Wominjeka fellow travellers, tomorrow begins a new month, August and with the ending of one season we begin another. The wombat gives way to the orchid with the passing of Waring we begin the Guling season. Our first people didn’t follow a twelve-month calendar nor did they follow our European adopted system of four seasons. I’m sure those of you out there with an interest in gardening will attest to the fact that your plants don’t always follow the guidelines set down by our “European” founding fathers. My fruit trees began flowering this week, far too early for my liking but perhaps they know something I don’t.
The Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation recognised seven distinct seasons based on ecological changes, weather, and the life cycles of plants and animals rather than fixed calendar months. Perhaps I should listen more to the trees than what date appears on my social device. Most of us have lost the ability to recognise the subtle changes in our natural environment as they occur but our first peoples were much more in tune with every little variation in the natural cycle, they had to be as their very existence depended on it. When to move from one halting site to the next, when food could be expected to be plentiful and when to avoid the coming floods and scorching heat. The elders of every particular clan would determine when and where to move.
The season of Orchids or Guling in the Woi-wurrung language, brought an abundance of orchids flowering and as beautiful as this must have looked it was also a source of food for the Wurundjeri people. The women of the clan would dig up the starchy, potato-like tubers of the orchid plant and these tubers were either eaten raw or roasted over hot coals. Orchids were a valuable source of carbohydrates.
The abundance of food was also a call for gathering together the clans for corrobboree and the business of traditional lore, cultural and spiritual expression. The ochre, derived from several clay and minerals was applied to the dancers and so the changing of the season was marked.
This Guling season we invite you to visit our beautiful gardens here at Allwood and while there, sit and listen to the trees, they know what time it is. Ochre is optional.
Till next week Triganin – see you soon.
Image: Orchid installation artwork by local Hurstbridge artist, Jessie Page (from an exhibition at Allwood House in 2023)