Federation University Honourary Professor Barry Golding launched his new book, Six Peaks Speak, Unsettling Legacies in Southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country, at the Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre last week in front of a diverse crowd of about 100.
The book, co-authored by Clive Willman, was written as part of Professor Golding’s State Library Victoria Creative Fellowship in 2023 during which he accessed seldom-visited archives to uncover the stories of six volcanic peaks in Central Victoria: Mt Kooroocheang (Gurutjnga) , Mt Beckworth (Nyaninuk), Mt Greenock, Mt Tarrengower (Dharran Gauwa), Mt Alexander (Lyianganuk), and Mt Franklin (Lalkambuk). These are six of around 40 named mountains in Dja Dja Wurrung Country.
Although these mountains may be small by comparison with other peaks around the world, they tower above the rich volcanic grasslands of Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Each has borne witness to dramatic changes over the past two centuries. Six Peaks Speak tells the unique stories and continuing legacies of these mountains from a multidisciplinary perspective, turning the idea of “settling” on its head, instead using “unsettling” by European colonists as its fundamental organising principle.
The book threads insights and evidence from diverse historical sources, including First Nations, geological, ecological, community, and reserve management. The peak-specific stories illustrate how many “taken for granted” aspects of mountains may not be as they seem.
The book raises questions about the extent to which mountain peaks and their surrounding reserves have been managed in the public interest. In the process, it seeks to answer the broader question, “How can we help future generations deal with the unsettling legacies of what has happened to mountains?” It makes reference in its conclusion to the origins of International Mountain Day in the US, in the same era as these peaks were being unsettled in Australia in 1838.
Aside from what it reveals about the six peaks, the book showcases ideas and methodologies for creatively reconnecting with and healing other mountains and the people who today live on their flanks, and on Country in between.
MC for the event, former Hepburn Shire Mayor, Brian Hood, commented that “the book was not only massive in size, but massive in importance.”
CEO of DJAARA, Rodney Carter, representing the Dja Dj Wurrung was full of praise. He said the book is “helping us reframe a pretty traumatic period of our history. It offers a means of letting go of our misconceptions and to help our children move forward… It gives my homeland a chance to heal.”
Professor Golding explained his title: “I have used the term unsettling because that’s what happened. Australia was named, cultured and settled for perhaps 3,000 generations. It could only be settled once First Peoples were unsettled, often violently.”
Professor Golding emphasised that the indignities in the unsettling process were not restricted to people. “The pines began to smother Mt Franklin in the late 1940s despite written promises from the Forests Commission that his would not happen,” he said. “Soon after, the Kooroocheang Swamp ,which once hosted tiger cats and brolgas, was drained. In the same era, extensive sand mining on Mt Beckworth was removing the best orchid habitat and Gold Dredges were still churning up the Loddon Valley around Newstead. The former Limestone Mineral Spring became ‘Mt Franklin’ after Coca Cola arguably destroyed the spring and made off with the now iconic brand name during the 1970s.
Professor Golding concluded with a lament for the loss of The Voice Referendum. “The failure of the Referendum one year ago means that what happened is still unsettled… The six peaks have spoken. What we need to do is ‘Listen’ which is the last word in my book.”
The book is available at Paradise Books in Daylesford, Stoneman’s in Castlemaine or the Readings. Books can also be ordered directly from the author at b.golding@federation.edu.au
