A young Aboriginal Woman writes of her love of country – Taylor Clarke

The Aboriginal People of the Burragorang Valley was launched on Sunday, 20 November 2016, this book commissioned by Fr Eugene Stockton under the auspices of the Blue Mountain Education and Research Trust (BMERT). It is a hugely valuable piece of research that has been the personal endeavour of historian, Dr Jim Smith, over a period of decades. This is a piece of history of local interest to those of us who live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney but will be of more important interest to indigenous people everywhere. The Burragorang Valley is situated on the Southern edge of the Blue Mountains and is the place where at least five different rivers meet. In the 1950s this valley was flooded to provide the main fresh water supply for Greater Sydney via what became Lake Burragorang and Warragamba Dam. The Aboriginal people who had lived in the valley, possibly for centuries, and later mainly poor Irish settlers, were forced out of the valley to make way for the flooding of the Valley.

The address by Dr Jim Tulip, former Associate Professor of Literature and Religious Studies at Sydney University, to explain more about the book, and introduce Taylor to the audience.

Taylor Clarke writes in the foreword “As one of the youngest descendants of the Riley clan of the Burragorang Valley, it is my honour and privilege to write the foreword introducing this incredible book. Jim Smith, through his research, correspondence with my relatives and with others from the Valley, has painted a very strikingly beautiful and unique picture of what life in the Burragorang Valley was like.”

“Burragorang was different, and this is what made the Valley so special. The black and white people lived together in relative harmony. The patchwork of my heritage is one of many colours, and I am proud of each and every black and white relative who lived and worked in the Valley.”

“Jim Smith captures the beauty, and also the fiery will and perseverance of the Valley’s people, living through some very tough times. Burragorang Valley bred strong and formidable, hard-working people who didn’t want to leave the Valley, as my family were forced to do when the Dam was built. On behalf of my family, we would like to thank Jim Smith for the work he has done for us and for our community. His passion for research and conserving history has been such an asset and a privilege for us, as, without his tireless effort, we would surely not have compiled such an extensive family and community history. His work has been invaluable and we are so happy that we have been part of this process in sharing the stories of our ancestors.”