"ECHO" and the Rock that Cried

I have a friend nicknamed “ECHO”.1

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying; ‘truth is stranger than fiction’. 2

Fiction is, well, just that, fiction; made up, contrived stories that entertain. Myths and legends are a different kettle of fish, because their basic function is to transmit the values of a culture, and socialize the hearers, rather than to simply entertain.3

I want to tell you about an actual incident involving Echo. One that is stranger than fiction; but will become the stuff of legend for the next generation. So, let me tell it now, while it is still fresh.4

Now, I’m an Australian of European ancestry, a Wadjella, but this story is about an incident among the Indigenous community where Echo lived. So, I’m going to respect my friends there, and change some personal and clan names and locations. I hope that’s OK with you. 5

** 6

The YeringYering clan lives out in the ‘bush’, where wheat is grown, and sheep are sometimes raised. Kangaroos and emus still roam the broad and slightly rolling fields. It used to be all YeringYering land, and they traveled from place to place in it according to the seasons and the food supply. 7

The countryside is dry most of the year, and water is precious. From their long intimate association with the district [which is big enough you could loose Manhattan Island in it] the YeringYering people know where all the water is, during each season of the year.8

And water is central to this story.9

** 10

Picture a reasonably flat rock, about half a mile long, fifteen feet or so high, maybe ten yards across. Just one big rock, thousands of years old. Scattered around the base of this rock, called a monocline, are a few boulders. All year long, out from under a few of these boulders, water trickles out, and seeps into a small pool. 11

This is a special place to the YeringYering. They know that if they use it sparingly, and don’t disturb the environment, there will always be water there to drink. Before rainwater tanks, canned soft drinks, and bottled water, this watering hole and its Water Stones was vital to their existence when they traveled in that part of the district.12

While the YeringYering are no longer spirit worshipers, believing that spirits inhabit every tree, rock and animal, they do continue to respect the land in which they have always lived. They don’t for instance, reveal to us Wadjellas where there is gold and other mineral wealth in their country; because they don’t want the landscape destroyed by mining. And they don’t disturb the Water Stones that sit between the monocline and the waterhole.13

They believe that if you take the stones away from their place, you will take the water with them. Therefore, no quarrying, or building is allowed there.14

**15

Now, imagine large, broad rolling fields and pastures, dry in the late summer heat. The land gently slopes down from the fields to a paved country road. Next is an abandoned railroad bed. Then a river bank. Lastly, a seasonal stream bed. The stream only flows in the wet season. Now it is dry. On the other side of the stream new railroad tracks have been laid.16

There used to be a railroad siding on the road side of the stream. A small settlement of Aussie farmers once lived here. The houses are gone. Even the small clapboard hall that my wife remembers as a child is gone. There is just a sign where the new railroad crosses a tressle and the road, saying simply “Yeringar”.17

On the riverbank, facing the road and a small layby is a large boulder containing an historical plaque that gives some data about the village. It’s a place for tourists to stop on their way from A to B, stretch their legs, take picture and be on their way again.18

**19

It had been a bad couple of months for the YeringYering clan. Both of their elders had died. Indigenous health care is poor, and life expectancy is short. The clan must mourn before new elders could be appointed. My wife and I were staying with clan friends to participate in their grief. It was a rare privalege.20

One day my friend Echo took us on a tour of the clan’s country, and pointed out the history and traditions of the places. At the waterhole we saw the Water Stones, and the pool where snakes live among the reeds. At the Yeringar siding we pulled off onto a dirt track that cuts through the riverbank. 21

Here Peppermint trees give a bit of shade to a small flat area. This was his home as a very young child, and he tells me how he got his nickname of Echo, and how happy he was. And, how the government-of-the-day forcibly removed the clan, and made them live on a few barren acres of scrub outside the nearest town.22

He wasn’t bitter, only sad.23

Then he took me to see the plaque down the road, and told me what had happened.24

The local Shire government had gotten a grant from the state government to put up tourist information signs around the countryside. A ‘beautification’ program they called it; but everyone knew it was a ‘make work’ project to keep the shire workers employed. 25

At Yeringar the Shire decided to mount the plaque on a boulder. The only boulders in the Shire were at the monocline. They chose a Water Stone, because they were the largest, and most attractive stones.26

As the spokesperson for the clan, and a member of the regional Indigenous council, Echo protested to the Shire, asking them not to remove any boulders from their traditional location. The Shire ignored the request, and sent a crew to dig out a boulder and transporting it the Yeringar site. 27

Shire workers then dug out a hole in the top of the riverbank to place the boulder in. A front-end loader lowered it in, and holes were drilled in the stone, and bolts holding the bronze plaque cemented in place.28

The Shire President, former residents, and a government representative held a small ceremony to dedicate the plaque. Some YeringYering people were there, but only to display their concern at the heavy-handedness of the Shire at violating their traditions and common sense.29

As the ceremony began, water started to flow out from under the stone. The YeringYering knew that this was a Water Stone. What else should the Shire have expected but water?30

Enough water flowed to vindicate the clan’s concerns, and give some Wadjellas muddy shoes. Then the water stopped, and hasn’t flowed since.31

**32

Any competant hydrologist can explain what happened and why. But you know, and I know, and the YeringYering clan know, that some rules should not be broken. We can’t go destroying our environment without expecting consequences. 33

And if we do, then sometimes the rocks will cry. 34