“Nowhere else have I ever felt the subtle magnetism of an ancient
land that holds dreams far, far older than history”
Elyne Mitchell
The seasons have changed whilst up here.
And nearly at the Autumn equinox the leaves are falling and the skies are
shifting. The smell of the forest is sweet and fresh and clean. We had some strong rains and the creeks are
running high and the lake is full. It is certainly a change after so much heat.
The small birds are hopping in glee, and the spiders are finding dry places to
be (preferably outside!).
It is now towards the end of the second
week and creative ideas are being dreamed, formed and explored. One of my
favourite poets of my childhood was Judith Wright. I have been hearing her
words whilst up here and reading more of her poetry that seems to augment the
area. Her crystal clear Australian voice is one of the mountains.
“Voice from the
hills and the river drunken with rain,
for
your lament the long night was too brief."
Memories of time and space flood in. It was
when I was ten years old that I learnt of the snowy hydro scheme. A vivid
memory of Geography class at primary school. It didn’t mention anything about
the destruction of the landscape, only the success in harnessing energy. Together
with these old memories, it has been been melding with my current landscape: The
sparkly new with the ancient, and the not so new with the recent past. The
memory too of driving solo, some fifteen years ago, from Mitta-Mitta to Omeo
has surfaced brightly: in hindsight an initiation of sorts through these
mountains.
The Aboriginals named almost every Rocky
Peak ‘Bogong’. It is wonderful to know that this area was an important and
sacred area for ritual and initiation,
I learnt of the indigenous baking Bogong
Moths into cake, rich in fat and protein after they had pounded the moth’s
bodies into a paste. I have to say that I prefer the cakes I have made whist
here: dates, banana and apple. Perhaps that is for a trial another time when
the Moths are here in the area.
Here in the mountains, there is a different
quality of space and time. Of breath and voice. Moments transpose time and there
is such beauty in the ephemerality of the landscape. I have enjoyed the process
of recording my voice with the forest sounds.
With thanks and gratitude to the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, for the privilege of having a two week artist in residence as part of the upcoming festival in April 2017, Phantasmagoria.
