AUSTRALIA DAY, MONSOONS AND OYSTERS
Hello from a very wet Croker Island.
We have had some consistent monsoon rains now for a couple of weeks. The last two wets seasons have been very poor in the Top End however so far this season is above average for rainfall.
Below is our house taken from the drone showing the short distance to the beach. Nancy is still in Queensland.
The incoming tide brings the fish and stingrays in very close to the beach. This young man is hoping to spear a meal.
26 January - Australia Day or Invasion Day?
There has been quite a bit of debate on this topic over recent days.
Recently, I put this question to the Garngi Rangers. It produced a very interesting and wide ranging discussion. We didn't just talk of the events of 26 January 1788, but also the history that both preceded and proceeded that day. Many of the rangers knew little or nothing of the sad and brutal history that lead to the first fleet's arrival in Botany Bay - convicts transported for often petty crimes, the forced land clearances in Scotland and the starvation and potato famines in Ireland.
We also talked of the stories the rangers had heard from their families of the numerous attempts by the English to establish a settlement just to the west of Croker Island - the closest of those was in Raffles Bay just a few kilometres from Croker Island. These encounters were often brutal with much blood split.
In 1941, the then Government with the Methodist Overseas Mission establish a mission station at Croker Island as a part of the policy of that day that later came to be know as 'the Stolen Generation'. Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families in central and northern Australia and sent to Croker Island and other places. Sadly, in preparation for this the government forcibly removed the traditional owners off Croker Island. We compared this to the land clearances of the 1700 and 1800s in Scotland. I shared how my distant cousins in Scotland felt that during the clearances the cattle and sheep were treated better than the people.
One ranger's grandfather was removed from his mother in central Australia as a young boy and transported to Croker Island. We talked of the pain that this policy caused and still causes.
Another ranger talked of being taken by her family to a site within current day Kakadu National Park and being shown a lot of human bones including skulls - many with bullet holes in them. Her family told her that many of the these deceased people were her ancestors, killed in a massacre. The frontier was often a brutal place.
We talked about Captian Cook's claiming of this land for the English king on the basis of 'terra nullius' - an empty land or no one's land.
At the end of our discussion the consensus amongst the ranger group was that while living in Australia we have much to celebrate, the 26 January was linked to many sad events and another date for Australia Day would be a good idea.
This week we have some scientists coming from Darwin to take samples of black lipped oysters. Nancy will be very disappointed she is not here as for her eating fresh oysters straight off the rocks is as close to heaven as one can be in this life.
The scientists are looking at the heavy metal levels which do occur naturally in the environment in varying levels. Given we are a long way from man made pollution there is good chance heavy metals won't be an issue. If the levels are within the quality control standards this could be good clan based business. There has been a pilot project happening at Goulburn Island and they expect to move into a production stage soon.
Bless ya all. Stay safe.
Bryan and PK
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