…I clamber out and instantly I regret the fact that I choose to shave my head! It’s 40 plus degrees C here, and summer really hasn’t arrived yet – not really. I Grub about back inside the car and pull out my limp peak cap… sort of makes a mockery out of my sad attempt to cover my noggin really – doesn’t it?
… and no: I’m not swearing at you! Nor am I saying: “Bless you!” in another person’s language and – you’ll be pleased to know – you won’t need a ‘standby toilet’ as any part of your daily routine!
Xanthorrhoea preissii is actually what I’m on about here. A very distinctive Australian plant – native to South West, Western Australia. You might find yourself calling it a Balga, or a perhaps you call it a Grass Tree. You might even refer to it as a Blackboy: a name used for many years, said to originate with the settlers who came into this area, as they reckoned it looked like a ‘native’ in the bush, with his spear.
Over the last ten plus years, the term ‘Grass Tree’ has made an appearance. Those who’re are mindful of such things prefer to call this tree a Balga, as this is the name given to the plant by those who originally inhabited these lands in this region – the Bibbulmun Peoples (or as more commonly referred to as the Nyoongar Peoples). To give you an idea of what was considered Bibbulmun Country – get yourself a map of Western Australia and draw a line from Geraldton on the west coast, to Esperance on the south coast – everything ‘sea-ward’ of that line is considered the country associated with the Bibbulmun Peoples.
The Balga had so many uses as a plant, it would boggle your mind to look at it! If there was a ‘gaffa-tape’ equivalent in the world of Australian flora – it’s my firm opinion that the Xanthorrhoea would be it! This plant could provide shelter from the rain for one thing. It’s dry leaves could provide matting and it’s dried flower stalk was said to be used as a fishing spear shaft because it could float. This same flower stalk these days is dried and used as bush walking stick as well – so it’s lightweight strength is still evident today.
The Balga could also act as a very reliable food source. Directly it provided the tender white part located on the base of the of each leaf as a starchy snack and, if you soaked the flowering stalk in water, it could provide a high energy ‘sugary’ drink in an environment where such thing would have been sorely needed. Indirectly it also attracts all manner of other critters to it’s otherwise bristly countenance, as it provided a home for those insect larvae that sheltered inside it’s trunk and root system, and under it’s dry leaves next the the trunk – this space could shelter all manners of critters from snakes and lizards, to bats and small birds.
However, it was the Balga’s resin and its dried flower stalk that had it stand out from the rest of the plants around them. The resin from this tree could be ground down very easily and when it was then mixed with crushed dried kangaroo dung and ground charcoal it formed an amazingly strong ‘glue’ that could fix stone axe-heads into the bent bark or timber ‘strapping’ that formed the handle for such a tool. It fixed spear heads onto spear shafts, plugged holes in containers and formed a protective ‘grip’ around a whole range of other tools needed for more applications than you or I could count. It was amazingly versatile, could be hand-moulded on the spot and have you up and attending to you business in a matter of moments.
The flower stalks when dry though, probably tipped the balance for the Balga. Take a section of one large, dry, stalk notch it and lay it down and you have the base material needed to make fire through friction. This part of the grass tree is soft and pulpy as it drys and a smaller – but longer – grasstree stalk or a similar slim and straight hardwood branch would be sharpened at one end and its tip placed into the notch on the other bit of wood.
Rolling this back and forth between your palms at speed would eventually produce an ember from friction. Have this whole set-up sitting over some dry tinder as you work it back and forth with a steady hand (not to mention a steady breathe of air from your mouth) and you could eventually tease out that much needed flame, to make your fire.
The ability to shape tools further; straighten wooden spear shafts, bend axe-handles, crack rocks – all became easier through the use of fire. Fire could drive critters out of the scrub where they could be ambushed for food. Fire kicked of the processes that brought about the bright green re-growth and the and shooting of seeds in it’s blackened aftermath. Fire provided warmth; the ability to cook a wider variety of food; and possible protection against out of control bush fires. The discovery of how to make your own fire and control it gave our first peoples the most important (and environmentally influential) tool in their landscaping toolbox: Indigenous peoples all over Australia burned huge areas of land to hunt and ‘train’ the country about them.
I’ll leave you with this one thought the next time you see a Balga tree one taller than yourself: on average it’s said that these plants grow at a rate of about one to two centremetres a year, depending on how good a season they have. This applies to a plant that has only one head. Wherever a Balga plant splits and forms a fork – this rate halves. Where you have three heads – it cuts the rate of growth for each to a third (or thereabouts) and so on it goes.
If your looking on a Balga tree that is nearly two metres tall and has multiple heads upon it – your potentially looking upon a tree that is over two hundred years old and could very well be very much older. I once was lucky enough to be in the presence of one huge Balga that was rescued from the ongoing land clearing that takes place around Perth and it was estimated that this plant was over three hundred to perhaps four hundred years old!
You have ancient ‘beings’ surrounding you people and you don’t even have to crane your neck to look at just the tall timber in this part of our state to appreciate this. I reckon that’s pretty spinny – just quietly!
PS – Go and check the work that Bruce and his dedicated crew does at rePlants (Wray Avenue in Fremantle if you’re wondering) in rescuing Balga’s from our ongoing urban sprawl! ‘Goodonya’ Bruce – you’re a champ mate – love your work!
Belongum – Out!
… are a polarising event. You either thrive in the environment it creates or, you simply don’t and it becomes a constant day to day struggle – just getting your A into G – so you can complete what you set out to do!
My holiday mission was to take this:
And the outside show begins...
And turn it into this:
Thank Gawd for that!
In the process it got me reflecting some on the way we go about doing things in our day to day lives. I prepared for these renovations months and months and months ago (in fact – even longer). I sifted through the old plans we had for our ‘keep it cheap’ reno! This was binned and in its place – almost out of the ashes (yep – there would have been a phoenix reference there if the XO got her way originally) – came the new improved version. One that took in the skills we were beginning to develop – the XO’s ability to doggedly bring and hold a new idea on the table and – my stubborn ability to keep pulling out the old plan – encompassing all things I knew best (and knew I could do).
It’s been a VERY long time coming these renovations. So much so, that I might not have got to 2012. It’s been the single biggest bone of contention in our house – so much so that it had nearly split us apart simply because it was toyed with as an idea for years – but it never came about. There were very real reasons that this became the case. Family emergencies and deciding to have little people took precedence. These were valid and reasonable and we knew we had to keep putting our plans on hold, but valid doesn’t cut it when it comes to taking into account the emotional strain and stress that comes with such things. We needed to take control – and we needed to make this happen!
It’s taken me all of 2011 to prepare for this and at the start of 2012, we’re only half way there now. When we told folks, we were going to live in a caravan out the back of our block whilst our reno’s took place, they smiled indulgently. No-one believed us at first. Even when we bought a secondhand one with it’s own annexe and parked the bugger out the back – I still think people weren’t sure if we were joking or not. I took that annexe and built a mini-home inside of it. So much so that our kitchen and dining area works better for us now – then it ever did in the old ‘dog-box’ we used to cook in. We have a garden surrounding it and a paved patio area that’s covered in and – for the 4 of us – it works really well!
Our ways of seeing things is different too now. Where once I used to believe the XO when she told me that she had no idea of things that involve tools and building – I know now that this isn’t entirely true. The XO has a new eye – free of the constraints that I have developed as an ex-tradesman – learning about the building trade and my abilities in it. It’s not that I’m afraid to learn new things – I’m not – but I was afraid to take certain risks based on what the XO put on the table. I’ve been shaped by my past – not only as a tradie – but as a soldier and sailor – where being acutely aware of what you can do alongside of the How, When, Why, Where of it all – not to mention the available materials – all add up to make a definitive picture.
Or so I thought. I’d forgotten one of my number one rules: Plan by all means – but remain flexible. AND I’d committed a cardinal sin: I’d dismissed all that which the XO had brought to the table, simply because up until now the XO had dismissed her own skills in this area and I’d become too focused on those thing I knew and thought I had to allow for. These were the things I could physically account for – things I knew I could rectify and flex around if (or when) they ‘became pear-shaped’. I had forgotten some of what it was I was taught and had become a ‘one-man show’, forgetting that the XO is actually a key member of my team!
I’d been trained to assess and conduct an appreciation of the circumstances before me. I’ve been taught to rely on my own skill set and the skills of those around me – given the assets we had to hand (including each other) and the assets we might be able to draw upon for support. We had to develop set and clear objectives – ones applicable to the role we played and we then set out to achieve them with purpose and a clear view of what this meant to all involved.
We were also shown how to prepare and plan well -rehearsing all potential outcomes and our reactions to them. We were encouraged to bring new things to the table. There are a multitude of solutions to any one problem and we were encouraged to explore these things if we had time. We had to rely on each other. When I hear someone say: “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’” – laugh if you will – but I know EXACTLY what that actually means because I’ve lived that and it’s kept me safe and alive.
And here I am – trying to address so many of the apparent woes besieging our little family and causing our day to day lives to really grind down upon us and I’d clean forgotten about the ‘team’! I’d allowed myself to be so far our in front simply because I’d let myself believe I was the only one who had the answers for these things to come. In confronting our daily stress and the need to achieve our relatively small dream, I’d put myself first and dismissed those things that the XO brought to the table.
When you put yourself first in this way folks – you very rarely ever come to realise just how far behind things – you actually, really are! I owe the XO a very big apology and I have things to make up for.
I’m a lucky fella though – I’m in a place where I can attempt a recovery of this and I will. Besides – the XO has a swag of work for me to do…
Belongum – Out!
