As we gathered in the room in Wangaratta, there was an expectant excitement.
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It was a literary lunch and we were here to listen to award-winning Wiradjuri author Anita Heiss.
Ms Heiss’ works include non-fiction, historical fiction and children’s books.
An author whose work provides a forum for First Nations Peoples’ voices to be heard, who tells many stories that challenge us and encourage us to see the world through a different lens.
The title of her latest book – Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray – is an encouragement to embrace something that is unfamiliar.
Starting with the title, Ms Heiss encouraged us all to be brave, to move into a different space.
To try saying the words out loud, to have our tongues, so used to making the sounds of English, explore new combinations of vowels and consonants.
To feel a level of uncomfortableness as we struggled to get it right.
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray. Wiradjuri words meaning ‘River of Dreams’ — the title in English on the back cover.
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray: a story of colonisation woven through the tale of Australia’s most deadly flood.
A story of an ancient land whose river systems were very different to those of the colonisers.
Of the Wiradjuri peoples whose intimate knowledge and understanding of country was ignored by those who “knew better”.
Gundagai, built on an island on the river flats between Morley’s Creek and the Murrumbidgee River, was the Murrumbidgee crossing point on the route from Port Phillip to Sydney.
It was later described as a “death trap”.
Gazetted as a town in 1838, the warnings of the local Wiradjuri people — that the area was prone to flooding — were brushed aside.
While previous floods had caused damage and rising concern among Gundagai residents, it was not until the night of June 24, 1852, after weeks of heavy rain, that the mighty Murrumbidgee River burst its banks, its water rising to catastrophic levels.
People struggled into attics and onto rooftops, but even this was no guarantee of safety as buildings were swept away beneath them.
The raging torrent engulfed the entire town — whole families perished, and many people clung desperately to trees for two days before exhaustion overcame them and they slipped into the hungry floodwaters.
It is estimated that between 80 to 100 people died in the disaster — more than one third of the total Gundagai population of 250. Only three buildings were left intact.
But it is also recognised that the death toll would have been much higher if not for the courageous efforts of four local Wiradjuri men — Yarri (Yarrie or Yarra), Jackey (Jacky or Jacky Jacky) and two others whose names are not even known.
Men whose land had been forcibly taken, whose way of life, knowledge and culture were considered primitive and whose families were the source of unpaid labour in settler households.
Using traditional bark canoes on the treacherous waters over three days and nights, records show that Yarri and Jackey rescued 69 people from trees and tops of buildings.
They did not hesitate to put themselves at risk to help those who had taken so much from their people.
Twenty-three years later, Yarri and Jackey were acknowledged for their heroism.
They were given an engraved breastplate each and a pension.
In talking about the story of the Gundagai flood, Ms Heiss explained that she wanted to encourage a conversation about the way people are honoured around Australia — for people to think about the many statues that dot our towns and cities.
She asked us “What about the blackfellas who helped the explorers — where is their recognition?”
But there were other themes woven through the book — grief, friendship and equality.
Played out in the relationship between Wiradjuri woman, Wagadhaany and a settler Louise, Ms Heiss encouraged us to explore what an equal relationship would look like, to consider how we ensure it is not just our own voice we can hear, that we are not just doing things on our own terms.
To listen to understand.
Ms Heiss put out a challenge to all of us in the room: “You have the power to elevate First Nations Peoples’ voices. This is the best thing you can do.”
On June 10, 2017, a statue commemorating the bravery of Yarri, Jackey and the other men was unveiled in the main street of Gundagai.
Finally, on August 19, 2018, James (Yarri) McDonnell and John (Jackey) Morley were posthumously awarded the Bravery Medal in the Australian Bravery Decorations.
Ms Heiss’ observation, that everywhere you walk in Australia has a First Nations Peoples’ history, is the challenge for all of us — a challenge reflected in the 2022 National Reconciliation Week theme: “Be Brave. Make Change”.
Can we listen to hear this history, be brave enough to acknowledge the impacts of colonisation that are part of the story of this country and make change for the benefit of all Australians?
Ms Heiss’ book Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is published by Simon and Schuster.
To find out more about National Reconciliation Week visit https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/
To join the Shepparton Region Reconciliation Group visit https://www.facebook.com/RespectSRRG