By Sally McNiece
 
THE smoke from Aunty Sonia Weston’s welcome fire ascended and swirled around the those converging for Inverloch's recent “Caring for Country” celebration. Despite the blustery wind and the dark clouds that hung above them, around 60 people came together on National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, 4 August 2023. 
 
The event, hosted by the parent advisory group of the Inverloch and District Preschool, bought together many community groups:  the Inverloch Recreation Reserve provided the site for the event and for planting; the South Gippsland Conservation Society (SGCS) chose the plants and prepared the site for planting; Aunty Sonia Weston of Yallock Bulluk welcomed us; and Laura Brearley and Terry Melvin of the For our Future eco arts program captured the moment through still and moving images.  ​

By Sally McNiece
 
THE Cally, about 2006. I’m working as a barmaid. The pub is full of smoke, beer mats need changing and there’s a few precariously perched on their bar stools. A weathered face looks at me conspiratorially, hard rough hands holding the near empty beer. “There’s a few sites, Sall. But farmers don’t want no Aboriginal people on their land. I know there’s a stone circle on a farm in the back hills, but most sites are gone; we’ve moved the rocks to harrow the paddocks.”

This is the story of our district. At high school I was taught this applied to the Bunurong/ Boon Wurrung people too; moved off, destroyed, gone. But while many sites have been destroyed, the Bunurong/ Boon Wurrung are still here and some sites remain and provide a tangible cultural connection to the intangible spiritual and cultural connection to Country.