WoW Northern Grampians 2016, as recalled by Harvey

Text by Harvey Reese, photos by Mick Liddell. (Photos of Bunjil rock art and sculpture sourced from publicly available images).

We all had a splendid time in the Grampians at Halls Gap/Gariwerd with excellent accommodation and a broad range of walks put together by Mick L. to suit all our members. This was coupled with a program to introduce us to the traditional owners of the area with the help of Sam and Jen G. We were fortunate to receive a welcome to country at the Brambuk Living Cultural Centre and be guided to some of the rock art sites. At the Centre we were treated to a presentation on the Aboriginal Dreamtime Creation Story of Gariwerd and enjoyed a guided walk around the native gardens and wetlands.

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In small numbers we visited the Bunjil Shelter.  A nearby sign states ”Bunjil is a principal legendary hero, the creator who provides for all and remains a protector of the natural world, his people and their beliefs. When Bunjil finished his creation works he transformed into an eagle flying high into the sky where he still lives today.”

This is the only rock art painting of Bunjil and is regarded as a very significant cultural site. Unfortunately it has to be protected by a wire cage. (Surprisingly I could not find any references to Bunjil in any of our family books on Aboriginal art.) There is however the well-known (and loved) 25 -metre eagle sculpture by Bruce Armstrong in Docklands, inspired by Bunjil, regarded as the spirit creator of the Kulin nations, which include the Wurundjeri people.

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Meri and I scoped a Lake Bellfield walk in July but abandoned our version in favour of an alternative as we found most of it had been worked over by heavy machinery. The lake itself is set in very attractive bush. We checked the Silverband Falls walk as a short tranquil walk through tall trees, along an undulating track, to a small waterfall that flows year-round (unlike some of the other falls in the park). This walk attracted a large number of our walkers who certainly enjoyed it.

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Crossing the Mt. Williams Ranges to Borough Huts was the major walk that Meri and I successfully scoped. We started the walk in the village of Pomonal and walked to the sealed eastern entrance of the Long Tunnel (1876-1881), which was hand-dug a kilometre through the Mt. Williams Range to connect the Lake Bellfield catchment to Stawell by gravity flow, about 30 kilometres away. The walk up took us through terraces and across the saddle on the top of the William Range. The views both east and west were spectacular. We descended to the western entry to the tunnel and then on to the Boronia trail following beside Lake Bellfield to the Borough Huts.

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