As the weather gets warmer and days get longer in Australia’s southwest, Wadandi man Josh Whiteland starts dreaming of spring tides.
“These are some of the biggest tides, and the shellfish are high up on the rocks,” Josh says. “When the tide goes out, they're easier to collect.”
Here in the Margaret River region, the season of Kambarang, which usually coincides with October and November, is traditionally a time that Wadandi families would move from sheltered, winter country inland back to coastal areas.
“A lot of the old fellas would go out collecting shellfish, but especially the women,” Josh says. “It was a very collective time of families coming together during Kambarang.”
Koomal Dreaming, Ngilgi Cave Ancient Lands Experience with Josh Whiteland in Margaret River
Josh’s ancestors were conscious of harvesting sustainably, collecting just enough periwinkles and other shellfish to feed the family, and enjoying their meal in the simplest way possible. “It’s the best way to cook shellfish and crayfish, you just chuck them on the fire coals.”
Today, Josh’s tour company Koomal Dreaming runs immersive tours like the Food, Cave and Didge Tour. On this tour, guests are treated to the ancient sounds of the didgeridoo resonating throughout Ngilgi Cave, before learning about the traditional bush foods of the region.
“In Kambarang, there are a lot of native edible flowers, herbs, berries and also djilbuck, like a native carrot,” Josh says. “We harvest a lot of native peach, quandong, during that time.”
Lucky visitors on Josh’s barbecue tours will be treated to local, seasonal foods, like freshly caught fish, dusted with dried quandong fruit.
Josh on Koomal Dreaming Tour, Ngilgi Cave Ancient Lands Experience in Margaret River
Another unmissable feature of the landscape during Kambarang is the wildflowers, popping through green-grey bushland in purple, pink, white, yellow and blue.
Josh’s favourite is the striking golf ball-sized flower called the pincushion hakea.
“It's pinky-white, with a tinge of blue,” Josh says. “It's a neat, really interesting flower.”
Further south around Albany (Kinjarling), Menang elder Vernice Gillies of tour company Kurrah Mia is also on the lookout for Kambarang’s finest blooms, particularly the orchids.
Aerial view of Kurrah Mia, Denmark
“We’ll get spider orchids, plus the Queen of Sheba, and they don't get that anywhere else,” she says. “We’ll get bird orchids, rattle orchids all kinds, particularly around Stirling Ranges, Koi Kyenunu-ruff.”
Vernice explains that some of nature’s Kambarang signals are less welcome.
“That's the season when the koolbardies, the magpies, will start to swoop, protecting their young.”
The elders taught Vernice another important lesson about the season, too.
“It’s the snakes,” she says. “When the weather starts to get a bit warmer, they start to move about. You have to scan ahead for tracks and scats, and remember to look up. Snakes are brilliant climbers; they can climb vertically up a tree.”
Vernice explains that in the old days, the Menang people, just like the Wadandi further north, would retreat inland in winter, away from the ferocious weather.
“Between Borongur, (Poronongorup), and Koi Kyenunu-ruff (the Stirling Ranges), there is a large, flat plain,” Vernice explains. “So, they would have the mountains in front of them and the mountains behind them.”
Flora on tour with Kurrah Mia, Denmark
Kambarang was the traditional time to relocate to coastal lands, and the country was waiting to provide.
“Our bush tucker is rife at that time!” Vernice says, giving the example of the fruit called kummock of the Australian bluebell creeper, which ripens during Kambarang.
“The kummock has got a lot of seeds,” Vernice says. “So, what we do is we roll the fruit around in our tongue, and we spit the seeds out. Then of course more plants grow.”
There was plenty of protein on the menu too, with the men carefully selecting which kangaroo to hunt.
“Usually it was the young bucks, not the females with babies,” Vernice says. “It would take a group of men, who would walk through the bush making a racket, and you would have someone downwind. The kangaroos panic, and off they go, downwind. And that's when the men would take them down.”
Kurrah Mia, Denmark
For Josh on Wadandi country and Vernice on Menang country, Kambarang is a time to be out on country, sharing the message of caring for country, with family and tour visitors alike.
“What it does is, it starts to raise an awareness of what's around you,” Vernice says. “Because we all need to preserve what we've got.”
Published September 2024
