Bravery, What Does It Really Mean?

Bravery Is doing something that the average human just wouldn’t do…risking life and limb to save the life of another…and yet another, until everyone is safe…putting aside difference for a better cause

This is a story that goes back 165 years.

It’s the story of a young Aboriginal boy called Yarri.

It’s a story that tells us much about the spirit of Aboriginal people, despite their treatment by the white man.

It happened in Gundagai

Imagine a small regional town where this young man Yarri lived with his mob, (tribe),the Wiradjuri people, in Gundagai, a small town only an hour away from Canberra, a town built along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, where some white men had chosen to settle as well.

“For nearly two decades the Wiradjuri people living along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai had been warning of a potentially catastrophic flood. The river’s indigenous name wasn’t “one big water” for nothing.

“Typically the European settlers took no notice and built their settlement on the floodplain beside the river. Consequently, on the night of 24 June, 1852, after three weeks of solid rain, the Murrumbidgee broke its banks and poured through the riverside town.”

Now why would any white man even consider the advice of Aboriginals?

Of course the answer to that is easy…because they have an incredible affinity with the land, and an understanding of its dangers.

But no, the white man knew better, and in the spirit of utter arrogance the settlers built their homes on the flood plains, and for a while all was hunky dory…until it wasn’t!

On one fateful night, after a period of relentless rain, the river burst its banks and one third of the population of Gundagai perished.

But it could have been a whole lot worse

‘The results are still recorded as the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history. One third of the town’s residents (83 out of a population of 250) were drowned and 71 buildings were destroyed or washed away. It was a cruel consequence of a refusal to listen to the advice of people who had been living in the area for tens of thousands of years.’

‘The population of Gundagai were now either on the roofs of their houses, or had chanced a perilous swim to higher ground to escape the rising water level … [when a young Wiradjuri man, Yarri, sprang into action.

‘Yarri launched into the now kilometre wide flood zone in a traditional bark canoe he’d carved himself from local timber. Many dwellings had already been washed away, torn off their foundations and sent downstream with their human cargo.’

Imagine how that might have impacted everything!

Imagine the danger!

“In the black of night, Yarri was guided by the screams of survivors clinging to trees and rooftops in the freezing waters. Dodging huge logs and other debris, he went back and forth rescuing anyone he could find. He spent the entire night in his canoe, paddling up and down stream to conduct rescue after rescue. His canoe would usually only hold one person, but such were the water skills of Yarri, he ferried up to six people at a time to a safe spot on the river bank.

‘Whole families were torn from the roofs of their houses, the carcases of sheep, horses and cattle were found wedged in the branches of trees the following day … Yarri saved 49 people from the great flood over a 40-hour period.’

Try to imagine the mayhem

The night would have been pitch black. It’s a fearsome blackness that defies description at the best of times, but in a storm, even more so.

And yet this young men, responding to desperate pleas, keeps going in his one-man, home-made canoe, rescuing 49 people.

it would have been so much easier for him to have thumbed his nose at the white people with their imported arrogance, and know-it-all approach. Yarri and his people could so easily have adopted a quiet, well we told you so, response.

But no, all of that was put aside,and humanity prevailed.

Was he recognized for his courage?

Not at all! Not until recently when the locals, probably over a few pints, decided it was time.

Yet it’s interesting that his story has lived on.

The Aboriginal people are, and will always be, storytellers. That this one has lasted so many years, is amazing, that at last the people of Gundagai have formally acknowledged him, simply fabulous.

This can be, but is not necessarily, a stand-alone story, but it does highlight that these days still, Aboriginals remain a quiet people.

Yet they are also key to solving environmental problems.

As visionary dream makers, they far surpass us in their knowledge and appreciation of time, of transience, and brevity, and of how we should interact with nature when, after all, we’re all in this together, just passing through.