Page 240 - Mit dem Wohnwagen durch Australien

We drive to the Gundabooka national park, not to look for traces of Capt. Starlight, but to search for more aboriginal
rock art. The hills, you really cannot call them mountains, are lightly wooded rocky towards the summits. Large
natural rock arenas invite for sitting down around a camp fire and thell tales. Aborigines have done that for tens of
thousands of years. The tribes invited every 3 to 4 years for a big gathering. Fast young men would be sent to
neighbouring tribes carrying a communication staff legitimating them to bring the invitation. These tribes in turn
would then send out other young men with the same message to the next tribes and so on. Thus tribes from great
distances were apprised of the upcoming meeting. They sometimes were three or four months on their journey on
foot to the designated place. On the way they would chase Emu, Kangaroo or other game. The women would collect
berries, roots and grains into their wooden bowls called culemon to their evening camping place. They would sleep
under rock promontories or in little huts made out of tree branches and covered with Mulgabranches. These huts
were very robust and would withstand major storms and rains. On the meeting place each family would build their
own little village, go hunting and gathering and exchange news with the other tribes. Youths would be introduced to
adulthood. This would include making a pledge to care for the land and preserve the resources. They would show
that by making a pencilled copy of their hand on a rock wall. These hands and many other pictures of Emus,
Kangaroos, people dancing, and many other subjects were painted in white, red or yellow ochre and overlay each
other, the latest ones on top. These pictures all tell stories, but only very few are still known.

Marriages were the height of these meetings. Each Aborigine belongs to one of seven totems. His is passed on
from mother to child. Nobody may marry someone with the same Totem or the totem of his father. Even though
tribes may live far apart from each other, this rule is adhered to today.

The traditional owner of the land, the Aborigines, and the National Parks and Wildlife Society care jointly for the
parks and the historical sites.

LIGHTNING RIDGE
Some of the floods in the Northeast of Australia are partially intentional and partially “too bad”. In December and
January there were huge amounts of rainfall over most of Australia. Queensland and New South Wales had promised
let some of the bounty flow downriver to Victoria and South Australia in March for a little consideration. After the 10
year draught they first wanted to fill their own reservoirs and catchment areas before they would let the rest go in a
controlled way. Sorely needed water as we had seen on the Lake Alexandrina in South Australia in order to keep the
mouth of the Murray open to the ocean, an uphill battle despite continual dredging.

Well, this was the plan. In March some huge rainfalls and tropical storms brought record waterlevels to Queensland
and New South Wales. All of a sudden, those two states could not get rid of the water quick enough. Damage
caused by the storms and the relentless flow of the waters from the north have damaged many roads in the
outback. Many gravel Roads are so wet, that they have become impassable. If this coincides with bridges which
have been destroyed, or huge pieces of asphalt and mud lie across the roads meter high, nothing goes any longer.
The Newspapers, Radio and TV are not always very well informed and so it happened, that several towns on our
intended route were purported to be closed off, even though they were perfectly accessible. We have to continuously
call the Road- or Tourism Offices in order to know, whether we could proceed or needed to change our route.
Bourke has complained to the authorities because they were supposed to be unreachable for a while and tourists
stopped to come.

We are aiming for Lightning Ridge for the Easter festivities. Up to the last day we were uncertain whether this would
be possible. Lorne stations, our hosts, have assured us, that we could safely drive to them. They have 5 km of
gravel road, but they have their own grader, so the road is well maintained. We were the first Easter guests and
were able to choose our plot. There is plenty of action planned for Easter in Lightning Ridge.

Goat Races, Horse Races Carnival and Music for one. Lorne Station have also arranged for bands here on Friday
and Sunday evening. They have prepared large amounts of wood for the fire ring. The mosquitoes are still moderate
and we went happily to sleep. The weather bureau talked about some isolated showers or thunderstorm with a
temperature of 29C. But it rained cats and dogs almost all night and day and the temperature fell to 19 C. Deep
puddles formed very quickly and the way to the toilets over the red mud became an ice rink, only now skates were
available. Not so bad, we had planned on an easy day anyway. We wanted to go shopping for victuals, but of
course, the road to the village was also closed. Beat made an inventory of our reserves and found that we could
survive another two days without shopping. Hourly, Choppers cruised above our head to check the situation of the