Caroline Josephs PhD
Sydney, Australia
Artist, Writer, Storyteller, Researcher, Educator
GULAGA MOUNTAIN CREATION STORIES
Paintings (with Elder permission) by Caroline Josephs Ph.D. -- who has known and worked with Dulumunmun for over twenty years, taking people into Country to hear his stories, sometimes weaving stories of her experiences with Indigenous people with his, or leading creative workshops arising from storytellings in Country.
Gulaga is the sacred mountain of the Yuin people of south coast New South Wales -- Indigenous people, who have lived in Australia for over 60,000 years.
The Rock on the right of the painting is the Energy Rock, the first rock of connectedness,
or the Creation Rock. It tells how Daramah, the Great Spirit, created the heavens
and the earth and all nature.
Then Daramah created two people. First a woman called Ngardi (pronounced Nardi
with soft ‘g’, as in song) and next, a man called Tunku. [The two rocks, Ngardi and
Tunku, don’t appear in this painting.]
On the left hand side of the painting is the great rock of the Pregnant Woman.
That pregnant woman shows us that we must always respect our mother. And our women.
Beside the mother is another little rock …This is one of the nurses, or the helpers for
that pregnancy, the ‘midwife’ you would call her. And around that little rock were
some plants that helped with childbirth and pregnancy.
[Someone showed some people the particular beautiful little plants, and told them
a little bit about them. And then the plants were taken; probably to be grown
somewhere else for profit.
But the minute you take that plant, the rest of it dies.
The ancient knowledge should stay there. When the ancients used it they only
took part of a leaf to help with childbirth. Now it won’t grow back. ]
Gulaga Mountain Creation 1 - large diptych, 78” x 39”
Acrylic on canvas, hemmed and eyeleted
Gulaga Mountain Creation 2 - 38” x 12” Acrylic on canvas SOLD
Adapted from words of Max Dulumunmun Harrison, Elder of the Yuin People. See also his book -- My People’s Dreaming: An Aboriginal Elder Speaks on Life, Land, Spirit and Forgiveness, Finch Publishing, Sydney, 2009.
Painting (with Elder permission) by Caroline Josephs Ph.D. -- who knew and worked with Dulumunmun for over twenty years, taking people into Country to hear his stories, sometimes weaving stories of her experiences with Indigenous people with his, or leading creative workshops arising from storytellings in Country.