The Message Stick

The organising committee of the 5 Lands Walk agreed that a message from the committee should accompany the Message Stick on its journey, and be read at all lead-up events and at all the 5 Lands on the day of the walk.

Aboriginal youth, Jesse Lifu-Bligh proudly shows the 5 Lands Walk Message Stick for which he's accepted the role of Guardian for the  Walk in 2011.

The message stick is an important symbol used in the traditions of Aboriginal people to connect with each other in times of great ceremony to bring people together and celebrate the sacred stories of life.

These stories passed down generation after generation from the time when the great Creator Spirit Baiyami stepped down from the Mirrabooka, the Milky Way, on the way to Mt Yango.

As the sacred lores were given, the message told that we always continue to celebrate our ancestors of Earth and Creation, remembering those journeys through time which give us the life we enjoy to this day.

The preservation and protection of our environments, the kinship and the relationships of our families and peoples, acknowledgments and respect which in turn creates a balance between all living things.

We send the Message Stick through our communities for the gatherings, to come together to strengthen those connections and the spiritual values in life.

In 2010, the organising committee of the 5 Lands Walk agreed that a message from the committee should accompany the Message Stick on its journey, and be read at all lead-up events and at all the 5 Lands on the day of the walk.  This "new tradition" of the 5 Lands Walk carried into 2011 and will continue in 2012.

Kevin Duncan, who prepared the Message Stick

The 2011 Message

The organising committee of the 5 Lands Walk agreed that a message from the committee should accompany the Message Stick on its journey, and be read at all lead-up events and at all the 5 Lands on the day of the walk.

The Aboriginal people are the traditional custodians of our land, Australia
Their elders, past, present and future, hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Indigenous Australia
A deeper understanding of these values carries our hope for a better Australia for all

The 2010 Message

The 2010 message was composed during a visit to Mt Yengo National Park on 1 May, in sight of the sacred "Yango", now called Mt Yengo, one of the most important sacred sites in Eastern Australia, equivalent in status to Uluru, in Central Australia.

We all come from the earth
We are part of the earth
The earth is part of us
As we connect to the earth,
we connect to ourselves and to each other
The earth is our past and our future
To respect our origins and enrich our future,
we respect life itself

Gift from the Maori Community

The Maori community particpated in the Message Stick ceremonies at Terrigal in 2010, and to honour the Guardian, Jesse Lifu-Bligh, presented him with a gift of Three Knowledge Baskets within Baskets, containing three important messages about:

  • Past, Present & Future
  • Learning & Knowledge
  • Living things.

Jesse thought these gifts are such an important a symbol of how the 5 Lands Walk connects people to people, that he has donated them to the 5 Lands walk as a permanent record of the participation of the Maori community.

The baskets and their messages are pictured below.

We've encouraged Jesse to keep the paua shell medallion they also gave him as his personal memento.