Reflections and understandings of Alinta, Woman of the Fire also called Lorraine Mafi-Willaims,  as she told them to Steven McFadden and shared in his book ANCIENT VOICES CURRENT AFFAIRS offers just a glimpse into the vast depth of Aboriginal Wisdom. Alinta was delgated a liasion officer of Aunt Millie Boyd of the Githrabaul Clan, Bundjalung Tribe,  of the north eastern coastal area of New South Whales, Austraila.

“I was born beside a freshwater spring on the out skirts of Purfleet Mission at Taree. It was on the eighth of August 1940, at dawn. They tell me I was the last baby to be born in the traditional way. My mother was accompanied by her aunt and the midwife. That day, a white crane came to feed in the water nearby. The old women said this was a good omen.

My mother was a traditional medicine woman and healer and my father was a linguist. His job was to teach and pass on the many dialects associated with the north coast tribes of New South Wales. He was also an initiated man, having learned the rules and lore of his tribe, the Bundjalung of Lismore. My mother was a Thungutti woman, whose ancestors originated west of the Blue Mountains. (Read more…)