Totems of the Sydney area: Walkabout
During those years of Yennurada Walkabout i have learned and discovered the wealth of Ourstory. To listen to the sound of the wind and be able to smell the rain a long way away 'Warawarra' which can also be translated to mean 'be gone'.
I have walked this country lost and crying, I have been raised by the most incredible race of human being, the original people of this land. Today Yaguna Darraburra i am a man crying for the joy of pure faith.
Mulla tungi
I trusted in the wind and have witnessed the four corners of our island continent, i have asked the Men and Women of numerous clans if what i do can be achieved, all in their wisdom have told me that only I will know if i don't try. I am educated in the lands of the Murray and returned as a boy to begin my Soaking.
I have attended the Eora College 1984 in Redfern and later in Chippendale, eventually attaining a Diploma in Western Music and Diploma in Film and Television. I like to call the Eora College?
'Original House of Excellence in Theater and the Arts'
The Iyura used the sights and names of the land, adding into the rich tongue the true names of environment, including the names to be included and interpreted along the marriage lines of moiety and totemic relationships, which are linked to every source of life. These relationships are shared between all clans in the egalitarian society which they had developed over thousands of years and countless generations of starlight (Birrung gili). All original people are born with their clan totem that are respected by the members of all clans in the society.
Furthermore people are assigned their own personal totemic symbolism and a totem related to the moiety of other clans, enabling all people to be related to each other through marriage lines. All men and women received numerous totems related to their country (Nura) and consisting of the elements of earth, wind, fire and water.
For example, the totem of the Darug Boorooberongal male is the Wirambi the flying fox. The totem belonging to the Darugule Boorooberongal woman is the Wuban the possum or it may carry the name of Burumin which is closely associated with the word for younger sister (Durumin) during Garriberri (Corrooberee). The true and sacred name of the Wirambi is kept within the song line of the male Yellamundie yabunda (storyteller or singer) commonly referred to as 'Ourstorians' of the clans. The term related to women is Yellumundi (Yallomundie or yellowmundiee), or several other interpretations are written in texts.
Totems are too numerous to transcribe to text. For everything that lives, breaths, feels or just stands still, are related through these relationships.
Darug totems of western Sydney include the Goanna, Lizards' Cockatoo's black and white crested. The Mighty Eagle which soars in its mythical shadow over the entire Sydney Basin. Grasshoppers, Butterflies, Spiders and their Web, Bees, Honey Combs and even ants were considered moieties.
Lesson to be heard.
Many of the living decendants of Bannang (bloodlines) will be asked to add further to the stories of their own paticular totems as knowledge and permission is sought from the cultural custodians.