The Fethafoot Chronicles

Guluya and the Lake Mungo Mystery

by Pemulwuy Weeatunga

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Overview

Australia, around 39987BP (before the present): This chronicle comes alive from the legend of a great sweeping saga, which covered of the lives of four Australians who lived and died numerous generations ago. Their meeting and lives together left an archaeological puzzle that stands even today. In those times, our chronicle reveals, Mega-fauna, the giant-sized animal ancestors’ of our modern day fauna still roamed across our lands. The stage is set, the lights drop, the curtain rises - and when the lights come back up at the scene of a ‘dig’ on the shores of Lake Mungo, two Australian archaeologists’ have just uncovered two sets of ancient bones.

Description

This chronicle comes alive from the legend of a great sweeping saga, which covered of the lives of four early Australians. Their meeting and subsequent lives together left an archaeological puzzle that stands even today. In those times, our chronicle reveals, Mega-fauna: the giant-sized, animal ancestors’ of our modern day fauna, still roamed across our lands. Literal giants of some of our contemporary survivors. Four meter tall Kangaroo, giant Wombat, Emu-sized ducks, a huge marsupial Tapir - and the terrifying marsupial Lion. Into this exotic period of fast-changing climate - as The Mother warms up again - steps Mudjeri: the humble Fethafoot warrior. Beside him, walks his newfound, sweet soul-mate, Ngari: who would one day give her own life, for the life of her lover’s best friend. Into the shadow of the shy, lovelorn couple and their star-bright, mutually-embraced love story, stumbles Gurindji – the Slayer – a man controlled by the aggressive, green-eyed monster: a man who’d stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Finally, with the rumbling wheeze of a heavy breath, the strong, musky-hot scent of a massive wild animal arrives - and the final actor, the last of his kind: the giant short-face Kangaroo, Guluya, makes his awesome appearance.

About the author

Pem is a 63 year old indigenous man of Kabi Kabi Aboriginal and Sth Sea Islander descent. The Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi), nation are caretakers of the mainland area from approximately – the Fraser to Moreton Islands area of the SE-Qld coast-line. Pem was born in Gladstone, Qld and worked for many years of his young life in the Qld Railways and construction industries in Queensland, moving to Aboriginal Health in his mid twenty’s and back to construction until injuries forced him into trying an academic pathway in 1990. Pem began a BA – majoring in Literature and Aboriginal Studies at CQU in Central Qld at thirty-six years of age. He graduated ten years later while working for a university in the multi-media section. During this time Pem also gained a certificate in Film & Television production at AFTRS in Sydney. In 2004, after 14 years at a University Pem took his family to the Aboriginal community of Aurukun on Cape York, where he met Noel Pearson. Together with Tanya Major from Kowanyama, they created the Higher Expectations Program (HEP): a secondary scholarship, sponsored by Macquarie Bank’s philanthropic arm MGF, in an attempt to solve some of the huge social problems and high school dropout rate in the Cape’s indigenous remote communities. HEP is still working today and to date has over 25 University graduates – all ‘firsts’ from those remote communities. Currently, Pem has had to stop work, owing to several, severe construction work injuries and lives in Far North Qld, where he is in the process of writing several more fiction stories. He plays guitar, photographs nature, writes poetry and songs about his people, and tries to sing occasionally. Pem has four children and six wonderful grandchildren.