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Wirritjin Peggera Lin - The Dream of Karno Walker
WARNING: To Peoples of Australia Original and Torres Strait Islander decent - this article quotes, mentions and contains images of an Australian Original person who is deceased.
These words ring out with a potent resonance of truth beyond space and time and have the power to touch every beating heart, particularly in this time. The words so often spoken by the late Karno Walker - Ramindjeri Lore man and visionary spiritual warrior of Kangaroo Island, South Australia - toward his vision of ‘bringing the tribes together’. Wirritjin is a Ramindjeri word. It means Black Fella White Fella coming together. Peggera:Lin means Dreaming. This is a dreaming story from the time when world was just one continent.
Karno Walker was a respected Southern Sovereign Whale Lore man and an Elder of the Ramindjeri tribe. Story Teller and Spiritual Guide of his people. He was also the proud advocate of the Ramindjeri philosophy of Wirritjin which he relentlessly shared with the world all the days of his life.
Karnigi Ramindjeri - Karno’s Spirit name - translates as ‘Holy Warrior walking between two Worlds’ He was the living embodiment of his philosophy. I came to meet Karno’s wife Christine shortly after his sudden death in late 2015. Their union represented far more than their 26 years of happy marriage in light of their living of the concept of Wirritjin they dreamed of together. Because Karno was an Indigenous Ramindjeri man and Christine is white, their partnership was the perfect expression of their ideology. Their love created a space of unity within which the seed of Wirritjin was planted. The seed we wish to nurture for future generations. Indeed, Spirit knows no colour. Love knows no colour either.
Karno lived Wirritjin Peggera:Lin in everything he did. He knew much about Original Old Way culture, lore and history and shared his knowledge with
By Louise Clarke
everyone he met, irrespective of skin colour.
Beyond his activated role on Country he also travelled abroad on his quest for unity - he spoke at the Geneva Convention in 2012 and visited Belgium and France, connecting with many people in the spirit of Wirritjin.
In 2014, representing the Ramindjeri people of Kangaroo Island, Karno Walker presented the Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison, AO with a traditional kangaroo skin warrior’s cloak in a ceremony at the Kent Reserve in Victor Harbour. Lieutenant General Morrison presented Karno with framed memorabilia of his Great Uncle Arthur Thomas Walker who was killed on the Western Front in 1916.
The ceremony was in recognition of that year’s NAIDOC Week Theme: Serving Country, and there could be no more relevant symbol for the meaning of Wirritjin than this, touchingly evident in the genuine smiles of both parties. Uncle Colin Watego, photographed there, is on the guiding council of the Wirritjin Peggera:Lin movement now.
As an advocate of the Ubuntu philosophy in my country of birth South Africa, meeting Christine Walker and learning of their vision for a united world resonated deeply within me and I have been assisting the Ramindjeri ever since we met in 2016.
Certainly, the time is ripe for the people of the world to come together in Unity. Toward this end, the Walker family and the Elders of the Ramindjeri Tribe in association with the Elders from other tribes and a few White people well known to the Ramindjeri have come together to form the first official Wirritjin project. The Wirritjin Pegerra:Lin executive committee membership already spans three continents: Australia, Africa and North America.
Wirritjin is a Way of Life. It is the true spirit of Unity.
It includes the wisdom of the ancestors and a reverence for our Mother the Earth, and is about bringing all the people of the world together in sovereignty.
In Karno’s own words…
“You’re right in what you say We’re doing it out of love For our children. “From the land and for the land For the heavens and for the waters Then we have the right to protect it under Southern Lore In all ways.
“This, you know, is for all of us Not one.
“That’s where true Wirritjin begins.
“Wirritjin is a Ramindjeri word and it means Black Fella White Fella dreaming - dreaming story.
“There is only one word you need to know… Wirritjin “Nothing else matters.
“I say Kau Kau - That means Bless You in my father’s language.
“Thank you. “Karta Kunga.
“Bless those who listen.”
Visit the official Wirritjin Peggera:Lin website for more information and for how to get involved.
Louise Clarke Exploring sacred sites in Africa and walking as an art of healing.
Image Credit: Supplied by Louise Clarke
