Tongala

When I moved to this part of the world, I tried to find out how to get in contact with the local indigenous community. The first few people to give me an answer generally told me... "we don't have any".



That rang alarm bells for me, because I'd seen from a few sources that I'd moved into traditional Barapa Barapa lands. Here's an example website that shows this. But I've also seen images of indigenous massacres since colonialism, and there's a notable marking in this part of the country.


I'd been told by a couple of people that they'd be interested in hearing the story of indigenous communities here, and what happened to them, but I'd also been told that there might be some people with a strong interest in keeping those stories unknown.


Either way, I really want to do something relating to the river, probably as a sourcebook for Walkabout. The name of the river on maps is the Murray, but in one of the indigenous languages it's referred to as Tongala.


So, I'm basically thinking that this is a perfect setting for Walkabout. The ghosts and spirits of the past bringing apocalypse on the world in response to accumulated atrocities that have never been properly addressed or even acknowledged. This is the kind of thing that all of the Walkabout playtests have been focused on. It's exactly what the game is about.

Comments

caradoc said…
Have you had much luck looking at Bangarang or Yorta Yorta nations? I know there are strong communities of both in Shepparton and Echuca - though like everywhere in Australia, so much local history and knowledge is lost.
Monday, 18 February, 2019
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