LOCAL LIFE
Students construct traditional Aboriginal nawi
by Greg Martin
“ I Talk to the Trees ” is a ballad sung by lovers , Julio Valveras and Jennifer Rumso , in in the 1951 smash hit Broadway musical , Paint Your Wagon .
In the song , the pair , ostracized out into the Wild West wilderness , share their longing for companionship and comfort , believing that the trees are the only companions who comprehend what they are saying .
When I was a kid , we used to sing , “ I talk to the trees , that ’ s why they locked me away ”. But I digress .
NSW National Parks Aboriginal Ranger and Cultural Ambassador , Gweagal man , Uncle Dean Kelly , talks to the trees .
His most recent “ chat ” was last April when he went bush , found a suitable Stringybark tree , gave it a hug and asked for approval to remove a section of its thick , fibrous bark .
For eons , it has been a tradition of Indigenous Australian Aborigines to show respect to the trees before making use of what Mother Nature provides .
Our tree whisperer received the Stringybark ’ s permission , so Uncle Dean stripped a large enough section of bark and took it out to the Brewongle Environment Education Centre at Sackville to be made into a traditional pre-British colonisation “ nawi ” – canoe .
Under the expert tutelage of Uncle Dean , Uncle David Paine and R U OK Ambassador , Kevin Heath , nine Year 9-12 students with Aboriginal ancestry from
Colo , Hawkesbury and Richmond high schools , built the nawi over a three-day period last May .
The students were attending one of Brewongle ’ s regular Leadership Camps , and according to the centre ’ s proud principal , Steven Body , it was an experience which will live long in their memories .
“ Under Dean , David and Kevin ’ s guidance , the students made the Nawi exactly the same as did their ancient forebears .”
Except of course for using a couple of modern hand tools !
“ They painstakingly scraped layers of the rough , fibrous surface down to the desired yellow coloured layer ,” Steven explained .
“ The students then wet each end of the of bark , placed the ends over a fire which softened and made them malleable enough to be pulled together and then be firmly attached , using ropes made out of the scraped Stringybark .
“ When the nawi was completed everyone involved was delighted and proud of their achievement .”
So , what do you do when you build a watercraft ? Take it down to a waterway of course , and this particular waterway was the adjacent Hawkesbury River .
Colo High Year 11 student , petite Sumayah Turner , was given the honour of being the first to pilot the nawi .
“ When she slipped away from the bank , she became the first Dharug woman to paddle a Nawi on the Hawkesbury River in over 150 years ,” Steven said .
Nawi – Stringybark Canoe made by Aboriginal students and Elders at Brewongle .
The building of the Nawi was sponsored by Hawkesbury City Council and Hawkesbury Regional Museum , where the Brewongle-built Nawi now resides in pride of place at the entrance to museum .
Viewers to the museum can watch a short video explaining and showing the making of the nawi .
THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 164 // JANUARY 2024 11