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🇦🇺 Australia /Environment & Climate

Elder among the last to remember Australia’s forgotten ‘parkland’

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Menang Elder Aunty Carol Petterson recalls a childhood spent walking up to 20 kilometers a day while her family herded sheep through southern Western Australia.
  • She remembers a landscape without fences that provided food, landmarks and knowledge for Aboriginal people.
  • The once-abundant country has since become a productive farming region, while researchers document the scale of its environmental change.

Aunty Carol Petterson can still picture the country her family crossed when she was four: open bushland, rivers and no fences, stretching toward the West Australian coast.

The Menang Elder remembers her family working as shepherds near the Gairdner River, about 200 kilometers south-east of Perth. They drove sheep themselves, without dogs, and walked as much as 20 kilometers a day alongside a horse and cart carrying their gear.

There were no fences around … it was like a parkland.

· Aunty Carol PettersonShe recalls the open landscape her family crossed while herding sheep.

“I had a wonderful childhood,” she said. “We didn’t have motor cars, and I almost feel like I’m from the dinosaur era because we walked.”

The landscape had its own map. Places were known by their Noongar names, including Yarramoup, now Jerramungup. Aunty Carol explained that the name referred to a place of tall yate trees on a hill, a landmark that helped people know where they were going.

I had a wonderful childhood. We didn’t have motor cars, and I almost feel like I’m from the dinosaur era because we walked.

· Aunty Carol PettersonShe describes her childhood and the long distances her family traveled on foot.

She also remembers learning directly from the country. “We knew about the weather, we knew about the animals, we knew where the bush foods were,” she said. Samphire from the creek could be wrapped in paperbark with meat and cooked on coals. Honey provided sweetness, while salt came from the bush.

We knew about the weather, we knew about the animals, we knew where the bush foods were.

· Aunty Carol PettersonShe explains the knowledge Aboriginal people gained from the country around them.

“For Aunty Carol, country provided everything they needed,” the article says. “It’s home,” she said. “When you look at the bush, it’s our kitchen, it’s our dining room, it’s our yarning room, it’s our classroom, it’s our study area, it’s our therapeutic area.”

The country she remembers is now a productive farming region. Gondwana Link chief executive Keith Bradbury has examined early explorer journals, including accounts from the 1840s, to understand how much the landscape and its wildlife have changed.

It’s home. When you look at the bush, it’s our kitchen, it’s our dining room, it’s our yarning room, it’s our classroom, it’s our study area, it’s our therapeutic area.

· Aunty Carol PettersonShe describes the cultural and practical meaning of the bush.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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