Most of us York residents have at some time
driven or puffed our way up to the Mount Brown lookout to enjoy magnificent panoramic
views over the town and nearby cemetery.
Go to Trip Advisor, and you’ll see that the
lookout is a favourite destination for visitors to York, ranked first among
local attractions just ahead of Penny Farthing Sweets and the Town Hall and
well in front of the Motor Museum and the Avon Suspension Bridge.
(Several reviewers counsel visitors to
steer clear of the suspension bridge at this time of year, to avoid the tragic
spectacle of suicidal ratepayers tossing themselves despairingly into the turbid
waters below.)
Most of the Trip Advisor reviews are highly
appreciative of the lookout, and none is dismissive or disparaging.
‘Lovely in the evening with a blanket in
the cooler nights and a bottle of wine with a friend,’ says one. ‘Marvellous place for meditation, you
can feel the cosmos flowing through your veins,’ says another, signing himself
Siddhartha.
A third, MeToo, tells us, ‘It was a leap
year, so I took the opportunity to propose marriage to my boyfriend…when he
knocked me back, I pushed him over the edge of the Mount Brown lookout in York…a
victory for women everywhere, and the most satisfying and exciting leap year of
my life so far’.
Yet another visitor, NotMeIMissedOut, unfairly
describes going up Mount Brown as ‘one of the few things to see or do in York’,
but still gives the view 5 stars.
Myths
and legends
York readers will hardly need reminding of
the mythological significance of Mount Brown not only to the indigenous
Balladong people but also to the descendants of white settlers who persuaded
the Balladong to hand over their ancestral lands to farmers so the latter could
chop down all the trees.
One indigenous story, possibly apocryphal, relates how a bulyit—a malevolent, hairy creature much like a gnome—tricked a young woman
into climbing with him up the slopes of Mount Brown. I don’t know how the story ends. Some versions hint at moonjin,
others hold that mischievous sprites known as mummari men intervened to put the bulyit off his stroke.
Whitefella residents have a Mount Brown legend of
their own, concerning the collapse of a temporary erection for which shire
approval had not been sought.
‘Fervor
events’
No doubt hoping to capitalise on Mount
Brown’s popularity with locals and tourists alike, York Arts & Events have
applied for council approval to make Mount Brown the venue for two 'long table dinners’ planned for
Friday 1 March and Saturday 2 March next year.
Their application was included as an
appendix to the agenda for July’s council meeting. It was approved
subject to a variety of conditions, including provision of parking areas, rubbish
bins and toilet amenities, and undertaking of cultural and community
consultation prior to the event.
The dinners, called ‘Fervor events’ after
the ‘pop-up restaurant’ that hosts them, are the brainchild of brother and
sister Paul and Bree Iskov. Fervor
events have been held in many of WA’s regional beauty spots, including Port
Hedland, Karratha, Paraburdoo and of course Mukinbudin, whose name in the local
indigenous language, Gubrun, is thought to mean ‘the place where many rodents make their
nests’.
I’m sure we can all agree that York’s most
popular open-air romantic rendezvous is a rather more appealing venue than any
of those just listed.
It’s my fervent hope that the Mount Brown
Fervor event will be a great success and become an annual feature of social
life in York.
If you want to take part, contact Jo Bryant
of York Arts & Events on 0411 287 944.
But hurry, only about 80 tickets will be
available (40 per night), and I imagine that a good many will be snapped up by
tourists and other interlopers from Perth and surrounding shires.
CULTURAL NOTE: In the Balladong language, a dialect of Nyungar, Mount Brown
is known as Wongboral, which means ‘sleeping
woman’. For an explanation—definitely
not apocryphal—of how that name came
about, see https://www.creativespirits.info/australia/western-australia/york/aboriginal-legend-of-mount-bakewell-and-mount-brown
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| View from Mount Brown lookout (Image: Javin Tham) |
BREAKING
NEWS 5 August 2018
Porcine Peregrinations—A Crackling Good Tale
A certain elderly lady of this parish recently witnessed an extraordinary event concerning a pig and a goat.
On Friday afternoon, she was
reposing quietly in her lounge room when she heard loud grunting sounds coming
from somewhere outside. Thinking
that her neighbour might be having difficulty repairing damage to the dividing fence, she went out to investigate and if
needed, offer advice.
Imagine her astonishment on
observing from her verandah a giant pig in the yard of the property backing on
to her neighbour's, energetically poking its snout under the cyclone fencing of its
pen. The pig began to shake its
head violently, which sent the fencing crashing down on its night shelter, thus
providing it with a means of escape.
Seizing its opportunity, the
animal fled into the yard backing on to Ms R’s property, presumably with a view
to applying for asylum. Behind it
trotted its owner's pet goat.
Ms R reports that at this point
the pig began to display an unhealthy interest in her chooks—unhealthy, that
is, for the chooks, not the pig.
Luckily for the chooks, the pig decided to postpone lunch and pick a
fight with the goat.
Meanwhile, some spoilsport had
called the ranger, who prevailed on the pig’s owner to return home and coax it
back into its pen.
It appears that the pig was
served with an order to find alternative accommodation within seven days,
failing which it may be impounded or deported to Manus Island.
No doubt the goat will be glad
to see it go.
