The First Day

 

During Naidoc week (a celebration of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people and culture), I was watching a concert on NITV. Singers performed “Aboriginal Woman”, a song written in the 1990s by Bart Willoughby, a Pitjantjantjara/ Mirning man. In this performance, a younger generation of women brought passion and joy to the song's message of resilient women living, loving, standing up for what’s right. “Aboriginal Woman, never fade away”. “Aboriginal Woman, she’s here to stay”. “Aboriginal woman, she’s the backbone of our spiritual ways”. 

I acknowledge Gadigal and Wangal elders, past, present and emerging, who lived and live in the places now called Sydney and Annandale. November 2020’s Naidoc week theme was “Always Was, Always Will Be”... from the affirmation Always Was, Always Will Be: Aboriginal Land.

The day after hearing the song 'Aboriginal Woman', and with it humming in my ears, I made myself walk to look at something I’ve been avoiding. The NSW Govt is building WestConnex, with a double-decker (two-level) freeway ramp at the harbour foreshore where Johnston Street in Annandale runs toward the water. I and many others had written to the government strenuously objecting. One concern is that the proposed roadway would block sight of the big mural along The Crescent. The delightful artwork shows natural history and First Nations people as well as urban streets and flight paths. 

Making written submissions to government is draining and time-consuming and too often results in no changes. This time the government altered their plans slightly, to address some complaints re: pedestrian and cyclist inconvenience; but the elevated ramp idea stayed in. I felt discouraged but retained some hope that the government would at least be documenting the painted local history mural on the old brick wall supporting the railway trestle. This landmark was first painted in 1980 by Rodney Monk, updated by him in 2005.* 

Recently I noticed chainlink fences around the Rozelle/ Lilyfield future ramp area, indicating work was imminent, but I dreaded to look up close.

During winter I’d become upset when walking in the area. Three separate construction projects, by three different government bodies/corporations, were taking place all at once (1- WestConnex removal of foreshore trees, and obliteration of the adjoining Burrawan Park; 2- Sydney Water ‘improvements’ to Johnstons Creek, chopping down dozens of trees, fencing off the creek and surrounding park; 3- Sydney City Council ‘improving’ Federal Park/Bicentennial Park by knocking down semi-industrial buildings fringing the park boundaries, and re-landscaping, with most grassed areas fenced off.)

How much disruption to our local place of serenity can we take? I sincerely wonder if government bodies talk to each other about these type of projects and their timing. If they purposely meant to overlap, I question if that is best for the health and mental health of our crowded urban area where people need to exercise, and like to take their dogs. (BTW Some of the park 'improvements' may turn out well, but the uncomfortable transition could be better considered by planners.)

Unfortunately during winter I allowed myself to sometimes get angry and swear out loud at what I saw and heard. So I got in the habit of staying away. I found different paths to walk, different creeks to follow. 

Area formerly known as Burrawan Park

View of brick viaduct over Johnstons Creek in calmer, less torn-up times

On this day I realised my irritations are minor compared to what some people have endured and lived through. My loyalty to history and admiration of Indigenous women drove me to check what’s become of the mural. 

In my tour Aqueducts and Viaducts of Annandale, given during History Week 2019 (and to some groups in early 2020 before Covid-19), the most important part of the story was “Bennelong and Barangaroo were here”. Literally, here, where we stopped along Johnstons Creek at the reconstructed wetlands to think deeply about the Wangal and Cammeraygaleon couple who fished, or walked, in Sydney wetlands and foreshores.

Tree near Warren in western NSW showing its scar where thick bark for a canoe was cut out.

Barangaroo: think of her in a canoe, singing; fishing with a line she made and a beautiful hook she created from a shell. (Men’s fishing method was to use a spear, while standing on shore.) Women would light a fire in the canoe, cook a fish they caught, sometimes while breastfeeding a baby, calmly balancing with other small children onboard. The mural depicts a scene something like this, and I feared it might no longer be visible.

Remember also Bennelong, Barangaroo’s husband, who had the misfortune to be violently kidnapped by Governor Phillip’s military men. Think about Lieutenant -- later Major -- George Johnston, who came to live on this land he re-named Annandale, with his partner Esther Abrahams. He boasted that he was the first person to step ashore from the First Fleet in 1788. He wanted fame but probably came closer to being infamous.

Barangaroo was a mature woman. Bennelong was her second husband, and she was his second wife. The First Fleet diary writers like Watkin Tench and David Collins wrote a lot about her. She was a fighter, a justice warrior, and she was unafraid. Grace Karkens writes that “When the whites invited her to watch a flogging, she became disgusted and furious, and tried to grab the whip out of the flogger's hands.”**

Rounding the corner where the mural comes into view… I see that some of it is still visible. I don't know if the ramp and fencing here are temporary or the final configuration. But at least the Aboriginal woman can be seen, albeit behind steel wire. May the image of her never fade away.

Footnotes:

*The NSW Govt promised they would document and archive the mural prior to current construction works. Inner West Council website has an article from 2018 offering good quality photographs of the painting. Leichhardt Council, folded into Inner West, had originally commissioned the artwork. A few years ago they proposed Heritage Listing it.

**Barangaroo and the Eora Fisherwomen | The Dictionary of Sydney by Grace Karskens 2014, [viewed online 24/12/2020.] 

Wikipedia’s page for Barangaroo also says Watkin Tench described how “a convict was flogged in front of an audience of Aboriginal people, for stealing from them. Barangaroo was angry, and menaced the man performing the flogging with a stick.” [Viewed online 24/12/2020.]