By Laura Brearley

ONE OF the many things that COVID has revealed to me, is that if you love a place, it will love you back. It’s an extension of Arthur Rubinstein’s idea that "if you love life, life will love you back". This year, Terry and I have been walking close to home more than ever before. We have discovered many new places, sometimes returning at different times of the day, as the light and the length of the shadows change.
 
During the COVID era, my love of this region has grown ever deeper. I love the gentle lapping of water along the Western Port Bay coastline and I love the surf crashing on to rocks at Kilcunda. I love the floating morning mists at the mouth of the Bass River and in the hills behind Grantville. I love the peace of the Rhyll wetlands and the pink stillness of Swan Lake at sunset. 

We sent the draft of the film to Aunty Fay and she has affirmed the accuracy of the word ‘Kugerungmome’ for Powlett River and has given permission for the language words to be used in the film.  
 
The local word ‘Kugerungmome’ for Powlett River can found in the Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames of Melbourne and Central Victoria compiled by Ian D Clark & Toby Heyson 2002, and published by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages. It’s also in the Wikipedia entry for Powlett River where the source of the language name is referenced as: "Powlett River: 23828: Traditional Name: Kugerungmome". Vicnames. Government of Victoria. 2 May 1966. 
 
I wanted to learn more about how the Powlett River got its name. Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for Frederick Powlett: “‘The Powlett River was named in 1841 in his honour after an arrest at this place of two (Aboriginal) men, Tunnerminnerwait (known as Jack) and Maulboyheenner (known as Bob, or sometimes called Timmy or Jimmy), who became the first people executed in the Port Phillip District.” 
 
Frederick Powlett was the Commissioner of the District of Western Port at the time.
The stories of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner have been a significant focus of the Bass Coast/South Gippsland Reconciliation Group over recent years but the information that Frederick Powlett was involved in their arrest and that a river in our region had been named “in his honour” was new to me. It led me to go deeper in my research. It’s a distressing read, so please take care if you choose to have a look, but the details of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner’s capture are in this document http://www.anarchistmedia.org/pdf/The-Tunner-Maulboy-Booklet.pdf  p.18-20.
 
Here we are in Reconciliation Week and it’s a good time to be thinking about the restorative practice of returning places to their original names as part of a longer, broader healing process.
 
It’s a wonderful thing to see the way that the word Millowl is being increasingly used for Phillip Island. I applaud the work of Sonia Weston, Cr. Geoff Ellis, Dr Marg Lynn and many others who recognise the significance of a name and who worked so hard and for so long to get the McMillan name dropped from our electorate. 
 
There are 3400 names of places in Clark and Heyson’s Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames. They retrieved the place names from 19th century journals, combined with modern linguistic analysis. Their research reveals that Aboriginal placenames refer to specific ancestral stories and that the cultural heritage of a place resides in its name. Place names, they believe, are an important component of Aboriginal cultural heritage “presenting and describing relationships with land and Country”.
 
Here are some of their entries for place names in the Bass Coast region.
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Anderson Inlet
Bubinorer  Boonwurrung
Toluncan   Boonwurrung
 
Cape Woolamai
Wollamai   Word for snapper in Dharuk language of the Eora people, Sydney. Bass, who had learnt some of the language from the Eora leader, Bennelong, thought the headland resembled the head of that fish.
Source: R. M. W. Dixon 1990, Australian Aboriginal words in English, Oxford University Press. 
 
French Island           
Bawal  Boonwurrung
Jouap  Boonwurrung
 
Koo-wee-rup
Kuwirap  Boonwurrung
Wirap - blackfish Boonwurrung
 
Place names give voice to Country. Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir tells us that the Country comes alive when the language is spoken and sung again. There are respectful protocols to follow and Aunty Fay, a senior language specialist at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, is generous with teaching these. In her words: “Language is central to understanding and celebrating culture. We love to hear Aboriginal languages being spoken and sung once again. So does the Country.”
 
And so … here are links to Terry’s new film which features Aunty Fay’s words and the beauty and power of Kugerungmome:
https://vimeo.com/422690365
https://youtu.be/qBU1KCb4q3g

 
National Reconciliation Week runs from May 27 to June 3.

When Laura Brearley went for a walk to see the shearwaters return at dusk, she had no idea it would change her life and lead to Phillip Island’s first Shearwater Festival.

By Laura Brearley

IT WAS a cold night three years ago at Cape Woolamai that I first came across the shearwaters. I had heard that the shearwaters were back from Alaska and that they came in to shore at dusk. The locals had many stories about the birds and for the most part, it seemed, held a deep affection for them. 

I was working as an associate professor in the faculty of education at Monash Gippsland, where my husband also worked.  We led absurdly busy lives. We were living on a bush property in the Strzelecki Ranges near the university. I was still recovering from the intensity of the Black Saturday bushfires and had a deep longing, a need actually, to be near the ocean. ​