Boonerwrung Elder Carolyn Briggs - Welcome to Country - Two Bays Launch, Docklands, 2nd December, 2007.
Andrew Denton getting to know Weedy at the Launch.
Weedy Sea Dragon, photographed by Guillaume Martinez an EPA scintist on the project. Flinders Pier.
The Nerd Centre of the Project
Two Bays is now well underway. We launched last Sunday, almost a week ago now. The State Environment Minister, Gavin Jennings, helped launch as well as our patron, Andrew Denton and a Welcome to Country and Ceremony by Carolyn Briggs. The event ran incredibly smoothly and I think I finally relaxed about the whole deal the following day. It is amazing how much time and effort can go into 45 minutes!
Time for blogging has been very scarce as I have been frantically putting this project together and at the same time been in a period of personal crisis. Matters of the heart.
The project is falling into place and as I write I can hear the chirpy sounds of a bunch of volunteer divers who have just emerged from snorkling, studying and exploring the Yaringa Marine Park in Western Port Bay.
I hope to blog a bit more over the next few days, but just wanted to get up that Two Bays is up and running and we are finally out on the water doing fun things!
As for the matters of the heart I am learning a process of being able to sit with complex feelings and allow the body and heart time to absorb, meditate and hopefully clarify. It is all one can do besides travel with as much honesty and hopefully integrity as possible.
I wrote a poem to try and capture a bit of this called-
FEET ON COUNTRY
One foot in front of the other,
stumbling on loose rock,
reminding me of one foot in front of the other.
Warmth, light and shadows on the path,
a Currowong calls, and I pause to listen.
I hear up ahead the returning call, "I am here, I am here."
The trees stretch up into the heat of the first day of Summer,
the forest speckled with the fresh green crowns of fern trees,
flickering pale limbs scarcer amongst the Ironbark.
I find a place to pause, a road carved in the forest,
making a seat.
I sit.
2 comments:
It is always good when a project succeeds. And this seems to have been a spectacular success.
Sadness on the hard bits.
Thanks Archie,
Just entering into final week and all involved are beginning to feel the strain as it has been a BIG one. But all good and lots of very good.
All the Best, Austin
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