Wurundjeri are the people who have been living here for the past 40,000 years. 20,000 years ago was the time of the Ice Age! An ancient history of hunting and fishing and gathering and story-telling.
Stories of raids by seal hunters who stole the women for sex-partners, tales of small-pox epidemics, tales of the meetings with the new people.
Stories about the times for profit. A chance to get rich quick. A good time and place to unload the convict ships. And that is what colonials did, at the expense of local people and creatures and Mother Earth. And all this is only in the last 200 years. And we are still doing it.
And stories of the "Tanderrum:" a ceremony of hospitality for any people (native or European) desiring to pass trough their lands, allowing them safe passage and permission to use the land and all resources. This freedom of the bush ceremony was finalized by an exchange of gifts.
"Tanderum" was the practice of the Warunjeri; "Terra Nullius" on the other hand,was the official British colonial statement, that before the arrival of the British there was no land-ownership. Aboriginal peoples could not sell the land, because it did not belong to them. It simply belonged to the British Colonials by right of taking it. At one such place where squatters drove-out the native people, we offered a "Bowl of Tea for Peace into the Four Directions." Squatters needing land for their sheep could just do such things. By the time
of the founding of Melbourne there were only about 28 living Wurunjeri people. Today there are about 100 Wurunjeri. Some very small settlements were granted to the Aboriginals, but only at safe distances far away from the white settlement of Melbourne. Later even farther away.
"Dream-time" is the age of stories. Stories from long long ago when the first ancestors travelled over the land, creating everything, naming everything. From these old stories comes a reverence for the land. "Dreaming" is the stories from both ancient times and the present time. "Dreaming." Past and present are drawn into a single moment of Now-ness. Timeless-ness. In this forest known as the Dandenongs, nine people from six countries found a place of natural beauty, a place of sacred beauty,
and sat down under this giant eucalyptus tree. Long ago, lightning struck this tree from the very top branches, and bored out the centre of the tree all the way to the ground. Here on this spot of "The Lightning of Blessings," the primordial stroke joining heaven and earth,
Aine from Ireland offered the traditional "Bowl of Tea for Peace into the Four Directions." There was a strong feeling that our tea offering was accepted into the opening of this chimney-like tree and carried skyward high into the heavens.
To this Good Man Michael, we say thank you. He prepared all this for us, and for countless others. May we quickly return to the Heart of Basic Good-ness. The heart that knows reverence for this land and all who walk on it. The heart that is not trapped by territoriality and therefore knows generosity practices like "Tanderrum." A heart that has somehow not forgotten the ancient practice of "Dreaming." And, thank you to Harry from Poland, Joann and William from Melbourne, Sharon from Queensland, Talas from Ukraine.