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Philip Yam: That waterhole had no name until he went in and grabbed the crayfish by the
end (tail), so we named it after his nickname. Because no one knew there was a lot of
crayfish in there, until he went in.
Marcus Barber: When was that?
Philip Yam: When this place first started. That‟s when he went there.
Viv Sinnamon: So 1998, 1999
Philip Yam: When Timmy [Malachi] was here running the place, that‟s when he caught it.
We had no house then, and those old quarters.
Knowing the names of places and associating them with particular people (past and present)
is one important way of establishing connections in Indigenous Australia. Another highly
significant way in which Indigenous people are associated with places comes from being
„conceived‟ there. This kind of conception, sometimes called „spirit conception‟, happens
when a spirit manifests itself in some way (such as an unusual event) at that place, or when
a subsequently recognised biological conception is traced back to an appropriate origin point
where the spirit conception occurred. For Kowanyama people, the chance to live and work at
Oriners regularly has provided the chance for spirits from that place to be reborn, and for
new connections to be generated through that rebirth:
Louie Native: My kids are from up that area too. That gets me staying up there all the time.
Marcus Barber: Your kids are from that area? What do you mean?
Louie Native: He‟s come from Horseshoe there [Lagoon], where that place is, Horseshoe.
Like the old fellas [ancestors], they gave me the kids.
Marcus Barber: So your kids, you found them in that place?
Louie Native: Well, I caught my eldest son; [he] is also a big catfish. I caught him in there. I
caught the big catfish in the thing there –rib. And that‟s where, the kid there, my son, has
the birthmark right there [on his rib]. And my daughter, she comes from the homestead,
there, at Oriners.
Marcus Barber: And how did you find her?
Louie Native: The red leg devil there they used to come out there. Little ghosts. He‟s only a
little short feller, so he come out, bring the babies out. [From the] old people.
Louie Native‟s understanding of the area comes partly from „a couple of old fellas there
before‟ who used to tell him of the devils in the area. The spirit conception of Louie's children
is an example of a regular and important way for Indigenous people to establish and
understanding connections with places. 31 Louie himself is not directly from the Yam family or
from others with recognised traditional kin connections to the area, but the time he is
spending there is increasing his personal emotional attachment to Oriners. It is also
increasing the opportunities for his family to develop more formal and communallyrecognised
modes of connection, most notably through his children. The comments above
show how old and new connections to Oriners are intertwined with one another, and that the
purchase and resettlement of Oriners has been very important in generating new
connections. This includes uncovering the memories and evidence of past histories of
residence, having the chance to spend time at Oriners and appreciate its aesthetic and
experiential qualities, writing new histories and memories into the landscape through
processes such as naming, and deepening individual and family spiritual connections
through direct interactions with ancestors and spirits attached to the land, leading to those
31 See Strang (2002) for a further discussion of conception and spiritual and ancestral powers
associated with water bodies in this area.
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
97