To continue the sharing and weaving of connections that spiral out from the 2019 gathering of our circle of Indigenous knowledge-holders, Elders, scholars and their collaborators, Dharug community member Jo Anne Rey shares a poem she wrote in 2015.

Mother’s Love

Today is good. You have come.

Here, sit and enjoy my gifts,

Warm sandstone, comforting sun,

Watchful birds, cooling breeze, new growth on the gums.

Can you remember me?

I am Enduring, Timeless.

***

My track is hidden, respecting Mother’s face,

Away from unknowing Ones’ mistakes.

My sentries sing your welcome,

This place I still keep safe.

Still.

Can you protect me?

I am Enduring, Timeless.

***

You share no grief this time,

No tears of recognition,

For lost memories,

Lost Dreaming like the last,

Just the peacefulness of knowing

I welcome you.

Can you feel me?

I am Enduring,

Timeless.

***

Here is Mother’s birthing pond,

Pillowed in sandstone,

Foot pedestals in place,

Room for receiving the new one,

Sheltered by the she-oaks and shaded by the gums.

Can you touch me?

I am Timeless,

Enduring.

***

There,

there is washing-baby place,

Sparkling salt jewels

Encrusting sandstone lace,

After-birthing gifts continuing in the sun

Sending placental pulses

Powering through space

Can you hear me?

I am Timeless,

Enduring.

***

There, See,

See the Old Ones dancing across me,

Cicadas sing, the thermals rise up my face,

Birds wrapped in stillness,

You are here with me,

You are safe.

I am Timeless,

Enduring,

And cradle you in

Mother’s Love.

***

Dr. Jo Anne Rey is a Dharug community member woven across Sydney’s Dharug colonial storying through Ancestors, Presences and Places, particularly across Wallumattagal Country. She cares for Ngurra through thoughtful academic, creative, and poetic writing as well as community involvement.

Early in 2019, Jo completed her doctoral thesis: Country Tracking Voices: Dharug women’s perspectives on presences, places, and practices at Macquarie University. It presents the voices and perspectives of seven Dharug women, yarned from their significant places of connection, about Dharug continuity when Country is a colonized, cosmopolitan city. Later that same year, Jo was invited to develop a first-year undergraduate unit within the Indigenous Studies department based on her thesis, which she has since been delivering.

In 2020, Jo became a Research Fellow with Macquarie University’s Indigenous and Geography Departments, weaving post-doctoral Dharug research across three Dharug sites. Her journey walks with Dharug community, her Ancestors, and weaving across Ngurra.

Yanama budyari gumada: Walking with good spirit.

Further learning

Rey, J. (In Publication, 2020). Changing Places: Weaving City Learnings into Country Futures. In G. Coello & L. Lopez Lopez (Eds.)Taking Place: Indigenous perspectives on future(s) and learning(s).Routledge.

Rey, J. (2019). Dharug Custodial Leadership: Uncovering Country in the City.  WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship, (1), pp.56-66.

Rey, J. and Harrison, N. (2018). Sydney as an Indigenous place: “Goanna walking” brings people together. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. doi: 10.1177/1177180117751930