1.2 Ngunnawal seasons
Did you know that Ngunnawal Country has six seasons?
The calendar that most Australians are familiar with has 12 months and divides the year evenly into four distinct seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring. This calendar was developed overseas and is used in many different countries all over the world. Because of this, the seasons it describes are often not appropriate for the weather and climate patterns of Australia. If you think about it, even the seasons within Australia can vary a lot depending on where you are. For example, in the far north of Australia it is hot all year round, with a wet and a dry period. This is very different to places further south like Canberra.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia’s first scientists, have a much more specific understanding of the seasonal cycles of their CountryFor Aboriginal people, the term Country encompasses all living things and all aspects of the environment, as well as the knowledge, cultural practices and responsibilities connected with this. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, material sustenance, family and identity.. Their deep knowledge of local plants, animals and weather patterns helps them to determine when a season is changing. For example, a seasonal change may be marked by the flowering of a particular plant species, or the migration of a particular type of bird.
Indigenous seasonal calendars bring together traditional ecological knowledge, cultural practices, stories and environmental management techniques to describe the seasons specific to their CountryFor Aboriginal people, the term Country encompasses all living things and all aspects of the environment, as well as the knowledge, cultural practices and responsibilities connected with this. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, material sustenance, family and identity.. As such, Indigenous seasonal calendars are all unique.
There are many examples throughout Australia where language groups have developed seasonal calendars for their CountryFor Aboriginal people, the term Country encompasses all living things and all aspects of the environment, as well as the knowledge, cultural practices and responsibilities connected with this. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, material sustenance, family and identity.. Explore three of them below:
In Ngunnawal CountryFor Aboriginal people, the term Country encompasses all living things and all aspects of the environment, as well as the knowledge, cultural practices and responsibilities connected with this. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, material sustenance, family and identity., there are six seasons. These are explained in the artwork and story provided by Ngunnawal artist Richard Allan below.
Ngunnawal Seasons Artwork
Source: Richard Allan
The main part of this artwork is the outlining of Ngunnawal land, the circle in the middle of the artwork is the symbol which we use to represent communities, I used this symbol for the heart of Ngunnawal.
The different colours I used inside the six parts of Ngunnawal land are the six seasons, they are the seasons that we would use back in Traditional times. The brown to red is the colours of autumn, they make the leaves of the trees change and the grass darkens in this season. The red to yellow is summer, the sunsets of summer with the heat pop the land with these beautiful colours. The white to green is fake summer as the colours are very bland and getting ready to bloom. The pinks to purples are the colours of spring, which is when our medical season is at its strongest as our hardenbergia blooms along with our native flowers and chocolate lilies. The greens, blues to whites is the season of winter as there is still some colour but it’s very mild in the cold. Lastly, we have fake winter where the land is very cold, everything is ready to die and get ready for the new cycle to start small and bloom again.
The yellow dots throughout the map are the colours of the main grass you will find throughout Ngunnawal land which is known as kangaroo grass that we use to grind into our damper. The little blue dots on the mainland of Ngunnawal are the main waterways Ngunnawal people use.
The mountain range shown on the map close to Namadgi mountains is one of the main men’s sites that can only be used for men’s business, therefore I used the Ngunnawal symbol for a male on that mountain. There’s a mountain range closer to the middle of the map this shows the Ngunnawal symbol for women and children, this is the women’s site which is a very important, as it was used for birthing because it’s one of the biggest mountains on Ngunnawal land for the women to be closest to mullyan (wedge tail eagle) for safety and guidance.
There’s a hidden little leaf close to the middle of the map, the colours represent the hardenbergia plant which is one of the Ngunnawal peoples main healing medications. It was made into warm teas and was used to take away most headaches and pressure off the body as it is an anti-inflammatory as well.
The wings behind Ngunnawal land stand for the Ngunnawal totem which is the Wedge-tailed eagle. This is a large, beautiful eagle that is very strong and powerful and usually will provide guidance from the sky. Which leads us into the last part of the painting which is the sky that is the background with the pathways showing us the way of the sky as the mullyan does.