By Marilyn Humbert
Syndey, NSW, Australia
where the ghost gums gather
on-country women spread canvas squares
crushed ochre in small precise piles
red yellow orange
water to mix
a white clay paste.
all day, shade lessens
and lengthens
their brushes stroke and daub
ancient lore in dots and symbols
their life, their dreamtime stories
when bark canoes found this shore
when feet wandered songline trails
beside rivers, beneath stars.
today bitumen and gravel divides
wire and pickets corral
the ghosts of memory forests.
Yulara is the village about 25kms from Uluru NT Australia, the place to stay when visiting Uluru.