PLEASE HELP US PROTECT ABORIGINAL WOMEN FERTILITY SITE FROM DESTRUCTION BY ROCLA SANDMINING COMPANY | Page 6

Next stop in the Songline was at the junction of the 3 Creeks.
(Marked A, B and C on the map of the site). This was where the
women sat and ground and sharpened their tools on the rock beside
the creeks.
Here, they sung the story of the Women's
Fertility
Rites
Songline,
while
the
painters of the story painted up the
Initiate to show the story being told.
When the painting of the initiate was
finished, she was then taken by the older
women to the special rock engraving of
‘The Woman of High Degree’.
She stands with her arms high and is cut with special incisions to
show the many times she was initiated – and the special status that
she holds. She is likened to the Male Kadartchitta Man, or Clever
Fella, who also is of High degree and is held in great respect by
all Tribes.
The Woman of High Degree is shown with very full breasts, which
denotes that the woman is the main nurturer of the Tribe. She will
feed any who needs her nourishment for as long as it is needed.
This, again, is a practice of Survival. The Woman of High Degree’s
feet are turned outward, which represents that she is the teacher
and the keeper of this special Women's Fertility Rites story.
She is saying “Stop, Look, and Listen well! And remember what you
are being taught here today by your Elders”. This is what is
expected of you as you go through your initiation to become a
Woman.
Beside the figure of the Woman of High Degree is another symbolic
creature, the Koala. Very special to our Women, we are not allowed
to eat the Koala. She is the symbol of great motherhood and how a
mother should care for her children.
The baby koala hangs from her
mother until it is far too heavy
to do so any longer. The koala
never lets that baby out of her
sight. And so it is expected of
the new Aboriginal mother to care
like this for her offspring.