General News
17 February, 2023
We're back to the future
Climate Eyes is a book which captures the grassroots stories of survival and adaptation through the eyes of Wimmera Mallee residents who lived through the devastating Millennium drought of 1999 to 2009. The Dimboola Banner this week publishes the...
Climate Eyes is a book which captures the grassroots stories of survival and adaptation through the eyes of Wimmera Mallee residents who lived through the devastating Millennium drought of 1999 to 2009.
The Dimboola Banner this week publishes the third in our series of excerpts, featuring the story of Dimboola-bred elder Ron Marks.
Enjoy the read...
'People are understanding what we’ve known for centuries
Wotjobaluk elder Ron Marks is optimistic about his country’s future.
“All our people knew that Barengi (the Wimmera River) would dry up to a series of waterholes in the dry times, and that’s even before we started seeing these hotter and drier conditions,” Mr Marks said.
“When you’re living here you need to understand there are going to be times that we have a drought and to be able to manage the water resources accordingly.
“It is all very nice for people to have acres of lush green lawn at their place, but is that the best use of water when it's getting up to the mid-40s?
“The old folks knew a lot about water and how precious it was, and they looked to make the most of every drop.
"If the decision-makers keep that piece of advice in mind I think we’re in pretty good shape.
"The Wimmera-Mallee pipeline has meant good savings of water, but we can’t pretend we’re living in a wet environment.
“We want a fair share for the environment, recreation and for agriculture, but you can’t just keep on trying to increase the size of the bucket. Keep allocations to sustainable levels, that is the key.
“Over a long period of time we’ve observed the wet and the dry spells.
"There may be times when we’ve got a bit more water and we can afford to allocate more to recreation, but we’ve got to realise that won’t necessarily be the case every year."
Mr Marks has vivid memories of school summer holidays at Dimboola in the 1950s and 60s, learning the best fishing spots and other knowledge, such as where to best collect bardi grubs for bait from his elders.
“We were able to collect buckets, which we’d take down to the pubs and the fishermen would buy them off us which we thought was fantastic.”
There were also common sense lessons too.
“We were taught to keep out of the heat of the sun in the middle of the day and to wear shoes, which weren’t always that common for us in those days, if we were walking on the footpath or asphalt… it was that understanding of the surroundings that helped my people survive in the Wimmera climate.
“We’ve then seen the settlers trying to fight the conditions, trying to work out in the hot summer sun at three o’clock in the afternoon or playing cricket when it’s 40 degrees in the shade, you just have to understand and adapt a bit better.
“I’m seeing it more and more now, people get up and do their chores in the morning, take themselves out of the sun during the heat of the day and then get back outside when it cools down in the evening.
"People are understanding what we’ve known for centuries. There is no point trying to take the heat head on, you have to work around it at times in the summer.”
Mr Marks would love to see more indigenous knowledge incorporated in activities such as farming.
“There are a lot of areas of land and resources management where people could learn a lot from traditional knowledge.
"Not only is it good for the environment, but a healthier environment is good for the farmers’ businesses as well.”
He said he would love to see further investigation of the possibilities of production of indigenous crops in conjunction with the Wimmera grain staples.
“I’m not talking about replacing growing wheat, but there are trials growing species like kangaroo grass, which is really nutritious and obviously a tough native plant, and harvesting that.
"It might not be something you plant all over the farm but you might have a paddock where the conventional crops struggle due to poor soil or a lack of nutrients, and I think we might see those native crops really thriving in areas like that.”
There are also opportunities to grow bush medicine plants.
“There are still a lot of plants we know are beneficial for a lot of ailments, and you know these plants are going to cope with the climate, which is not something you can say about a lot of the introduced crops grown here.”
Mr Marks said the Wimmera-Mallee had a lot of advantages over other regions.
“You look up and down Barengi and there is very little pollution, a lot of it is in pretty good condition, considering the droughts, that’s different to other waterways which have become polluted or degraded.
“Hopefully we can take up more of the knowledge of us local indigenous people and by looking after our water keep the Wimmera as a fantastic spot to live for generations to come.”
* Tell us your story of perseverance in the face of extreme conditions - and why you refused to give up. Writers of the best three stories - up to 500 words - will receive a copy of the book Climate Eyes. Send your stories - with a picture of yourself and/or your family - to: editor@wimmeramalleenews.com.au with "climate eyes" in the subject line. Entries close Wednesday February 22.