The Sea Is Not Empty
Marra, NT - 2021
The Limmen Bite is the Country of the Marra people. It is not just the land and the islands that we have knowledge about, it is also the sea. We know the sea is home to many different kinds of animals, many of which are important to biologists, scientists, tourists, professional fishermen and crabbers. These things are also important for us Marra people, they've been important to us for a long time. Long before the first white people came to this area, our ancestors and our old people moved all through this country, in bark canoes and dug-out canoes, later in aluminum dinghies. They knew this country so well. They hunted in this country, sang the songs and danced the ceremonies that are all in this country. And they taught us, the new generation, about this country as well.
This country is rich with animal wildlife and resources that we Marra people know about, sometimes the fishermen, crabbers, tourists, environmental managers and scientists forget that the sea country also has Law. Law for our old people, and we have to keep holding that Law. The sea is not empty, our families and their lives are there in the sea. The sea is important to us because it tells us who we are and where we come from.
The law of the sea is also about politics and how people own the sea and how we look after all the birds, animals, fish and plants that need the sea to live. Rosie Creek is the boundary for Marra and Yanyuwa people. North east of the mouth of Rosie Creek is a place called Gurrkurrmala, it is a reef, the Women Dreaming rose up there out of the sea. They carried with them very important ceremonies and songs, and they moved onto the mainland and travelled far to the south. As they rose out of the sea the White Bellied Sea Eagle flew over them and cried out . The White Bellied Sea Eagle is a very powerful Dreaming for Marra and Yanyuwa people.
Even the saltwater and the waves have stories, songs and ceremonies. They are not just the sea, they have important Law. From the east, the Dugong Hunters Dreaming paddled all through the Pellew Islands, which is Yanyuwa country, then westwards into the Limmen Bite, which is Marra country. They were followed by the King Tide Dreaming which drowned a lot of the country that was once the mainland. Sometimes when the dugong hunters travelled in the Limmen Bite they’d see water sprouts, which they knew was really the Rainbow Serpent keeping an eye on them.
The Plains Kangaroo Dreaming came far from the west, who travelled down the Limmen River and out to sea, where the Seven Sisters Dreaming, in the shape of the Blue RInged Octopus tried to drown him. He left the octopus there in the middle of the sea, where he also left shellfish, then went on to Maria Island. The Plains Kangaroo carried very important Law.
A lot of Dreamings, like the Sea Turtle, Black-Nosed Python and the Osprey left Marra country and kept on travelling, some into Arnhem Land and some into Yanyuwa country. That is why Yanyuwa and Marra are close relations, we share a lot of Law. These Dreamings travelled and met up with other Dreamings and kept on travelling. The Hammerhead Shark is another Dreaming that came from Marra country, he kept travelling and he met his countrymen, two stingrays, and they travelled to Vanderlin Island.
The sea is not empty, it is full of stories, the roads that these drawings follow are still there, their power is still there in the saltwater. That is why we have a lot of respect for the sea, it is a place full of law for us Marra people, and we have to still think about that.
