Chapter 5

A report, vividly stamped “D R A F T – Not for Distribution / This is copy #--” in red, arrived. It ran to just over 60 pages and was officially from the “Standing Committee on Northern Australia.” Patrick thought about this and saved his unease for Rachel’s return from some gallery opening.

“How was it?”

“Respectable. Quite imitative. But she’s very young. More practice. A bit more experience. Perhaps taking some more chances.”

“I guess I needn’t go.”

“No. You’d be yet blunter. How was your day?”

“Draft report arrived from Canberra. I have basic questions.”

“Let me get out of my official uniform and into something homier.”

“Tea?”

“Please.”

Twenty minutes later, Rachel said: “OK. Tell me your tale of woe.”

“Unlike Alice’s mouse, it’s neither long nor sad. The report is from the ‘Standing Committee on Northern Australia’.”

“Yes?”

“Is the Kilbara ‘Northern Australia’? I thought it was Western Australia. And I thought it was the Northern Territory. Where’s ‘Northern Australia’?”

Rachel sipped her tea, took a deep breath and sighed. “You’re conflating politics and geography, dummy!”

“Hunh?”

“If I say that the majority of Australians live in the East and the South-East, do you look for states with those names? Yet Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Adelaide are within the area. So, visualize a line from, say, Townsville to Broome. North of that lie parts of three states, but they’re all less than 20 degrees south. So they make up northern Australia. Nearer the Equator and more sparsely populated and rich in mineral resources ... iron, coal, opals.”

“Brilliant!”

“Thank you, sir.”

“It’s quite horrible. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore all make their national incomes through manufacture, fabrication. So do many of the European countries. Japan and the EU and the US also provide services. But over the past 25 years we’ve sold off an increasing part of our island – not the products, like wool or wheat or wine, but iron ore and coal and other metals. We’re using up our island.”

“What could we do?”

“Not much. But I wonder whether the Powers are telling us something.”

Henry called the next day. He was coming to “look at some stuff” at the Museum and wanted to meet with Patrick. They agreed on lunch on Wednesday, meeting at Madame Shanghai at noon. Henry was waiting when Patrick arrived.

“Good to see you, brother,” he said.

“And my sister and your litter?”

“They thrive. But let’s go inside. I have some issues to talk over.”

“Serious?”

“I think so. But you are nungungi.”

Inside, seated and having ordered, Henry resumed. “You know my family on the Big Island believes in the older gods and goddesses, especially Pele, who lives in Halemaumau.” Patrick nodded.

“Well, my uncle ... he’s not really my uncle, he’s a male my father’s age who’s known to the family ... my uncle had a dream. A vision? Anyway, he saw that Pele and her brothers and sisters were angry as to what people had done, spoiling the islands and polluting the waters. Their fury is causing the lava, the rains, the storms on the various islands. What do you think?”

“Is your uncle gifted in some way?”

“My mother always said he was touched. I thought she meant ‘crazy’. But maybe ‘touched by the gods’. I don’t know. What about you?”

“You know I follow my serpent. Sam follows his eagle. I’ve read about Pele and you told me a story about her years ago. What more can you tell me?”

“There are many stories. Pele – who was born in Honua-Mea in Tahiti – was sent away by her father because of her difficult temper and for seducing her sister’s, Namakaokahai’s, husband. She found her way to the Hawaiian Islands where there are innumerable legends about her lovers, infidelities, feuds, and outbursts.

“One story says that Pele’s older brother Kamohoalii (king of sharks) provided Pele with a large canoe which she and her brothers took and sailed away – eventually coming to Hawaii. When she made landfall in the islands it was on Kauai, where she was attacked by her sister Namakaokahai and left for dead. But she was able to recover and escaped to Oahu where she dug fire pits, including the crater we call Diamond Head. She travelled through the island chain to Molokai and on to Maui where she made the Haleakala Crater.

“Upon discovering that Pele had survived, Namakaokahai traveled to Maui and the two sisters engaged in an epic battle near Hana, where Pele was torn apart by her sister, becoming a god, and finding a home on Mauna Kea on Hawaii. There she dug her final fire pit, the Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea, where she still resides.” Patrick nodded.

“Yet another tale tells that Pele was married for a short — violent — time to Kamapuaa, the god of water. That story says that Pele routed Kamapuaa from their home in Helemaumau and chased him, with rivers of lava, into the Pacific Ocean. This clearly symbolizes the violent and explosive experience of a hydrovolcanic eruption, though modern Hawaiian eruptions are more peaceful. Pele’s loyal followers believe that the frequent eruptions of lava on Kilauea are reminders that Pele is alive and still at home.”

“Those are really interesting. All those stories reflect seismic and volcanic events. East of Tahiti and then the Hawaiian chain hot spot.”

“Yes. But twenty years ago, I heard a story at the museum here, about giants and a volcano.”

“Oh, yes. And it also appears to be historical.”

Long ago, four giant beings arrived in southeast Australia. Three strode out to other parts of the continent, but one crouched in place. His body transformed into a volcano called Budj Bim, and his teeth became the lava the volcano spat out.

Now, scientists say this tale – told by the Aboriginal Gunditjmara people of the area – may have some basis in fact. About 37,000 years ago, Budj Bim and another nearby volcano formed through a rapid series of eruptions, new evidence reveals... [Science 11 Feb. 2020]