Healthy Parks Healthy People hectares ofparklandavailable soul. So,withoverfourmillion to V your health,mind,bodyand Visiting aparkcanimprove ictorians, whynotescape to aparktoday!

p a r k n o t e s o For more information call the n beliefs,” Levi Lovett,local custodian, ParksVictoria. spiritual life, essential inteaching our young peopletheimportanceofourlawsand animals, ourreligionand thelawsbywhichwelive.Heis leadingfigure inour both physicallyandspiritually.Bunjilcreatedour land,ourpeople, theplants and “ Shelter sitswithin theGariwerd,acultural landscape that supportsourpeople Dalkaiana Wartaty/ names across thisarea. eastern Australia andis known bydifferent stories ofthe Aboriginal people ofsouth Bunjil appears inmanyofthe creation rumours ofthesignificance ofthissite. in 1991,confirming earlier records and The record of hisconversation came tolight and itslocation hereinthe Black Range. He gave Howitt adescriptionofthepainting man, andwas thefatherof allhispeople. In 1884 north ofhere, andreco Connolly, oftheJardwadjali peoplealittle These words were spoken by John “Bunjildoes no harm; hedoeswell.” Ithink cultural sites insoutheastern Australia. widely regarded asone ofthemost significant only rockartpaintingof Scenic Reserve nearStawellandthisis the Bunjil ShelterislocatedintheBlackRange Visiting thisspecialplace Visitor Guide Black RangeScenicReserve,Stawell ‘Bunjil Shelter’ 13 1963

or visit our website at Connolly addedthat Bunjilwas a Bunjil is a principal legendary hero, legendary isaprincipal Bunjil

the creator who provides forall provides thecreatorwho and remains as aprotector as and remains

Bunjilknown.Itis rded byA.W.Howitt. Parks Information Centre works hetransformed works finished his creation hiscreation finished of the natural world, world, of thenatural www.parkweb.vic.gov.au into an eagle, flying into aneagle, NgaKeenat/Welcome high intothesky,

his people and and his people where he still hestill where their beliefs. theirbeliefs. When Bunjil Bunjil When livestoday .

in January 2006 and continues torecover. painting. The reserve was burntbywildfire boulder. Asteel-mesh fence protects the ‘shelter’ atthebaseofalargegranite painting. Itislocatedina small alcove or metres intotallength,leads viasteps tothe Pomonal Road. Areturntrack, ofabout 200 Access is sign-posted offtheStawell- continued public access. protection ofthissitehave allowed The Traditional Owners responsible for the inform decisions about its future. have been sought toguide, shape and Their aspirations site. tothis have links region and south-west Victoria Traditional Owners fromthe Gariwerd area, Dreaming Theatre, splendid detail atBrambuk’s The BunjilCreationstory ispresentedin responsible and respect thisspecial place. While you are visiting, you are asked tobe

inHallsGap. Gariwerd

Further A rich cultural landscape Renewal and Caring for Country Information: Through their rich culture, Indigenous Today, many of the traditions and places Australians have been intrinsically that are significant to Indigenous people are Brambuk - The connected to this continent – including here. not just historically important but are part of National Park and our dynamic, living contemporary culture. Cultural Centre As you walk towards the painting of Bunjil Open Daily you can look out across the plains and Parks Victoria recognises the Traditional 9.00am to 5.00pm mountain ranges of Gariwerd’s Indigenous Owners of the area, their cultural Free Entry people which includes descendants of the connections to Country, and acknowledges Road, , 3381 and people. these people, their renewal of connections and desire to help manage this land. www.brambuk.com.au Traditionally the lakes, swamps and fertile plains of Gariwerd provided these people Visitor Information with a rich and varied diet of kangaroo, Wildlife and wildflowers Centres emu, fish, reptiles, yabbies, waterbirds, If you are lucky Wedge-tailed Eagles may in the local vicinity; eggs, vegetables and fruit. Groups of 20-50 also be present; a symbol of Bunjil, who Ararat, Halls Gap people would move throughout the area and Stawell. watches from high overhead. seasonally to avoid depleting food stocks.

Black Range Scenic Reserve is one of Caring for the The relatively easy collection of food left many reserves that form a patchwork of environment: plenty of time for recreation, spiritual habitats protected and surviving as islands ceremonies, and education. Young men in the rich cultural and agricultural No camping. and boys were taught skills and the law by Keep dogs on leads. landscape that is the Wimmera. older men; their fathers, uncles and elders.

No off-road Similarly young women and girls were given While many native animals are at driving/riding. knowledge over many years by the elder home here, most are shy or All riders/drivers women of the clan. nocturnal and not easily seen. must be licensed Native birds are more readily The traditional lifestyle came to an abrupt and vehicles seen. Watch for the end with the arrival of European squatters registered and mouse-sized Superb Fairy-wren. in the early 1800s. One of them, C.R. Hall roadworthy The brilliant-blue male is often in of Halls Gap, wrote of the Djab Wurrung in . the company of brown females and young. Please take your the early 1840s that:

rubbish home with Springtime wildflowers and other plants you for recycling or “…their kangaroos and emus were driven disposal. away by the flocks and herds of the more easily recognised include settler’s, (giving some justification for their) greenhood orchids, flame heath and Fires: reprisals against an invading enemy, this succulent purple-flowering You may light a fire stimulating a sort of guerrilla warfare.” pigface or noon-flower. provided that it is not a day of Lifestyles where drastically changed with Total Fire Ban ‘whitefella’ diseases and forced relocation and that: onto well meaning missions. Forbidden to -the fire is contained use their traditional language, religion and in an existing diet, the intricate knowledge of Country, its fireplace provided, language and practices, was fractured and -is never left splintered to form a new era in Australia’s unattended, -is completely out long human history.

before you leave. Noon-flower or pigface- a traditional foodplant The Painting Remember that gas The painting has been protected by a grill barbecues and since the 1960s. The exact ‘white-years Explore Gariwerd’s rich inheritance portable stoves are age’ of the original painting of Bunjil is not One legacy to the world of the rich human prohibited on days of known. Examination of pigment samples in history of Gariwerd is a profusion of rockart Total Fire Ban. the red colouring and the white outlines of sites within and near what is now the – found mainly on Black Range Scenic Bunjil and his two dingos tell us they were Reserve is in the painted using traditional clay ochres. the walls of rock overhangs and shelters North West that overlook these traditional homelands.

Fire Ban District In 1911 parts of the body of Bunjil and the A number of these rockart sites are open to second dingo (dog) were over-painted with the public. For further information about European whitewash, and the tail of the first Bunjil, guided cultural walks, talks and tours dog was marked with red lead paint. Graffiti call into Brambuk the National Park and that appeared in more recent years Cultural Centre in Halls Gap. continues to be removed. The dingos in the painting are Bunjils’ helpers. Reprinted May 2009