In the final episode of the series, we roam Desert Country in Central Australia.
The Arrernte believe Altjira, the creator, made everything.
Aaron and Holly climb Alherrkentye-Trephina Gorge, a rusting quartzite rock formation, from which they look north to Aaron’s grandmother’s country. Nearby, they visit a giant ghost gum, the largest in Australia. Its roots extend far underground.
We meet Eastern Arrernte Elder, Paul Williams, an Apmereke-artyweye (traditional landowner), and his cousin, Damian Ryder a Kwertegerle mape (caretaker of the land).
Their advice is simple: wherever you go, talk to the land.
We travel west to Pmurlangkinya-Palm Valley, intersecting the path of the Lhere Pirnte, the Finke River, one of the world’s oldest rivers. In the Finke River Valley Aaron and Holly discover a real desert oasis, surrounded by Red Cabbage Tree Palms. The Western Arrernte People believe that the palms were born from the sparks of the fire from Urabunya, blown across country.
Aaron and Holly arrive at Tnorala-Gosse Bluff. Here are the spectacular remains of a crater, formed by a meteor or asteroid that crashed 142 million years ago.
We meet astrophysicist and Gamilaraay woman Karlie Noon. In the Western Arrernte Dreaming, a group of Sky Women danced as stars, one placing her baby in a coolamon that fell to Earth, forming the crater. Karlie, Aaron, and Holly stargaze, where they see the coolamon constellation. They discuss how we are all connected and belong: to each other, to the Earth, to the universe.
Production credits: Back To Nature is a Media Stockade and Threshold Pictures production. The series was commissioned by ABC TV and funded in association with Screen NSW and The People and Parks Foundation. Executive Producer: Aaron Pederson, Series Producer: Jane Manning (Threshold Pictures), Producers: Rebecca Barry and Madeleine Hetherton (Media Stockade), ABC Executive Producer: Frances O’Riordan, ABC Head of Entertainment: Nick Hayden.
