Laura

The rest of our international group had departed the afternoon before. This morning, we split ways with the philanthropics. We were continuing on to Laura, the two library cars. We were off to see the Quinkan & Regional Cultural Centre and to visit with some school children from Laura.


On the way we pulled quickly into the lookout by the Black Mountains. This is an important site for many local communities.


Yes, see, I was there.


Yes, me and my signs.

On the drive, because we had left early, we saw so many kangaroos and wallabies on the side of the road. And really, most of them were not roadkill! They were grazing or hopping along. But, since we were moving and they were moving, no photos.

The Cultural Centre is small, but rather nice. I was really taken with how they presented some of the information. For instance, they used a lot of wood, and inlays in a wonderfully beautiful way, such as with this floor.



These two images show how kids can point to an Australian animal and learn its name in a number of regional languages.



Here, the images show a traditional dance, and the footsteps are inlaid into the floor. Kids can try the steps themselves, and check themselves in the mirrors between the images. Neat!


One of the display panels about the region and its aboriginal rock art.

One of the main purposes for our trip was to visit with some local school children. The school in Laura has a fluctuating lower school class of between seven and fourteen children, mostly Aboriginal. They were visiting the center this day, and Terena had made arrangements for us to chat with them. They were so sweet!


Having seen some traditional Aboriginal dance in Wujal Wujal, we started to talk with them about traditional dance in the U.S. and Canada. One of the boys demoed a style they call 'shake-a-leg' for us.


Next, I started to talk about drums, because they use clap sticks. Of course, the kids had to show us how they drum too.


After our visit, we chatted with Tommy George, one of the region's original Aboriginal tour guides. He gave Terena permissions to bring us up to Split Rock, which is the largest Aboriginal rock art site in Australia, and one of the largest rock art sites in the world.




As you can see, this is beautiful country.



Rocks everywhere! Metamorphic, some sedimentary. I was having a blast during the climb.


The site itself was amazing. I don't have any pictures. We probably were allowed to photograph it --there were no signs prohibiting photography anyway-- but with sacred sites like this, I often just don't feel right doing it.

Then, we hit the road again, working our way back to Cairns. On the way, we stopped in Mossman Gorge at the Kuku Yalanji Cultural Centre. Many thanks to Luke who did most of the driving, and was determined to show us as much as possible and make sure we had a good time. We arrived in Cairns late afternoon, and went straight into meetings. The second was over dinner, so that worked out just fine. And the next day would be yet another adventure.