The Rainbow Serpent (Kabul the carpet snake - the Noonuccal tribe's symbol for the Rainbow Serpent)
Now Biami, he a real good fella. He jump up high in the sky and smile down the land. The sky lit up from his smile and we, his children, saw colour and shadow.
And that warm sun spirit saw himself in the shining waters. The pine trees, they burst into flower. That's his way of telling us its time to hunt the big mullet fish.
And when the wild hop trees bloom, that's his way to tell us the oysters are fat on the shores of our great sea spirit Quandamooka.
Grow strong, Kabul , come back to your children, the mountains, the trees and our father the sky.
Come, bring us your birds of many colours.
Come back to your rivers rushing to Quandamooka.
Come back to your teeming fish of a thousand colours and shapes.
Kabul is the mother of us all. She is the spirit of the land – all its beauty, all its colour.
But there are those who see no colour, who will not feel the beauty of this land – who wish only to destroy the mother and themselves.
Their eyes are open, but they do not see…
Kabul , bring back the fire of knowledge to your children.
Like the fire of that pretty stone in the ground.
The one you call opal.
The colours of the rainbow, the colours of life itself…
Yes it is good for all people to dream of places which are beautiful to them.
Of the waters where they sail their boats and canoes.
And now it seems that with all our great machines we can travel almost anywhere.
We can travel across the land at great speed.
And, for some, the city with its bright lights and the music and dancing of a modern world.
There is almost nothing mankind cannot do.
We can hover or swoop in the air.
We can do all these things with the land.
Good reason to protect it.
But where would we ask our machines to take us?
They have no spirit or feelings of their own.
Only we can guide them to the places that have meaning for us.
That is why, like my ancestors before me, I will always come back to this place to share the feelings of the land with all living things.
I belong here where the spirit of the Earth Mother is strong in the land and in me.
Take time you earth fullas.
Let the spirit of this mighty land touch you as it touches my people.
The water is good. It carries the strength of Kabul .
Now I am rested and ready for my own journey into the world.
Have I helped you rest on your way?
Perhaps soon, in all our travels, we will see Kabul in the places she has made.
Perhaps she will come again when the spirits of men and the spirit of this land are once more together as one.