Life lessons from the bush
From the Autumn/Winter 2009 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
Forests NSWcultural heritage officer Kevin Smith tells the students how Aborigines usedthe local forests. Photo by Howard Spencer
Outward Bound supervisor Radu Cojocaru loves to hear just one phrase atthe end of a course: ‘I didn’t know I could do that’.
“People who do these courses learn about themselves and acquire lifeskills that they will keep with them forever,” Radu said.
This is said about nine Kempsey High School students, boys and asolitary girl, huddled in the rain on a log in Kiwarrak State Forest.
It is the middle of winter, late July, and it is about 12 degrees. Thereis snow further west on the tablelands.
The students are uncharacteristically quiet as they listen to ForestsNSW Aboriginal cultural heritage officer Kevin Smith.
Kevin is telling them about how Aboriginal people used these forests asboth home and larder before white settlement.
They hear about the different tribes that make up the various Aboriginalnations that occupied the land, and what he can tell them about how they lived.
Kevin also makes it clear that there are certain things he can’tdiscuss.
“Women’s business is their business, so there is nothing I can tell youabout that,” he says.
But he can tell them what he does for Forests NSW, which is to lookafter any special protected areas of Aboriginal significance.
These are noted on a register and on harvest plans, and if the localland council elders think it necessary, they are protected by exclusion zonesfrom forest activity such as road making or harvesting.
If artefacts are found in the forest, they are discussed with the landcouncil and usually left intact where they are found.
“We come across a lot of rocks that have been used for spear tips orother tools,” Kevin says.
“They tend to be found when we are making roads.
“Most Forests NSW roads are made on ridge tops so they do not interferewith waterways, and the slope is generally better.
“And that is where Aboriginal people used to walk as it was easier goingfor them, so that is where we find the most evidence of where they have been.
“Once we have plotted all these findings on a map we can learn the pathsused to take for trade and for gathering food, so we might be able to piecetogether what they ate from season to season in various parts of the bush.”
While the students were all ears listening to Kevin, it was a differentmatter when they took to the water’s edge to learn some raft building skills.
They were given an hour and a half to construct the vessel, paddle itacross the creek and back, and dismantle it and carry the materials back to thestaging area.
The two teams battled it out seemingly regardless of the cold andeventually two rickety craft took to the water.
But at the end of it they could all say “I didn’t know I could build araft.”
Music to Radu’s ears.
For more information on Outward Bound programs seewww.outwardbound.org.au
Howard Spencer - Public Affairs & Media
