SALTWATER PEOPLE

 The Sunshine Coast’s new Indigenous cultural tour

• Australian Traveller, 1 May 2021

AS BRIDGETTE CHILLI DAVIS takes her place at the bow of the Spray of the Coral Coast her eyes start to roam the sky and drift over the water. The Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi) Elder has a gentle presence and, as she talks, it’s as if she has taken a pencil to the sky, drafting a sketch of the serpentine Mooloolah River in Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, with no detail overlooked. After a moving ‘Welcome to Country’, the bow of the boat becomes a stage for Bridgette, whose stories slip in and out of the past and present.

“I identify as a Murulla Kabi Kabi First People and Country Jhdungah Sunshine Coast woman and Elder. Our totem is the river porpoise and our people have a physical, mythical and spiritual connection to Country,” says Bridgette.

“My connection to Country binds us to the spirit of our ancestral beings. This is our identity. It’s who we are as Murulla Saltwater people: shellfish eaters, canoe makers, medicine women, rainmakers and lore men and women. This is matrilineal women’s country – knowledge holders of our grandmother country – and the Murulla [Mooloolah] River is our ancient songline to Country. We have a connection to this river system all the way along it with sacred, significant sites, watering holes, birthing sites, burial sites and marriage sites,” she says, her palms outstretched. As a Traditional Owner of the land, Bridgette has been engaged by Saltwater Eco Tours’ Indigenous founder, Simon Thornalley, to tell her story to the guests onboard the boat as it whispers its way upriver. As everyone on deck absorbs Bridgette’s stories about the green sea turtles and her ancestors who protect the coastline, skipper Simon navigates his way through the calm channels of the serpentine river. Simon is a proud Indigenous man with Torres Strait Islander heritage and flags representing both nations have been hoisted onto the sails of the 58ft ketch.

Simon, who holds a Commercial Master Class 5 license, describes himself as a ‘Saltwater man’ after growing up with his family on a boat that sailed around the Torres Strait, where his grandmother is a

well-respected Elder of the Kaurareg people. Simon says his upbringing made him passionate about both the marine environment and his cultural traditions. “It’s my responsibility as a Saltwater man, to teach both the importance of Indigenous culture and caring for the environment,” says Simon, who is also a representative on the Young Tourism Leaders Program.

Guests onboard the vessel for the two-hour cultural cruise through the Mooloolaba canals are treated to lemon myrtle cocktails, an acoustic performance by an Indigenous entertainer, and a bush tucker lunch that includes fresh local prawns.

While motoring back to the wharf, we see toddlers on the shore wearing loose hats, teens roaring past in tinnies and a fisho with a whiskery moustache who mouths ‘g’day’ as we pass. The river is as steely as a piece of burnished metal when an eagle ray leaps out of the water, reminding us that everything here is part of Indigenous identity. “That eagle ray reminds us to look at this area through a cultural lens that starts with the respect Indigenous people have always had for caring for Country,” says Simon.