Journal no. 3

6 seasons of the Perth region
according to the Nyoogars (Indigenous people of the South West)

Makkuru (maggoro), the winter period between June and July – cold and wet with westerly gales 
Djilba (jilba), the spring period between August and September – becoming warmer  
Kambarang, October to November – rain decreasing 
Birak (birok), the summer period between December and January – hot and dry  
Burnuru, the autumn period between February and March – hot easterly winds  
Djeran (wanyarang), the period between April and May –becoming cooler  

pdf source: Indigenous History of the Swan and Canning Rivers (page 6) ;
website : River Culture and Heritage - Personal Reflections


the weather is certainly getting cooler... it was 10 degrees early this morning.
of course, once under the sunshine, the skin feels like it's frying under a giant magnifying glass.
now it's 28 degrees.

i do not want "cold and wet" in winter :(


there was an interesting book i saw in Fremantle, called The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia.

"Explodes the myth that pre-settlement Australia was an untamed wilderness revealing the complex, country-wide systems of land management used by Aboriginal people."

Aborigines traditionally managed the land in Australia, but they worked the land in a totally different way from the Europeans, so the colonists thought it was all natural wilderness and used that to claim Australia for themselves.
this is what my lecturer would call "destabilization of knowledge".

and on a related note, the university begins official documents and presentations with an "Acknowledgement of Country", which is to "respectfully acknowledge the Indigenous Elders, custodians, their descendants and kin of this land past and present."

i'm glad learnt a little more about their history today.