Chapter 29

One morning, there was a strange call from the East Kimberley Regional Airport in Kununurra: “Sam, there is one here to speak to you.”

“What?”

“There’s a man here who says he is a Masked Owl and has come to meet his cousins.”

“That’s a wonderful surprise! Can you call Boobook and tell him? Tell the Masked Owl that I will be there in half an hour.” He pulled on his shoes. “Tessa! We will have an important guest later! I’m off to the airport, then to Boobook.”

“OK.”

As he drove to the highway and made a left towards the town and airport, Sam thought about this. The Masked Owl must have flown in from Darwin. How did he get there from the islands?

The Masked Owl of the Tiwi Islands is a large owl of more than 30 cm in length and 400 g in weight. It has a white to buff facial mask, which is framed by a black ruff that merges into a pair of thick furrowed brows; buff and blackish-brown or black-and-white upperparts; and white to buff underparts with coarse dark spots or, in some individuals, chevrons.

It was only a few weeks since Frogmouth had approached him. Another owl. Was there a problem? Of course! There must be many. But why should he be involved? Something would be revealed. He slowed down ... no need to cause an accident. Only a few minutes now.

Masked Owl wasn’t hard to single out at the terminal building: he was the only Aborigine standing outside the doors.

“I see you Masked Owl, I am Bunjil.”

“I am pleased to see you, Bunjil. Your eye is sharp.”

“Bunjil sees all below. I have told Boobook of your coming. Allow me to take you to him.”

“That is good. I will explain my tale less often. You tell me what you know of owls.”

“My father’s father lived among the Kullilla in Queensland. My father, too, is known to them. I know the Kullilla’s story.

In the Dreamtime, Weemulee the owl and Willanjee the cyclone were young hunters and close friends. Though they hunted and ate together, chatted to one another and shared the same camp, Willanjee was invisible and Weemulee found this hard to understand and always tried to see his friend. This staring caused his eyes to grow larger and rounder.

One day, near sunset, when they were both out hunting, Weemulee climbed a tree and caught a fat possum in a hollow branch. He threw his catch down to his invisible friend and they headed for their camp where the two hunters had a great feast. When it was finished, Willanjee rolled himself up in a kangaroo skin and lay beside the campfire. Weemulee’s curiousity got the better of him and he decided to take a closer look at his friend while he was asleep with a full stomach.

Weemulee moved forward with his eyes opened to their utmost. He lifted one corner of Willanjee’s kangaroo skin. The result was sudden and disastrous. That moment a tornado of wind burst out and scattered everything in the camp. Weemulee was swept into an adjacent hollow tree, forced up the trunk and out into the open again. He was blown a long distance across a plain, all the time straining his eyes hoping to see his friend. Finally, Weemulee caught hold of a tough acacia tree and clung to it until Willanjee, the cyclone, had gone past. Ever since that experience in the raging wind, the eyes of Weemulee and other owls have been large, round and staring.

And here we are.”

“That was well told. Tyto is my cousin.”

Sam introduced Boobook and Masked Owl. The three sat and a woman brought sweet tea and bushfruits.

“You will ask why I am here,” Masked Owl began. “The Tiwi have a problem. We live on several islands, yet there are but a few thousand of us. And over the past few years, our land grows smaller. The salt water has taken back several of the smallest islets. And even Bathurst and Melville, where most of the People live, are getting smaller. I had a dream that the salt water was rising. The government survey says that the maximum elevation of the islands is 57 meters and that the average elevation is but 9. I also dreamt that there was a new people. A people of no tribe and of every tribe. I am here to learn and to experience.”