Wayne Webster, Heritage Officer with Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, talks to Robyn Ballinger about Aboriginal life on the northern plains of Victoria.

Like other Victorian rural areas, the rural population of the Patho Plains is decreasing. When landowners move out of the district, they take a wealth of historical knowledge and experience with them.

The Patho Plains Oral History Project was developed to capture the historical knowledge of farmers and landowners to better understand the changing landscape. These interviews and photographs form part of that project.

Further Information

Patho Plains interview excerpt 18: Wayne Webster

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

ROBYN BALLINGER: Do you have any understanding of how Aboriginal people used the plains country traditionally? Like with the water and the land and the other resources?

WAYNE WEBSTER: You know, it's a really good question, that, because one thing that really bothers me with... You know, over all these years, people talk about the way that traditional stuff was done. Well, I believe it was managed, it was farmed, in a sense. It was all about sustainability, so you didn't go to an area and flog it until you ate the last lizard egg. Um, you know, we know about the burning too - you know, once an area was sort of exhausted and that, burn it off and it introduced new growth which introduced more species back and all this. I mean, you know... So it was farming. It was managed. You've got to call it land management. Unfortunately, people don't recognise that. You know, they sort of say to people, 'These guys managed this for years. Look what we've done in 200.' You know, it's pretty sad.

ROBYN: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

WAYNE: So, look, as far as I'm aware, you know, things were managed in a way that... Um... You know, I suppose it was managed in a way that it was all about sustainability, whereas today, it's more about productivity. Don't worry about if we run it into the ground, you know.

ROBYN BALLINGER: Where do you reckon the biggest populations of Aboriginal people would have been concentrated in that area? I imagine it would have been around the waterways?

WAYNE WEBSTER: Oh, for sure. I think one of the main commodities you needed in life was water. That's one of the main elements to sustain life.

ROBYN BALLINGER: So it would have been around the lakes?

WAYNE WEBSTER: Yeah, and I've been involved in that in the last few years where the, you know... I suppose it'd come up through boundaries, like, trying to determine boundaries, it's really difficult because it was never ever a set line. It depended on environment. Ceremony never even happened if things were hard and tough and boundaries fluctuated. They talk about the Mallee blacks, like, so from along the Avoca River, for example, absolutely hated the River blacks and the Lake blacks. Like, they used to fight and that. But when things got hard, mate, these people come into the rivers and the lakes, you see, which caused a lot of blues here and there, you know, but I suppose they weren't sort of... It wasn't to do it for a game thing. It was about cultural, traditional stuff, like, 'You're on our ground.' You know, it wasn't about, 'You've got to pay for a megalitre of water.'

ROBYN BALLINGER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What would some of the waterways have been that a lot of people came to?

WAYNE WEBSTER: Look, the biggest one that I'm aware of was over at Boort where they held these games, you know, these ceremonies that would go on for a couple of weeks. Um, Kow Swamp. You know, you read about Kow Swamp. There's a bit of a gathering spot there from the surrounding clans and that.