CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP LEFT:The stone country
of Arnhem Land; Escarpments
in northern Kakadu; Yellow
Water Billabong; Cruising at
sunrise; Yellow Water in
wet-season mode.Prior to hitting Kakadu’s walks and waterfalls to find answers
for myself, however, I put a call in to one of the park’s Indigenous
traditional owners. “My name is Bessie Coleman,” she says. “I’m
a bush baby and I speak for three clans in the southern part of
Kakadu. These are the Jawoyn, Bolmo and Matjba.”
Bessie is in her early sixties. She’s one of 13 siblings born at Old
Goodparla Homestead near Kakadu’s Yellow Water Billabong.
When we connect, Bessie has just come inside after being out
with rangers. Given all the rain around, new flora has sprung
forth and the team is busy wrestling with weeds. “We look for
plants that are not native,” she says. “We find gamba grass,
bellyache bush and rubber plant – that last one has thorns
that can cut your feet if you walk on it.”
As well as weeding, during the wet season Bessie fishes and
takes walks around Motor Car Creek, usually with a male relative
to guide her. There’s rock art in the area’s hills – “men’s business,”
she says – and women have to be careful to steer clear. Luckily,
there’s plenty for her to see on ground level. This time of year,
she says, is her favourite time of all.
“When the wet arrives, Kakadu comes alive,” she says. “There
are animals everywhere. Wild berries, plums, bush potatoes and
little fruits come up – red apples, white apples, everything comes
alive. When the storms come, they clean out all the creek and
river systems. Then the fish come up.”
I ask what she’d say to those travellers who only want to visit
during the dry. Bessie answers firmly. “I’d tell ’em they’d be
missing the best part.”101
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