Cirrus@Austlit

'Gurindji country is located in the southern Victoria River in the Northern Territory of Australia. Gurindji people became well known in the 1960s and 1970s due to their influence on Australian politics and the Indigenous land rights movement. They were instrumental in gaining equal wages for Aboriginal cattle station employees and they were also the first Aboriginal group to recover control of their traditional lands. In Karu, Gurindji women describe their child-rearing practices. Some have a spiritual basis, while others are highly practical in nature, such as the use of bush medicines. Many Gurindji ways of raising children contrast with non-Indigenous practices because they are deeply embedded in an understanding of country and family connections. This book celebrates children growing up Gurindji and honours those Gurindji mothers, grandmothers, assistant teachers and health workers who dedicate their lives to making that possible.  (Publication summary)

'A long time ago we used to work at Parlakuna ,(WL, now Delamere Bore) for Vestey which was a part of the Number 2 Camp area. My husband (Jimmy Wavehill) was working with Sabu. They were mustering cattle this way. They used to come this way a long time ago and us women would come with them. We used to wait for them at camp in the east of the yard while they branded the cattle there. We stayed here then until late afternoon when they would return to us. We would cook some bread and meat for them. This was when Vestey was running the station and he used to send us here. Sabu was working at Number 2 Camp then. Alright, we didn't get any money there, nothing.'  (Introduction)

'I'll tell you a story about what happened at Number 7 Bore on the south side of Wave Hill Station. This is about my mother's mother (Lizzie Brian Nyalpngarri Nawurla) and her husband (Daylight Parunyja Janama). My grandfather was working there as a boundary rider. He used to look after the fences and fix the holes to make sure that the cattle couldn't get through. He would go all the way to Kilkil (Gordy Springs) and then come back. He would keep a check on the fences all the way downstream from Gordy Springs right up to Number 17. Yeah, the fences were my grandfather's additional job when he was looking after cattle at Number 7. Well, he would leave early in the morning and my grandmother used to look after me and my two brothers, Teddy Crow and Steven Long during the day.'   (Introduction)

'Yes, I'm going to tell you about my two pilyingpilying brothers, Jim Ryan and Ted Henry.' (Introduction)

'A lot of children were taken from old Wave Hill Station. They were taken away to Croker Island.' (Introduction)