Acknowledgement of Country

I invite you to take a moment to acknowledge where we are and connection to others.

Take 2 minutes to put down all of the thoughts racing around in your mind, all of the hassles and
tensions you brought with you this morning. Put them down with the full knowledge that you can pick
them up again in 2 minutes if you choose to.

- Sit comfortably
- Feel the connection of your feet on the floor
- Rest your hands in your lap
- If you feel comfortable you might like to close your eyes or lower your gaze
- And just take a moment to notice your breathing
- Focus on the feeling of breath entering and leaving your body
- You may notice the breath in your nostrils or mouth, you may notice it in your chest, shoulders
or stomach
- Just notice the feeling of breathing

- Now take your focus to your feet and feel that connection to your shoes

- Your shoes are connected to the earth. In this place people come to meet, live and laugh.

- Imagine that your shoes dissolve and your feet are connected to the dirt

- Imagine the feeling of your feet on the ground

- For many years people have walked on this ground, they have met here on this land, living and
learning, connecting, and valuing this place

- Feel the footsteps of the people who have walked here before us.

- We take a moment now to acknowledge the land we are meeting on today as the traditional
land of the Ramindjeri and Kaurna people. We pay our respects to Elders both past and present.
We acknowledge that the spiritual connection and relationship with this land is as significant
today as it has been for generations of Aboriginal people.

- Now bring your attention back to your feet on the ground

- Notice the feeling of your breath, entering and leaving your body
- And with one mindful breath, return to the group.
- Thank you
The area of Deep Creek Conservation Park lies within lands traditionally associated with both the
Ramindjeri and Kaurna Indigenous people.  The majority of the Park falls in the territory of Ramindjeri
who lived in the Encounter Bay region and were one of the groups belonging to the Ngarrindjeri people.
The area of Deep Creek comprises a transition area where the boundary of the Kaurna people of the
Adelaide plains meets Ramindjeri territory.
Both the Kaurna and Ramindjeri people lived a ‘hunter-gatherer’ life style and they occasionally traveled
about their defined tribal lands in family groups.  These Indigenous groups did not have to move around
as much as inland tribal groups, since the Fleurieu Peninsula was plentiful in providing food.  Native
fruits, nectar, edible roots, seeds and other plants were gathered, while possums, frogs, snakes, lizards,
fish, birds and kangaroos were hunted.

The people of the lower Murray, the lakes and Coorong district all spoke a similar language and are
known as Ngarrindjeri people.  Eighteen separate groups lived in these areas, spoke a dialect of the
same language and all knew variations of the Ngurunderi Dreaming story.  The lands of the Encounter
Bay area including Deep Creek belonged to the people of the Ramindjeri tribe.

Locations in the park such as Blowhole Creek feature in the Legends of the Dreaming story about the
ancestral being Ngurunderi and this Indigenous creation story tells of the formation of the Pages Islands
and Kangaroo Island.  Various place names in and around the Park can be traced to the language of both
groups and cultural sites comprising stone chippings and middens have been located within the park.

The Dreaming story of Ngurunderi gave explanations to the tribes for their being, the creation of
physical features, plant and animal species and laws for living.  Ngurunderi was a great ancestral being,
the shaper of lands, laws and creatures who could travel through time and space, and take the form of
man.  The story of Ngurunderi begins where the Darling and Murray Rivers meet and it is a story of how
Ngurunderi chases his two wives who had run away after a quarrel, all the way to the tip of the Fleurieu
Peninsula.  Along the journey Ngurunderi created plants, animals, land formations and the Mighty
Murray River.

The tragic tale unfolds near Kangaroo Island where Ngurunderi is angry as his wives are still fleeing him.
He camps at Granite Island where he heard loud splashing and laughing.  Knowing it was his wives his
anger grew and he threw his club to the ground to chase after them.  The club hit the ground and
became the headland known as the Bluff at Victor Harbour.

The women ran away along the coast, past Blowhole Creek and they hurried to cross the land bridge to
Kangaroo Island, which was still joined to the mainland.  From the top of the cliffs Ngurunderi yelled for
his wives to stop and when they didn’t he called in rage for the seas to rise.  His wives drowned in the
pounding water and their bodies fell into the sea, becoming what we know today as the Pages Islands.
Kangaroo Island was also formed by Ngurunderi calling for the water to rise over the land bridge.

Ngurunderi then crossed to Kangaroo Island, where he made a huge swamp oak tree to rest under.  The
sound of the wind through the trees made Ngurunderi mourn his wives and he knew the time had come
for him to leave this world. Ngurunderi dived into the sea to prepare to enter the spirit world.  He can be
seen there in the night sky, as the brightest star in the Milky Way.