love' as Bruce did, by handling snakes. Instead they looked after snakes by protecting their habitat, Before we left Peterson gave a little speech to the crew which Hopie translated saying that working with them had helped to build bridges between Bininj and balanda. This was quite a change in attitude for some of my relatives. Prospero Productions donated several hundred dollars towards needed machinery and tools. And the Baby Dreaming guides now have a uniform, a dark teal Yokka drill shirt with a Baby Spirit logo in white, red, yellow and block embroidered on the pocket. Birdwatchers have donated funds towards the purchase of the shirts, and six pairs of binoculars which my Aboriginal relatives are now learning to use. Everything I said should be happening at Baby Dreaming: tourism is coming to pass. |