2011 - Theses - Flinders University

shoulder. ‘Got to dig a soak here, that’s all it’s got,’ he says, getting to work in a narrowcreek. He talks, as he digs, and the boys scratch handfuls of sand from the hole with him.‘This is a woman’s place, a good story I’ll tell these yakartis tonight. ‘Bout them kids wentoff in the bush, and split up and get lost, inni? Not you, eh?’ Jack chides his sons, ‘And thatspirit Ngami, their mother, she still camps here, and you see her fire glowing at first light.’ 17Later, when their fire casts dancing shadows on the flanks of the little hill, he tells thestory. ‘…That Ngami looking for her children, and the little bell bird sings out for her tofollow.’ Jack glances at Rebecca and sees her relaxed, watching him. He continues. ‘So shesings and makes steps up that other hill, and climbs up to have a look for them kids.’ She seesJack’s thin chest push forward as he takes a breath.‘Wayanha yanarungaVakuvaku winmirimanda.’Rebecca’s eyes flick from the flames to his face, and then back again.‘Wayanha yanarunga …’‘Vakuvaku …’ joins Rebecca, loud enough to hear her voice above his, above the rustle ofbreeze in the wattles, and the crackling of twigs breaking in the fire.‘… win-miri-manda,’ adds Jack, smiling. ‘She found that boy asleep under the shadow ofWayanha. Like these ones, inni?’ he finishes, softly. 18‘Mmm,’ says Rebecca, as the night seeps into her pores the way the waterhole had.Rebecca thinks she was still dreaming when she wakes to surreal strips of fire and gold racingalong the opposite hillside. They don’t glow, these hills, they shine, and she can’t keep hereyes off them. By the time they have packed up camp, and the sun has started climbing thesky, the tones are subdued a little, but Rebecca is alert now to watch for miracles in this15