On Track: Searching out the Bundian Way

by John Blay

On Track tells the story of John Blay’s long-distance search for the Bundian Way, an important Aboriginal pathway between Mt Kosciuszko and Twofold Bay near Eden on the New South Wales far south coast. The 360-kilometre route traverses some of the nation’s most remarkable landscapes, from the highest place on the continent to the ocean. This epic bushwalking story uncovers the history, country and rediscovery of this significant track. Now heritage-listed, and thanks to the work of Blay and local Indigenous communities, the Bundian Way is set to be one of the great Australian walks.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Australia, History

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating and important book. John Blay has written, as much as it can be written, the history of both Aboriginal and White movements from Australia's High Country around Kosciuszko (or Targangal in the local language) and Twofold Bay (Bilgalera) on the South East coast.

Searching for the mysterious Bundian Way, Blay gives us not only an account of what it is like to walk from Kosciuszko to the sea, but a history of both the Aboriginal way of life, and that of the early White settlers in the area of the Monaro Plains down to the sea.

Many people today would wonder why Aboriginals made the trek all the way to the highest point in Australia. It was for food - each year countless million Bogong Moths migrate to the High Country in summer to escape the heat, and the local Aboriginals would ascend the peaks to feast on the high-fat, high-calorie insects. When the weather cooled off, they would descend towards the coast, tending the country on the way with traditional methods of burning, to allow clearings to develop for wildlife to browse in, and for yams to grow in, to give a food source for any people who found themselves passing through. Back down on the coast, in the Winter, whales would often beach themselves in Twofold Bay, and in fact it seems that Aboriginals could occasionally spear one from the shore. This fantastic source of food led to Twofold Bay becoming a tribal gathering area, where tribes from as far afield as Omeo would gather to feast, trade, marry, and dance.

Blay has spent a lot of time in Libraries and Archives, but has also spent a lot of time walking the ground, and talking to old bushies and Aboriginals. While he does recount a telephone conversation with someone in Delegate (about the Aboriginal Reserve that was once there) in which the local claimed that there had never been any Aboriginals there, he does find a wealth of written and oral knowledge about the tribes that lived in the area and the activities they undertook. What Blay has done very cleverly is mine the diaries and journals of the early explorers, surveyors and churchmen to gain an insight into the movements and activities of the Aboriginal inhabitants, and has looked closely at old maps and plans, many of which list the ancient pathways.

The other little known fact that Blay illustrates is how in the early days both White and Black actually got along in a reasonable fashion - the Aboriginals seemed happy to share the land with the first settlers, and those settlers used both the Aboriginal's knowledge of the land and labour to help them manage their runs. The Aboriginals seemed to think that their due for assistance was food, either flour, or the occasional beast, and also a blanket each year, which became an icon for the Aboriginals, a token from the White men, a kind of rent. This "economy" worked well initially, but when the new selection laws came into force, the fencing of runs, and the economic downturn in the late 1800s meant that the Whites were less inclined to "share", and that's when the first reports of shootings enter the historical record.

While Blay doesn't shy away from the horrors of these altercations, he prefers to emphasise the times that White and Black lived together in a more cooperative way. He clearly shows that the Aboriginal history of the area is an ongoing one - he discovers possible Bogong Moth feasting sites that must have existed over 10,000 years ago, as well as countless numbers of tool factories, middens, and artifacts.

This book in many ways is groundbreaking, and in some ways charts a new way of looking at our shared history, to use all and any means to reconstruct Aboriginal life, and to reconstruct for modern Australia a new connexion to the old ways. Blay, along with others, after reconstructing the Bundian Way, is now involved in a process to use this knowledge to create a walking track and cultural information that can be shared with all.

Often when walking in the Australian bush, a sense of the ancient times can be close - Blay shows just how close it can actually be.

I can't recommend this book enough.

Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/

[Elizabeth Horton]

I fought my way to the end, but I really could not get into it. Some interesting tidbits of local lore and history, but just could not stick with it.

[Jim KABLE · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bundian Way - a Genuine Australian Pilgrimage Path

John BLAY, naturalist, historian and writer of lyrically beautiful prose explores the south-east corner of New South Wales into far north-eastern Victoria - centring on rediscovering the millenia old way linking the coast around Twofold Bay to the high bogong moth country of Mt Kosciuszko - the connection between the southern Yuin clans and the Ngarigo of the Monaro. This is a thrilling book - one which speaks to all Australians in a kind of reconciliatory sensitivity - to acknowledging with respect and wonder the ancients while blending it with the reality of an invasive and continuing non First Australians presence. I am placing this alongside Mark McKenna’s book from the early 2000s Looking for Blackfella’s Point. (Towamba).

[Michael Brasier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. A detailed but fascinating account of the authors search to map the ancient pathway that leads from the Kozsciosko alpine region all the way down to the sea at Eden. Amazing local history that covered the initial mapping and settling by the Europeans and focusing on the importance of the aboriginal tribes that cover this area and what the various sections meant to them. I found it so informative and I hope that the authors dream of a walking trail run in conjunction with the traditional owners is realised as I would love to walk it one day.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this part of south-east Australia, recently walked the short track at Eden and enjoyed reading this book about its history, environment and Indigenous peoples. I really really would have enjoyed some better maps. There were so many places named, and the relationships between them were so important, that it needed better maps. I found the dates and times at which the author did his exploring a little confusing to follow, but it did give a sense of timelessness.

[Ian K · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Track is a wonderfully told story by John Blay of his journey to rediscover the Bundian Way,  an ancient Aboriginal trade and seasonal migratory route thousands of years old extending for over 300 kilometres between Mt Kosciusko and Twofold Bay on the New South Wales coast. In the space of less than two hundred years the use  and knowledge of the Bundian Way had been changed through decimation of the Aboriginal peoples who had used it sustainably for thousands of years prior to European settlement. This had also brought changes to land use and management which eroded almost all traces of its previous existence and associated Aboriginal use. John Blay takes the reader through a process of reading and interpreting the landscape, talking with Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people, to rediscover the Bundian Way and put it back on the map as a resource for all Australians. In the process his book serves as a guide not only to the heritage of the  Bundian Way but to how other similar heritage tracks can be rediscovered.

[Rob Carseldine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written account of exploring on foot the old aboriginal and early settler routes between Kosciuszcko & Twofold Bay. If you like bushwalking this is the book that will make you want to throw your gear in the car and head for the Eden-Monaro.

[Anne Platts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, I want to go for a walk, having lived on the Monaro most of my life, what a buzz