By Mary Heath and Greg Ogle
ADELAIDE — Walking against the tide of racism and attacks on Aboriginal people, hundreds of people took to the roads and bush tracks between Adelaide and Goolwa between November 25 and 30.
The Long Walk, which began as the idea of some Ngarrindjeri women, was a mixture of protest (against the building of the Hindmarsh Island bridge), peace, solidarity and sharing between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.
Around 400 people registered for the walk. On average, 60 people walked each day and around 100 camped each night. The walkers, identified by ribbons, were provided with water, first aid, mobile toilets, communal food and transport to trains and buses.
The walk was a refreshingly different experience of activism. It was led by indigenous people. Ruby Hunter, a Ngarrindjeri-Kokatha-Pitjantjatjara woman, led the way in her own right and on behalf of the Ngarrindjeri elders whose health did not allow them to walk the whole distance. They travelled by bus from camp to camp, waving as they passed.
The walk was long and slow, yet constantly changing and providing challenges. There was time for many conversations, appreciating the landscape, sharing a drink or exchanging strategies for the avoidance of further blisters! For many of us, the most profound aspect of the walk was the opportunity it presented to share information and to learn.
We began on Kaurna land in the centre of Adelaide and walked to Warraparinga (now Laffers Triangle), the site of a planned expressway.
The next morning we were given a tour of Warraparinga by one of the Kaurna custodians. Hearing about the significance of this piece of land, now wedged between main roads and garish fast food outlets, and seeing the physical evidence of Kaurna occupation was a profound experience.
There is little non-indigenous recognition that cities and ports have often been built on significant features in the landscape which were and remain important to their indigenous owners. Despite the logic of Mabo, those indigenous people whose lands have been longest colonised and most built upon continue to have a strong attachment to that land.
The next day we walked to Clarendon, camping by the river and hearing from Ngarrindjeri elders about the stories that relate to the area, which runs up into the desert and down to Kumarangk, where the river meets the sea. We heard about people's lives and experiences of racism and about how the media and government attacks on Ngarrindjeri women's business have affected their community.
We walked on through Ramindjeri land around Meadows to Cox's Scrub, Ngarrindjeri land. An anthropologist involved in having the ban placed on the bridge's construction spoke about the trading routes we were travelling beside, along which different Aboriginal nations used to trade the flint and tinder needed to make fire.
In the relatively short distance between Adelaide and Goolwa, we passed through the lands of three indigenous nations. We non-indigenous people were given an opportunity to see things differently from how we had been taught. It also seemed to be a profound experience for the Ngarrindjeri women to have so many people listen, learn and demonstrate their support.
Our last camp was at Currency Creek. More than 400 people walked from there to Goolwa, where Kumarangk is visible across the water.
The feeling as we walked the last six kilometres was intense. We gathered outside the police station in Goolwa, where arrests had been made at an earlier stage of the campaign to stop the bridge.
From there to our final destination we sang a song which had been developed by a few participants, and taught and practised along the way. There was a welcome rally in Goolwa with inspiring speeches and a good deal of music, including songs written especially for the occasion.
The Long Walk was also supported by a group of indigenous American women who had met the Ngarrindjeri women at a conference the week before. Some farewelled us in Adelaide, and others organised a march to the Australian consulate in California in solidarity with our walk.
At a 2000-strong anti-racist rally in Adelaide the next week, the walkers were called on stage to sing the Long Walk song. Many people were proud to say they had been on the Long Walk — they overflowed the stage and lined up in front and at the side. And so the campaign continues — against the bridge and for reconciliation and peace.