Pughs Lagoon Audio Walk
Pughs Lagoon Audio Walk
Listen to stories of Dyarubbin / Hawkesbury River at Richmond, and to the original music they have inspired, as you walk along Pughs Lagoon.
Our guides for this audio walk are Dharug students, Josh and Beau Quinn. We hear how the river has moved across the ancient plains of Marrang Ngurra / Richmond and learn about the waradya (lagoons) of this area, their significance to the Dharug people, and their importance to the local ecosystem. We look for water birds and listen to stories of gudugulung (freshwater turtles), Dharug medicine, early settlers, flooding, and two ways of farming. We learn of Maria Locke, the Dharug matriarch born amidst colonisation and frontier violence, and hear of the revival of Dharug language. Finally, we explore how the river and lagoons have been used as both providers of water and repositories of waste. We learn about the effects of the pollutant PFAS, and of firefighting foam in wastewater and across the floodplain.
To listen now, play the video at the bottom of the page.
Photo by Oonagh Sherrard
Photo by Oonagh Sherrard
Photo by Alan Tibben, 1986, courtesy of Hawkesbury Library Service
Directions
Walk location: Pughs Lagoon Reserve, Old Kurrajong Road, Richmond NSW
- Starting at the Pughs Lagoon Reserve carpark, walk south-west along the lagoon edge until you reach the end of the reserve.
- Head back along the edge of the lagoon on the opposite side of the reserve.
- Walk across Windsor Street/Old Kurrajong Road, and continue through Smith Park until you reach its far end.
- Cross Francis Street and walk along the edge of the lagoon back towards the carpark, crossing Old Kurrajong Road to return to the starting point.
Distance: approximately 600 metres. Duration: 60 minutes.
Click on the map to enlarge it, or download a printable version here.
Credits
Narrated by:
- Beau & Josh Quinn, Dharug students
- Additional narrative by Oonagh Sherrard, composer/producer
Stories told (in order of appearance) by:
- Grace Karskens, Emeritus Professor of History , UNSW and author of 'People of the River'
- Leanne Mulgo Watson, Dharug artist
- Mark Fuller, environmental educator, owner of 'Avianation' and member of Cumberland Bird Observers Club
- Kirstie Fryirs, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University
- Dr Michelle Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science, Western Sydney University and Hawkesbury-Nepean Waterkeeper
- Jasmine Seymour, Dharug artist, writer and educator
- Jan Barkley-Jack, historian and author of 'Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed'
- Erin Wilkins, Dharug educator
- Arthur Parkes, Richmond Lowlands farmer (from an archival interview recorded in 1992 by Sue Rosen, historian and author of 'Losing Ground: An environmental history of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment')
- Dr Jason Reynolds, Senior Lecturer in Life Sciences, Western Sydney University
- The Hon. Kevin Rozzoli, former Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1973-2003, Member for Hawkesbury)
- Rhiannon Wright, Dharug educator
- Aboriginal students, Windsor South Public School
Readings from:
- Doherty, Pitt , & Hassel. (1897). Songs by Australian Blacks. The Australasian Anthropological Journal, Vol. 1(3), p. 8. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-568402794 [Read by Josh & Beau Quinn]
- Catchpole, M. (1806, 8 October). Letter from Margaret Catchpole to her uncle & aunt, William & Anne Howes. [Manuscript, reference no. MS 4211, National Library of Australia]. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-582845475
- What Chinamen Can Do. (1889, 9 November). Windsor & Richmond Gazette, p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72560715 [Read by Ian Moxon]
Music:
- Composed by Oonagh Sherrard, with Dharug songs by Jasmine Seymour and Stacy Jane Etal
- Musicians: Dimitri Vouros, clarinet; Gary Daley, piano accordion; Jess Ciampa, percussion; Jasmine Seymour and Stacy Jane Etal, vocal; Oonagh Sherrard, guitar, cello, piano, programming
Page ID: 241162