Deaths of divers in Australian waters - November 2016

It has suddenly occurred to me that the unprecedented number of diving deaths which have occurred in Australian waters in the past 3 days, should not to be merely brushed off as being a result of having 'underlying medical conditions'. Two more have been reported today...at Garden Island (Perth) and in Tasmania. That explanation would be too simple. It would be too one-eyed if any intelligent person on earth accepted this.

We know that various highly toxic, venomous stingers (such as box jellyfish and blue-bottles) proliferate between October and May. However, the most glaring thing that is staring at us... right before our noses is ...the sea floors are moving. We have had massive regional earthquakes. The sea floors have risen. Volcanic activity is happening-at this very moment. This is not a time to be in the sea.  Ask anyone with Maori ancestors. Just remember this...in the past, storms have carried clouds of butterflies between continents. 

Halloween ...it seems like a thousand years ago.

 

photographs by dheborah

I made some tiny terracotta pumpkins and  placed them on some linen napkins; found some delicate twigs; placed an antique candlestick on a large stainless steel tray; filled some martini glasses with eyeballs (the kind that stick to your forehead), and added three healthy sized plastic tarantulas...this made a tiny, but inviting, display on my porch for the trick-or-treaters that were brave enough to come to my door for a little bag of eyeballs, spider webs and plastic flies on Halloween. The pumpkins took about 24 hours to dry. I used 'monte mate'  air hardening modelling clay, which I picked up from Red Dot for less than five dollars, for the little pumpkins. I happened to have a bag of stick-on polystyrene eyeballs. An hour after I placed the tray outside, I caught a crow picking up the tiniest pumpkin, trying to escape with it in its beak. He put it down but a tiny detail got broken. The crow later left me a dirty old piece of bone (3 ribs from someone's spare rib dinner) jammed in my outdoor bench. I took that as an apology.

Western Australia: Aboriginal Cave paintings.

photograph taken by dheborah.

Aboriginal art on the rock of the cave roof at Mulcha's cave. A few minutes drive from Wave Rock, on a side road leading off a well-maintained dirt road, is Mulcha's cave. The turn-off is well marked  and the cave is only a short walk from the parking area. This is a significant place and contains a solid, traditional story that has been passed down by the ancestors. To get into the small cave, you do have to bend over and almost crawl in. Once inside, the rock will speak to you.

Western Australia: The Traditional land-owners 'Sharing the stories'.

photograph taken at the Beelier Wetlands in 2015 by dheborah.

Kwinana residents wait patiently to listen to listen to stories told by one of the Aboriginal elders. The Aboriginal people shared these tales on a beautiful summer afternoon, at their fire-pit. They also shared their food and invited us to take part in the smoking ceremony. The sensational stewed kangaroo and  vegetables will go down in history. The local Noongars have invited the local Kwinana people each year, to share this place. Unbelievably, the government has approved and  is about to rip through the wetlands with a highway for trucks to Fremantle harbour.

Western Australia : To Carry fire (traditional Aboriginal knowledge)

photograph taken in the Beelier Wetlands by dheborah July 2015

This is a photograph of a dried Banksia cone which is being used to carry fire. This large cone will smoulder for hours. Fire is then used for cooking, warmth, the vital Fire Ceremonies, and hunting. When small areas of land are carefully burned in the traditional manner, lizard eggs are able to be located for eating.  The Banksia has a bottle-brush like flower which is a favourite of the Black cockatoos and the Twenty-eight parrots. Many of the smaller birds and large butterflies also feast from it (and, of course, the bees). Banksia trees also produce large, soft edible seeds that the birds split open and eat. The fire-sticks were kept alive and one person was assigned the privilege of carrying it. It used to be kept inside ( we are familiar with the handmade shelter or "Humpy" ) or alongside,  in a container or basket, often with cool, edible paperbark leaves. The fire stick was safest when pushed into the sand or propped up in soil amongst river rocks. It is a very stupid person that tries to blow on the fire-stick to find out it's power.