Weaving Naturally, Stitch by Stitch, Circle by Circle

This post is for the amazing South Australian Ngarrindjeri Lakum, Ngarrindjeri Weaving, and also my grandmother who gave me a very small yet beautifully woven basket (with a little lid) which she watched being created by an Indigenous weaver many years ago. It still holds a cotton pouch containing my grandmother’s homegrown dried lavender. I never knew how this delightful little basked was woven or what it was woven with but now I know – the swirling pattern is water rushes with pine needles for contrast!

VIEW A WEAVER’S STORY Marilyne Nicholls

“Stitch by stitch,
Circle by circle,
Weaving is like the Creation of life,
All things are connected”

https://www.ngarrindjeri-culture.org/new-page

“The seven No:ri (pelicans) in flight formation represent an understanding that by working cooperatively a community can achieve far more than a few working in isolation. The sister basket reminds us of our Ancestors and the gifts they entrusted to us all.” Visuals Tim Barnes and Earth Art.

With little fanfare, many Ngarrindjeri Weavers traditional work entered mainstream living in 20th century. I remember woven placemats on the dining table and woven baskets at picnics. It was not uncommon to see water-rush woven items hanging in the doorway of grocery shops, the natural equivalent of today’s reusable carry bags. For several years I kept scented soaps in a small round woven container with a perfectly fitted flat lid, little knowing its origins – see photo below.

A MEMORY FROM GRETCHEN

CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS: “The Ngarrindjeri have a system of ceremonial exchange between neighbouring groups within Ngarrindjeri territories and also with people living further afield. Cultural exchange routes follow the river system north into New South Wales, east along the Coorong through the South East of South Australia to Victoria and North West to the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains and through to the Northern Territory.”
BEFORE EUROPEAN ARRIVAL: “Prior to European arrival/invasion, woven items were highly valued as part of this exchange system. Ngarrindjeri cloaks and baskets were among the items exchanged for tools and materials that were not found in their area, and locally weaving was traded for speciality items like tanned hides.”
CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND TRADE: “Today (when book published) there are many Ngarrindjeri Weavers who teach their cultural weaving in schools and at community events. In so doing they continue the traditional practice of trade through exchange. In the 21st century we think of this continuing practice of trade as the development of economic enterprise.”
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2013 BY NGARRINDJERI LANDS AND PROGRESS ASSOCIATION
SOUTH AUSTRALIA