Dad started to speak to our ancestor Wapma, the snake, telling him that we were coming home. He ended by saying ‘Nhiina wanypatha Wapma,’ which means, I hope you’re good, Wapma. We each threw a stone into the water to greet Wapma and to show our respect.

Then Dad said, ‘Do you reckon you could tell Caitlin the story for this place or what, Phoebe?’

I knew that Caitlin was aware of the sensitivity of me sharing a cultural ritual with her, and not too long ago, there was no way that I would. Then I remembered the day she held me in the hospital and I said, ‘Sure.’ I looked up to Abmiwara, the Milky Way, for inspiration and began to tell Caitlin the story. Meanwhile, Dad burned a plant to let the smoke drift over us all.

‘Wapma made all of the Flinders Ranges: the mountains, the hills, the creeks, the waterholes and the plains. Wapma is the water in the sky, the water in creeks, waterholes and the ocean, and beneath the ground, the aquifers. After Wapma had created everything in the wipma, the history time, or time that the earth was created, he came through this creek and started turning into a whale here. He finally turned into a whale in the ocean. From the ocean, he saw a man called Kutnyu trespass on this land, so he swam back up this creek, turning back into a snake. He swallowed Kutnyu, swam back down the creek and turned into a whale again with Kutnyu still in his stomach.’

I paused for a moment, calm, the smoke wafting over me. ‘Years later, a Nukunu couple had a baby and the baby came out as white as the moon. All the people said that it was Kutnyu, returned from his punishment. Nukunu call ghosts Kutnyu, and that’s what we called Europeans when they first arrived in our country.’

‘You remember it well,’ Dad said. ‘So why do we smoke ourselves and tell this story when we come into Country?’ he asked.

I looked back up at Abmiwara, the Milky Way, as I thought about Dad’s question to make sure I got the story straight for Caitlin.

‘We think about the story because it makes us think about what’s right and wrong, about our responsibilities when we’re on Country. The smoke cleanses us and it alerts our senses to the fact that we’re moving into Country and our responsibilities,’ I said. I also thought about how as a Nukunu person I am Wapma because like all things in Nukunu Country, we come from Wapma.

‘That’s really beautiful,’ Caitlin said. I hoped that she really understood what I was saying and the importance of it and our ritual. It’s probably tens of thousands of years old and every time I do it I learn something more about my Country, my culture and myself.