2019 - OZ 16
Murphy’s Haystacks (Part 2) Aborigines
I
could not find anything about the ‘use’ of the Haystacks online.
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| Look Over There |
In
my head I saw some pictures I am going to write down now, none of these
pictures are supported by fact. I am just fantasizing.
“Meet
me at the haystacks”: is what I would have said if I were living as an
Aborigine in years ago, old Australia.
In
a flat, treeless area like the Nullarbor nearby, these Haystacks stand out. OK,
they are not like Uluru, the famous Giant of a Rock in the middle of Australia,
but never-the-less, one can see the Haystacks from a fair distance away. A
slight rise in the landscape makes them even more obvious. Today the area
around the Haystacks is ‘farmland’ but in the times of the Aborigine it was a
natural meeting place.
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| It Was This Big |
While
visiting I looked for traces of ‘habitation’ but there are none. I guess
Aborigines did not leave graffiti or any markings on the stones, none that I
saw. I am sure other people looked for some signs of ‘life’ from years back but
no, those rocks are clean.
We
had wind blowing around us while there and it was a good thing. It cooled off
some of the air that brooded down on us. The wind also made the flies, ever
present in these parts, bearable.
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| Haystacks Are On Murphy's Land |
It
must have seemed strange to see rocks sticking out of the landscape, even for
the old inhabitants of Australia. The rocks have strange forms and are set in
‘groups’, kind of small families of rocks. Some puny trees try to get a toehold
on the scrappy soil and some grow for a few years, but others do not. Survival of the fittest is even seen here,
among the stones, among the trees.
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| Think I'll Have a Nap |
The
wind carved the formations we see today, the weird shapes that are visible to
us. This carving is still going on,
imperceptible, but yes, these rocks are still being sculpted by Mother Nature.
I
can only perceive that this spot must have been a natural meeting ground for
the folks who lived around here. It had to be a natural meeting ground. It also
had to be a place to sleep, find protection from the seemingly ever present
wind. And the shapes of the rocks must have led to stories about their
creation, their mystical meanings.
Yet
when I searched for any information on what those dream stories could have
been, I found nothing on line.
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| From a Distance They Looked Like Haystacks to the Danish Agriculturist |
The
Danish Agriculturist who coined the name ‘haystack’ based all his ‘knowledge’
on his home lands’ way of growing things. He was totally ignorant of a deeper,
different way of living in a land that time forgot.
Eons
from now those haystacks might only be mole hill size, erosion is still going
on. We humans have a limited knowledge of how things work. We are a bit like
this Danish guy, we judge things by what we ‘know’ but there are different
forces that guide the world around us.
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| Strange Shapes |
I
loved the idea that humans were here before me but left no trace that they
‘lived’ here.
I
hope, for the future, others can say that about us, that we just came and
looked and did not leave any ‘graffiti’ behind, did not leave a mark on the
land, did not upset what Mother Nature so carefully and timelessly preserved
for us.
The
Haystacks were occupied by the Aboriginals, I am sure of it. They just had to
know about this spot on earth… yet they left no trace of themselves.
I
think that is wonderful.
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