Isla Hiffrichter rode her scooter on the new path. Photos: Geoff Vivian.
Cyclists and walkers were invited to celebrate the new Baarndi Trail joining Castletown Quays with Bandy Creek on Monday.
Traditional owner Jenelle Reynolds gave a welcome to country, explaining that Baarndi was the Wudjari word for black bream, which was the dreaming for Bandy Creek.
Shire president Ron Chambers and Ms Reynolds then officially opened the event.
After the speeches adults and children were encouraged to ride the new bitumen pathway from the Deep Sea Angling Club to Castletown Quays and return for a free ice cream and door prizes.
At the opening of the new Baarndi Trail on Monday, Traditional owner Jennelle Reynolds described the new pathway as a “path to reconciliation” in her Welcome to Country speech which we reproduce in full here.
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JENNELLE REYNOLDS
For those who don’t know me, my name is Janelle Reynolds and am a custodian of this area. I’d like to welcome you all here in this hot afternoon. The main thing I want to do here is to invite you to feel. To feel more connected to this place, not only physically through our great new pathway, but also through the deep history through the lands of Wudjari people and their culture.
Our places have multi-cultures. We know that this is true, but yet our first occupants’ cultures often get unrecognized. A place’s culture and history is important. Actions from people who came before us have shaped it with their lives and how they’ve lived. Places of course change and evolve. But keeping hold of the heritage is important, whether it’s a distant or more recent past. Bandy Creek is impacted on layers of people: Wudjari and Wetjala. And growing up, I’ve been taught to keep hold of this culture and the places of significance. This is what my elders have taught to me. Culture gives the place we live in meaning. And in turn, it makes us more meaningful in how we live.
The first thing that’s important to know about this place is its name. It has been mispronounced over the years: Baarndi. Baarndi is the black bream that frequents this water. Our ancestors knew this as a good place to get fish, just as we do today with fresh water and bush foods. What happened here is camping, dancing, connection, hunting, connecting with families, and living life to its fullest. We also have a deeper story to this place. A creation story, the story of the Noorn or the snake that moved over this country and created its land forms.
This place has some sad stories as well. Important to be recognised. Until the late 70s, 1960s, Aboriginal people were unable to be able to be in town after 6pm. Our elders today grew up here. They remember this segregation including my father. He often talks about the Tanker Jetty being a black line where our families could not cross.
Because of this, original people were forced to camp in the bush reserve outside the town. One of those camps being just over there, over those dunes. Our elders tell us of having to walk this path from many ways back to the camp before 6pm every night. This makes the new shared path which now connects the Esperance foreshore to Bandy Creek, or Baarndi, or even more important for our community.
It has always been significant in cultural heritage. But this now is a symbol. A symbol in the great understanding of respect, recognition, and celebrating Wudjari heritage. It’s a rich place in resources and community coming together. Which makes it makes a way for truth telling before the hurtful histories of segregation and discrimination.
For me, I find this pathway a pathway to reconciliation. Thank you, and I look forward to welcoming you today.
