Tribal gathering
Behind the steel and glass of modern Sydney are the stories of a land in perfect harmony with its inhabitants. Time Out went walkabout...
By Ruth Hessey
The vessel Deerubbun stops at Clark Island includes tribal dance and didgeridoo
See photographer Daniel Boud's vivid visual adventure aboard the Tribal Warrior as a slideshow
Uncle Max Eulo is smokin'! We're tacking hard alongside the southern tip of South Head as the sun's prow pushes over the horizon. The black, red and gold Koori flag of the first Australians flaps overhead. A small nuggety man of indeterminate age, Uncle Max stands at the bow of the Tribal Warrior as we crest a glittering swell. He has a brazier stuffed with smoldering fronds of gum leaves at his feet. The fire was started in a wooden coolamon and carried aboard at dawn. As the vessel swings by Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), he shakes a smouldering branch of eucalyptus at the blue sky, and the fragrant smoke wings across the bow.
"This will chase away all the bad spirits," he shouts above the wind. Only 200 years ago, local indigenous men in bark canoes traversed these same waters. Uncle Max is a Bugedi man from southwest Queensland, near Bourke. He worked as a stockman until the 1970s when equal pay legislation saw many Aboriginal workers turned off the land.
Moving to Sydney, Uncle Max swore off the grog and began his life's work - becoming one of the most respected elders of Sydney's indigenous community. Uncle Max performs his healing and cleansing blessing at festivals, museums, galleries, political events, schools, corporate events, international conventions and jails, even the Olympic Games in 2000. His record is four smoking ceremonies in one day. "I smoked the old Pope," he says of what must have been the meeting of the century, with Pope John Paul 11 in 1987, "and I'll smoke the new one too!"
Uncle Max is also one of three key elders on the management committee of the Tribal Warrior Association - an organisation founded in the late 90s to distribute food parcels to struggling families. "From little things, big things grow" as the Kev Carmody song goes. With the donation of the Tribal Warrior or Wutuku (‘drifting wood'), the organization enlarged into an employment training centre, with accredited courses in maritime operations. In 2000, Wutuku led the Tall Ships Parade through Sydney Harbour before an audience of 250,000 people. In 2001, Tribal Warrior circumnavigated the continent.
Tribal Warrior also operates a wonderful harbour cruise on the ex-torpedo recovery vessel, the Deerubbun (‘running water'), which leaves Circular Quay's eastern pontoon at 1pm from Tuesday to Saturday. With skipper David Bird and deckhand Allan DePlater at the ready, the cruise takes passengers on an indigenous discovery tour of Warrang (the Gadigal name for Sydney Cove).
One of several tour guides, Dallas Clayton spins top Koori yarns - stories of the deep fishing hole near the Southern Pylon of the Harbour Bridge, the casuarina, or guardian tree which is a safe place to avoid snakes (because of the pine needles) and Mrs Macquarie, a friend to many indigenous people in the early 1800s. A brief stop at Be-lang-le-wool aka Clarke Island includes a fun dance and didgeridoo performance.
Tribal Warrior sails at 12.45pm every Tue-Sat from Eastern Pontoon, Circular Quay. (02 9699 3491 )
See photographer Daniel Boud's vivid visual adventure aboard the Tribal Warrior as a slideshow