audio
duration 15 minutes

Knowledge holders
Brooke Wandin – Wurundjeri
Kerry Clarke – Jadawadjali Bindjali
Gunditj-mera Wemba Wemba Wergaia
Keicha Day – Gunditjmara Yorta Yorta
Leah Hunt – Jadawadjali Bindjali
Gunditj-mera Wemba Wemba Wergaia

Enter this space and listen deeply to the words of Aboriginal women who wish to share with you their culture, stories and knowledge. With you while you listen are baby river red gums. These are culturally significant trees, acting as signposts on Country, often carved and marked to communicate vital information.

They provide our diverse communities with medicine, tools, weapons and technologies. We in turn nurture them with our fire practice and take only what is renewable.

These trees, young like you, will one day be very old. What message will you give these living beings that one day may shelter your descendants? What hope will they carry into the future? After listening, please write a message to go into the box provided, to later be burnt and combined with the soil when the trees are planted. Just as Aboriginal fire practice provides nutrients for plants, your message will feed the tree and bolster it on its long journey, potentially across 1,000 years.