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CHEF FAMIE
INTERVIEWS ABORIGINAL KUKU-YALANJI TRIBESMAN |
CHEF FAMIE
INTERVIEWS Mossman Gorge in Northern Queensland is a remote area of pristine rainforest, part of the Daintree Preserve, which is nearly two hundred thousand acres. It’s one of the few pockets of land where native tribes have been relatively unaffected by the advances of civilization. CF:
I’m interested in so many things involving native culture here in
Australia that I don’t know where to start… How about if I start
at the beginning, your beginning? Where were you born? CJF:
I was born here in Daintree, back in the mountains, in a grass humpie.
As soon as I was born, my body was ‘smoked’. That was the first
of many rituals in my life. When your body is smoked, it means one
of my six grandmothers waved smoking bark over me, that ritual is meant to
keep my soul safe from spirits. CF:
Wow, six grandmothers. I only had two. CJF:
In our culture, your mother’s sisters are also considered to be your
mothers. That way, nobody gets lost, nobody goes astray.
Today, while we walk through the forest, you are my brother. That
means I must look after you and take responsibility for your safety. CF:
Thank you, considering some of the things I get up to. For example,
you’ll keep an eye out and make sure I don’t eat anything that may
make me sick? CJF: Yes, exactly. There are many things in the forest that you shouldn’t eat, many things that you need to know exactly how to prepare. I’ll show you how. |
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CF:
Where did you learn how to find food and medicine in the rainforest? CJF:
From the elders in my community. We have always inhabited this
rainforest, and we collected our foods and medicines here, in the open
forests, and in the mangroves, the creeks by the shoreline. We have
passed down knowledge information about the land, the cycles of nature,
the dreaming stories from father to son, mother to daughter, for 50,000
years. CF:
That’s amazing. My culture, the United States, is only two hundred
years old. CJF:
Yes, but you are part of the whole, what we call the bama, you are
therefore part of a culture that is also 50,000 years old. My people
believe that there is no difference between cultures, tribes, races.
We are all the same. CF:
That’s a very beautiful thought. You mentioned dreaming stories.
What are they? CJF:
This concept of dreamtime, and dreaming stories, is at the very center of
Kuku-Yalanjii belief. We believe in two worlds, one that you see and
feel, but which passes away when you die, so it isn’t real. The
immortal world, of spirits, in which you also live, is real. Humans
have always underestimated their own powers in the universe.
Dreaming stories are stories of this other side of life, a side that has
sky spirits, grey people, totem animals, ground spirits CF: These ideas are very strange to me. Maybe I’ll understand them better after our walk in the rainforest. |
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Chef Famie and C.J. Fischer follow a network
of Aboriginal ‘walking paths’, which linked together all the places of
cultural significance throughout the Mossman Gorge. Along the way,
they visit a traditional ‘dimbul wurun’, or bark hut, similar to the
one in which C.J. was born, and Chef Famie visits a number of sacred sites
and hears more dreamtime legends, but he’s still pretty confused about
the complex belief systems of the Kuku-Yalanji! C.J. is also an
expert on rainforest flora and fauna, and the traditional ways of
preparing food, which is a little closer to what a Chef can understand! CJF:
The rainforest has its natural patterns and cycles that give important
information, telling us when different plants are ready to eat, or when it
is time to catch animals, fish, or turtles… CF:
It’s funny, but your tribe has known this simple rule for thousands of
years. My culture is just beginning to figure out how much better
certain foods are when they are in season. CJF: Well, for us, that’s the only way we could survive, we had to know how to read signs and what they meant. For example, we say, “When the dog foot grows, the snakes and eels are fat.” Also, “When the black bean and the blue ginger are ready, it’s time to catch the scrub turkey.” That’s what our teachers told us, that’s what their ancestors taught them. Without this knowledge, humans couldn’t survive long here. With this knowledge, you’ll never go hungry, you won’t get sick without knowing a cure. That’s why the land is so important to us, and that’s why we don’t believe that human beings can own the land. We have no need for electricity, but the dirt, we need. When Europeans came here, they brought with them ideas that we didn’t understand, but I think now that many people are making the attempt to live together, to respect the ways of each other. That’s my vision, and that’s why I am taking you on this walk through the forest today. What I know belongs to the people, the bama… I have been entrusted with this knowledge from my ancestors, and my vision is to pass it on to the young people, and I am happy to share it with you. |
