The Way of the Boorna-Waangki

The 18th century is nearing its end. European settlers have not yet arrived on Australia's western shore. Near the banks of what is now the Peel Inlet, an old Man called Mokam prepares his son Windjan to succeed him as Chief of the Bindjarep and ruler of a territory half the size of Ireland. With the help of the Boorna-Waangki, an inscribed message-stick carried through the bush by Aboriginal runners, Windjan will continue to maintain the Cultural Legacy of his People In 1829, with the...
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The 18th century is nearing its end. European settlers have not yet arrived on Australia's western shore. Near the banks of what is now the Peel Inlet, an old Man called Mokam prepares his son Windjan to succeed him as Chief of the Bindjarep and ruler of a territory half the size of Ireland. With the help of the Boorna-Waangki, an inscribed message-stick carried through the bush by Aboriginal runners, Windjan will continue to maintain the Cultural Legacy of his People In 1829, with the coming of the Europeans, the threads of Nyoongar Tradition are broken. Windjan dies in Mandurah in 1884, leaving his son George Yaburkurt to bear the Boorna-Waangki of his People's Heritage. Yaburkurt dies in 1915. But the messagestick of Traditional Culture does not thereby perish from the earth. Just three years later, a child is born in Mandurah--another of Windjan's descendants, destined to take up the baton of Nyoongar Cultural Awareness and to carry it forward for the benefit of generations yet unborn. The Way of the Boorna-Waangki is a true tale of Cultural Endurance. Through the lived experiences of Elders like Edward Mippy, the story takes its readers northwards; from the Peel Inlet to colonial Perth and from the Swan River country to the settlements of the Victoria Plains--unfolding as it goes a fascinating narrative of continuing Aboriginal Identity.