Friday 11 July 2014

Day 192: Yungaba...

Day 192: ...'place of first light'

This week is NAIDOC Week, a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life and culture. And how rich it is. My local ABC radio station has done a marvellous job every day and each day, there has been a different co-host. This morning, Wesley Enoch, boss of the Queensland Theatre Company, was on the breakfast shift. One of the things in focus this week to has been language. As a linguist, I'm very conscious of its importance. I don't know as much about my local languages as I possibly should...

I have found a vocab list from Katherine in the NT, translated into Japanese, in my 1893-94 work which has been a wonderful discovery. This morning however, on the radio, we were introduced to 'yungaba', attributed to the Coorparoo Clan of the Turrbal nation. Yungaba means 'place of first light'...it made me look at my usual tai chi sunrise in a different way. From now on, it will be 'yungaba'. It is also the name of a migrant home (once) down under the Story Bridge at Kangaroo Point, now a residential development...and they call it progress.



Yungaba, southside
 The rest of the day followed: spectacular light all the way through. I spotted this grevillea in my wanderings today, it might be an example of the 'Peaches and Cream' cultivar. Beautiful colours anyway. 


Grevillea (detail)

'Peaches and Cream'

And the light later in the afternoon allowed for a stunning view of one of the ferns out the front. 

Fern : light

A light-filled day, from start to finish. 

[Camera : iPhone 4S; 6.32am, 10.36am, 3.35pm]