Our Country and the Seasons of Walabunnba

"Our names are Lana, Rachel, Pansy, Trisha and Lindy. We are part of the Rankine family. We are happy to share our cultural knowledge about the seasons - the changes that take place and what we look for.

The country (dreaming place) that we belong to is Walabunnba (approximately 300km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia) which is the birth place of the Ngapa (water) - Rain Dreaming. We are the care-takers of the Rain Dreaming which brings us our knowledge about our ceremonies, places, pictures, songs and dance. The Rain Dreaming has been handed down to us from our ancestors - it is our beginning and our understanding about many things.

We have lived in the central desert of Australia all of our lives. We participate in many Aboriginal cultural norms such as women's business ceremony, sorry business (upon the death of a family member), respect our Rain Dreaming and other peoples Dreaming and our relationships to each other (Kinship and Skin names). We speak more than one tribal language and English.

There are two distinctive seasons that we talk about - the hot and the cold weather. Desert life changes from hot weather to cold weather and so too our activities. The main changes we see are the different plants and animals and we feel the hot and cold weather coming and going."

Lana, Rachel, Pansy, Trisha and Lindy, family members of the Walya Altjerre Aboriginal Corporation sharing cultural knowledge.