Journey West

Streaming video - 2019

Growing concern among young Aboriginal community leaders, particularly those in the Borroloola Men's Group, drew them to the idea of re-enacting a walk that hadn't occurred for almost thirty years. The Buwarrala-Journey is a traditional walk for the Garrwa, Yanyuwa, Mara and Gurdanji peoples of the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. Practiced for generations as part of the initiation of young boys, the walk was re-enacted in 1988 and documented in the film, Buwarrala Agarriya - Journey East. Gadrian Jarwijalmar Hoosan was twelve years old then and was one of four boys or Daru – boys who were prepared for their initiation ceremony. As an adult he had become a mentor to younger men, and directed a new film to record the ne...w re-enactment of the walk in late 2017. The walk involved over one hundred community members - children, their families, teachers and volunteers, who covered a distance of seventy kilometres in seven days. During the walk, Elders share their strong feelings of connection to land; they teach hunting techniques and traditional dancing which often involves humour and historical story-telling. However traditional owners worry about the security of their country and water because of the impacts of mining and fracking. Passing through light scrub dotted with anthills, beside billabongs and water lilies, across a vast dry plain blackened by burning, a group of children, youth and Elders embrace their cultural heritage. more