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Along a Dreaming Trail
From the West Australian: May 2006
As I rode in my taxi to the Minyirr Park Reserve in Broome my driver bemoaned the government's inability to bring all this "wasted land" into productive use as new housing developments. Having recently arriving from the land of concrete with housing estates as far as the eye can see (England in case you're wondering) I thought - if only we could turn the clock back.
I was anticipating the usual botanical park with nature and hiking trails designed for sedentary city folk but community liaison officers Frans Hoogland and Steve English, a couple of whitefella's originally from Holland and Ireland, soon put me straight.
They explained that the Bardi people belong to this land and they have lived here from time immemorial. Minyirr is near the southern end of the 80km Lurujarri Dreaming Trail running from Minyirr (Gantheame Point) to Minarriny (Coulomb Point).
Paddy Roe, a traditional custodian and law keeper for this land, was a great visionary. He said,
"Some say the land is there for people alone. But how can that be? Like humans, the wallabies and trees, rocks and water are all made of the same living vibrating spirit. When we know this intelligence, when we fathom what is at the 'bottom' of everything we can, as human beings, realize our purpose and the meaning of our lives.
It is our dreaming that people of all colours and beliefs will come together to walk and look after this land as the Aboriginal people have done since the first day, experiencing the feeling of the sacredness of life, for from this feeling flows the gift of continuing life for all children to come"...............