After a whole lot of to-ing and fro-ing, it was finally time to do our tour of Ewuny, or Sunday Island. We woke up early and hit the road from Broome north to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. Once we arrived we were very, VERY relieved to hear the weather was picture perfect, so we headed out to the open waters of the Buccaneer Archipelago.
We caught the amphibious vessel out passed the pearling longlines and to a bigger boat, which was going to take us out to the island. Once on board we set out for One Arm Point to meet some local carpet sharks who hang around the boat ramp to feed off the offcuts from the fishing boats. Then it out to the open waters, through the amazing tides of the Archipelago towards the island.
On the way out we heard from Rosanna how her maternal grandfather was the last of the great Jawi chiefs on Ewuny, and how the Jawi people used BielBiels, or rafts made from mangrove timber, to travel to neighbouring islands and the mainland for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. Initially the island, and the labour and traditional knowledge of the local Jawi people, were used to establish a processing station for natural pearls and trepang, or sea cucumber. Then in 1899 a Christian Mission was established on the islsand, and while some Jawi chose to move to the mainland, many chose to stay and work within the mission. Unlike some missions, the Jawi were able to maintain language and learn trades including building and seamstressing. To some extent they were also protected from child removal, primarily through distance and isolation.
The mission operated for almost 80 years, and when it closed in the 1970s , many of the Jawi remaining on the island moved to the One Arm Point community. Eventually all of the remaining inhabitants moved off the island and it was abandoned. The Jawi people integrated with the Bardi people of the northern end of the Dampier Peninsula, to the extent that their original claim for native title over Ewuny and the surrounding seas was rejected on the basis that they had lost their connection to these areas when they became a part of the Bardi community. However, this decision was overturned on appeal in 2006, so for the last 20 years the Jawi have held exclusive native title over their ancestoral lands and waters. As a result, the Bardi Jawi have worked with the relevant government departments to develop the zoning of the Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park which covers over 200,000 hectares of waters around the northern part of Dampier Peninsula and the western islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.
On the boat ride to Ewuny we also learnt more about the natural phenomenon of the huge tides of the area, which I also mentioned a few posts ago about our visit to Garaan-ngaddim (Horizontal Falls). Our boat pilot, who's name I have unfortunately forgotten (sorry!) stopped the boat to show us a fault line that was created where two land masses crashed into each and formed the core of the Australian continent. The land mass on the eastern side of the fault line is around 1.8 billion years old and includes the sandstone and limestone gorges of the Kimberly, while the land of the Dampier Peninsular on the western side which is closer to 130 million years old.
We also got to see many examples of the power of the amazing tide, which just to flag again is the second largest tide in the whole world (and the largest in the southern hemisphere, natch!).
We asked if anyone had ever surfed these tidal rapids and Rosana mentioned that someone had done it just recently, so when we got home we search on youtube and found a very cool video, which unfortunately I can't include a link for but if you google "New Weird Wave uNLoCKeD in remote Australia (Full Story)" you should be able to find it, and I promise it will be worth it!
Then we went through a gap between two islands to see the nest of an osprey, with chicks included!
Then we arrived at Ewuny itself, initially approaching a section of the island where the remains of the mission buildings can be seen from the sea, but landing is unfortunately no longer an option due to changes to the vegetation on the shoreline. Plus, some of the old mission buildings have asbestos that needs to be remediated, so until that can be done Rosana is no longer able to take visitors there.
Next we stopped in at an inlet where Rosanna told us that her ancestors left Ewuny when the Christian mission was established, and instead moved to the Bardi community in Lombadina, and as such her family became Catholic. She then showed us some fantastic colouration on a large boulder that her Grandmother pointed out to her, as it looks remarkably like a portrait of Mary. This made me think of my Grandma Roma, who was particularly fond of Mary 🙏❤️.
Rosanna also showed us the abandoned remains of the jetty where supplies and produce for the mission were loaded and unloaded from boats. The stone foundations of the jetty remain both above and below the water, and Rosanna pointed out some of the stones glittered in the sun. She explained this was because some of the indigenous rocks of the island are made of strong but sparkly quartz, which is pretty unusual and very cool! This was further evidenced when we sailed into another harbour and disembarked on a beach that was made entirely of quartz crystals, which was super exciting and weird and very strongly exfoliating on the feet 😝.
Here Rosanna took us up to a spot where the salt water from the sea meets the fresh spring water that travels down the hills of the island. This was a sacred spot with a lot of cultural significance, so Rosanna took us through a special ritual for us to acknowledge the creator spirits of the island and ask for their permission and protection for our time there.
We then sat to have a cuppa and some delicious damper, before having a quick swim in the crystal clear water and and explore of a nearby cave.
After the amazing sojourn into such a remote and spiritual place we headed back out onto the sea and towards the mainland. However, on the way some eagle eyed passengers spotted a humpback whale, so we took a bit of a detour out into the open sea to see if we could get a bit closer. Which we did, and then I got the money shot!
After this final perfect display of a tail flip, we headed back to the mainland. We said thankyou and goodbye to Rosanna, and hit the road back down to Broome one final time. We felt so privileged and lucky to have spent the day with Rosanna on and around Ewuny - it was definitely worth the wait!!