Connection to land will be the topic of a road trip conversation when Grey Matters takes the Wimmera's iconic river and plains country during a memorable Saturday afternoon event May 30 as part of the Art Is…Layers of Time Festival.
From the majestic red gums of Dimboola to the Wimmera Plains around Murra Warra and Kalkee the Land and Life bus trip will delve into our agricultural and cultural connections to the landscape in the past, present and future.
It is all part of this year's Art is... Layers of Time festival's exploration into the diversity of our heritage and social backgrounds, our relationship to the land, each other and the role of personal rituals in our culture.
We'll learn what it means to have 1000 generations of your family having walked this land before you when local indigenous man Peter Harradine talks about life at Dimboola.
He will be host at the first stop - the Ranch, a riverside reserve at the Wimmera River Dimboola.
Peter's father was brought up by people from the Ebenezer Mission, which was established at nearby Antwerp on a popular riverside ceremonial site.
"When the mission closed many people had nowhere to go and moved to Dimboola and settled in and around the Ranch and the Billabong area."
Peter will talk about a childhood spent on and around the river and of the importance of the river and landscape in indigenous culture.
From here the trip heads to Sailor's Home hall - named after two sailors who arrived in the area looking for work in the 1850s and made their home nearby.
Here we will hear about two cultures that made the region their home more than a century ago - the Scots and the Germans.
The Germans chose land with trees but the Highlander Scots went for the open plains. Scots played the bagpipes, while the Germans established brass bands, some of which continue today.
David Jochinke, who lives across the road from the hall, will recount his German ancestry and the rituals and customs that are part of his being, especially devotion to their Lutheran religion.
"All holidays were religious-based. It was sacrilege to work on Good Friday or Christmas Eve. Grandpa used to read devotion to the shearers and they got no grub until they said grace," he said.
"Christmas was celebrated on December 24, I grew up eating foods which included Bratwurst sausages made by uncles and Kuchen (cake) and bienenstich (bee-sting cake)."
Ian McRae's family travelled from the Scottish Highlands, via Nova Scotia, Canada, to make their homes on the dusty flats of Wallup - which apparently means stumpy tailed lizard.
"My grandfather was the chieftain of the clan - the Caledonian society that met at Warracknabeal - and grandparents wore kilts on special occasions as children."
Ian and David, pictured, love this land and have also seen how farmers have adapted and changed over the years.
"Biggest change in my lifetime has been the method of farming. If it wasn't for what we do and our changed farming methods - we wouldn't be surviving today."
David agrees - "It was amazing we could grow anything with European farming practices that we used when we got here and still use to a degree."
Horsham scientist Garry Rosewarne will also explore the future during the stop at the Sailor's home hall and help us ponder what might lie ahead.
Garry has worked in Australia, Mexico and China and will link his experiences in Australia and beyond, to where we might be headed in our farming futures.
Art is... festival is produced annually over nine days in Horsham each June. It engages rural and isolated communities in high quality art and cultural experiences. It strives to set a bench mark of how rural festivals can innovate and engage the community.
Tickets to the Grey Matters Land and Life Road Trip are $15 and include afternoon tea. Booking are essential and places limited. Book through Art is office (03) 53810297 or by email artis@wimmera.com.au
Bus leaves from Roberts Ave Bus Station, Horsham at 1pm, May 30 and please ensure that you wear suitable clothing and footwear for the outdoors.
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