If you haven’t read Bruce Chatwin’s “The Songlines,”I encourage you to (not a purchase request, just a recommendation). There, hewrote about the indigenous cultures of Australia and their relationship withtheir land. It’s truly profound.

Decades ago, when I read the book, it stunned meand led me to read more about pre-European Australia. Just this week I broughtup the book in a conversation because it’s timeless. I will give none of itaway to allow you to enjoy the story and the culture he writes about. His bookis not science or history, and criticism from those points of view falls flatagainst what he is expressing. You need to read it with your heart, not yourhead, and read with a childish sense of wonder. If you want to know what ‘walkabout’ really means, read Chatwin.

Regarding the excerpt . . .

The environment of Haven in “Home: Interstellar” islike Central Australia: the Outback, where civilized Westerners would have difficultylasting even a few days.

The passage below focuses on Meriel Hope, theheroine of the book who is recovering from severe injuries. She is staying withher love interest, John, and his two pre-teen girls, Sandy and Becky, who losttheir mother a decade earlier. John calls their home a farm, but it’s actually adesert irrigated by groundwater. During a trip to ‘walk the fence,’ Merial andSandy talk before bed, and Meriel recognizes her relationship with the stars.

“Songlines” From Home:Interstellar, Chapter 13

Meriel sat with her back against the chuckwagonwith Sandy snuggled under her arm and Becky asleep in her lap. Together theywatched Thor set on the Western horizon and the stars that followed. Like Johnand the rest of the work crew, they were tired from the long three-day trek.Without it, the groundwater supply would remain uncertain and larger critterscould sneak onto the farm through the gaps in the electric fence.

Much of the trek Meriel spent in the wagon, so herinjuries would not slow them down. Tomorrow morning, they would be home for thestart of the Harvest Fair. And at the day’s end, she would make her decision toleave or to stay, a decision she did not want to make.

“Do you know about the stars, hon?” Meriel said.

Sandy smiled. “Only to wish on.”

“How?”

“Mommy said that everything that’s made is made instars, so wishing on ’em makes the wish stronger. Here, close your eyes and sayafter me.

            “Star light, star bright,

            All the stars within my sight.

            Wish I may. Wish I might.

            Grant the wish I wish tonight.”

“That’s it?” Meriel asked.

“Yup. But then you have to cross your heart, so thestars know you mean it.”

Meriel did as instructed. “What did you wish for?”

“Oh, you can’t tell your wish or the stars willforget.”

“What star did you wish on?”

“Me? I wish on that big one there,” Sandy said andpointed to a bright star in the south.

“That’s Aldebaran,” Meriel said. “And the fuzzypatch there are the Pleiades. It’s also called the Seven Sisters.”

Sandy kept her eyes on Meriel. “Do you miss them?”

“Who?”

“I’ve watched you look at the stars, Merry. Are yougoing back to space?”

Perceptive girl. “I’m not sure, hon. I’m a spacer.”

Sandy bit her lip and turned away.

“I talked to your father. It might not be safe foryou to be around me.”

“You’re just saying that ’cause you want to leave.”

“I don’t think I would be a good mom.”

“I don’t need a mom. She’s been gone a long timenow, and no one could replace her, anyway. I know Becky does, but that’s onlybecause she doesn’t remember her much.”

Maybe she does, and I won’t match up. “I won’t go away forever,hon. My family is coming here, and you are part of that. I’ll always return.”

“For them?”

“For you.” She took Sandy’s little hand. “You’relike me when I was a kid. Strong. Full of ideas. And you love your littlesister.”

Sandy gazed at her with a smile. “Yeah.”

They were silent for a while as a meteor arcedacross the sky.

“Merry, is space your home? Your song?”

“What do you mean, hon?”

“Like your home isn’t a place, but a path.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Our teacher told us about a place on Earth calledAustralia that’s kinda like Haven—real dry with animals and people that don’tlive anywhere else. She said the native people don’t have any place to settledown ’cause the land is poor and can’t sustain them. But they have trails theywalk over the course of a year or more.” Sandy scooted over and between themdrew an irregular shape in the dirt that returned to its starting point. “Thatwas their route. And many tribes would walk the same land but have differentroutes.” She drew other closed shapes that meandered back and forth and crossedeach other. “And as they walked, they sang of the places they passed, the hillsand the plants, their ancestors and the spirits. They called them songlines.”

Meriel imagined tribes of people following Sandy’slittle fingers as she traced their trails in the dirt.

“You know them all, don’t you?” Sandy asked. “Allthe stars.”

She nodded. “Pretty much. One of the first thingsthat spacers do when they arrive somewhere is to orient themselves to the starsand constellations.”

“Tell me.”

“Well, my first spacewalk was near Wolf 359. That’sover there.” A star hovered above the horizon, and she pointed to it. “That wasthe happiest day of my life, well, before I met you and your sister.” Shesqueezed Sandy’s hand. “My mom and pop died near Procyon. The Princessis docked there at Enterprise Station. Over there is Lalande 21185, close towhere I met your father. That’s behind Thor now, and you can’t see it.” Merieltook the fringe of Sandy’s shirt between her fingers. “The Crab nebula glows ateal color like your sleeves.”

“You make the stars real for me, Merry. That’s yoursong. You just don’t have a melody for it yet.”

“My route could be my home?”

Sandy nodded and snuggled into her arms. “Just makepart of it here with us.”

Meriel hugged her and nudged Becky under her otherarm so the three of them could stretch out. There they watched the last sliceof Thor set with stories of the stars until Sandy fell asleep.

As Meriel drifted off, the memory returned of herand her sister sleeping in her father’s arms after their adventure on thedino-sims. For the first time, she realized what her father felt that day. “Oh,Papa,” she murmured and tightened her embrace of the girls, though the tearstickled her cheeks.

. . .

Using the visor she had dug out from the rubble, Merielfound a reference in Galactipedia and listened.

The native peoples ofAustralia still walk their songlines, paths unique to each tribe or languagegroup. While they walk, they sing of how the gods sang the world into being: themountains, the streams, the plants and animals, and all the features of theirworld. Those songs brought forth all the distinctions of rock and food andpoison that made their home possible to live in. And when the gods finishedtheir songs of creation, they taught their people the songs and lay down andbecame the land. For many thousands of years, every time the people walk theirsonglines, they sing their world and their gods back into being.

(end excerpt)

Happy reading.

Ray

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