Bundyi Cultural tours owner, Mark Saddler is a proud Wiradjuri man whose family hails from a country called Euabalong in Central New South Wales. The word Bundyi means sharing or to share in Wiradjuri.
For owner Mark Saddler the recent elevation of Bundyi Cultural to the status of Top Tourism destination is recognition of years of hard work also an acknowledgment of the importance of education.
“My tours are a big part of Reconciliation. It is about educating non-Aboriginal people and Aboriginal people too about Wiradjuri mob, about our culture and our history. People tend to talk about Aboriginal people in Australia and talk about us in past tense, about what we were and what we did; but we actually are still here and actually still do our culture. I still scar trees and make coolamons and yadaki, didgeridoos, clap sticks and spears and I teach language in a lot of NSW schools. When people talk about Aboriginals in past, they need to understand that we are still here. We are in different shapes and colours and sizes because that is how the world is these days,” he said.
Mark Saddler also believes that education has a significant impact on reconciling what happened and moving forward. At least, in Wiradjuri country where a strong culture has been thriving for thousands of generations. He challenges the way historians portray Wiradjuri people claiming that they survived 60 thousand years.
Wiradjuri map Source: Wikimedia Commons/Christopher F. Roth
“I prefer to say we thrived like you said, I think when you survive you survive a car accident. We didn’t survive. We thrived. It is only since colonisation a couple of hundred years ago that Wiradjuri culture was pretty heavily eroded. With my Aboriginal tours and other Aboriginal people running cultural tours around NSW; I hate the word expert, but we are people that know our culture and understand the protocols of our elders and it is a great way of letting know that Aboriginal people are still here. We are still very strong. We are educating ourselves in different ways so we can educate other people and that is very important.”
"We are very fortunate that Wiradjuri sites are still relevant and are still alive and are still utilised."
Bundyi Cultural tours cater for groups of 4 and up to 25-30 people. But they are all different. Even though they might go to the same places, each tour is contoured and put together in a very different way for each experience.
“Basically, for a half day tour we pick up clients and take them around to some very old cultural sites in Wiradjuri country. It will be different for other sites in other metro areas like Sydney and elsewhere. Some of those sites have been lost and have been re-manufactured. We are very fortunate that Wiradjuri sites are still relevant and are still alive and are still utilised," Mark Saddler says.
"A half day tour will take people out for morning tea; I share my language with people. I talk about bush tucker, I talk about native animals, I talk about the connection of Aboriginal people to those animals and to those places… I talk about song lines. I’m very passionate about what I do and I encourage people to ask me any questions that they want. If they think it is going to hurt me… believe me at the age of 56 I have heard it all. I’m quite happy to listen to what they want to do and educate people."
A full day tour is obviously what it sounds like. On a full day tour, I do local Kangaroo sausages on a barbeque, fresh salads as it is obviously an extended tour and I do an overnight tour as well. It is all based on Wiradjuri culture; it is all based on a lot of language and special places.”
Mark Saddler on Wiradjuri Country Source: Supplied
The tours are not just about discovering new sites. Mark Saddler also prides himself in teaching Wiradjuri language to his guests.
"It is very basic language that I share with them. Obviously, you don’t want to go in too hard and give them a whole range of words. So, if I was to greet people when they come on the bus I would say it slowly so they can hear it. Because, I naturally talk very fast I’d say 'Yamandhu marang mudyi'. Which means 'are you well friend?' The focus all day would be mudyi, which is friend. I teach them hello good bye, kangaroo in Wiradjuri language."
There are certain Wiradjuri words for individual items , kangaroo is Wamboin… which is like the noise of the kangaroo, Wamboin, Wamboin.
"When I make it fun for people to learn this way they tend to pick up these easy words. As aboriginal operators, we have to be mindful not to take them to sacred places; Ladies’ places and Men’s places. We know where we can and we can’t go. There are sacred places. We don’t want to upset our elders or our Mudyigaang, our past elders. They are still around with us. We know where we can go. And that is the beauty of having Aboriginal operators owning and running the tours. We know where we can go. We know what we can say. We know what we are talking about."
"Bear in mind that for 250 years we’ve had our culture eroded and taken away from us but we are still a race, a people that likes and are happy to try and teach and share."
Mark upholds other Indigenous cultures and customs. For instance, when in Canberra, in Ngunnawal country to do business, he is mindful to contact the local people the Ngunnawal people and let them know he is on country.
"I also go to many NSW schools and I also teach a lot of Wiradjuri languages in schools and that… I am mindful that if I go off country I need to let local people know that that’s what I am doing. That is a thing called Yindyamarra. Which means respect. Yindyamarra is a thing that Aboriginal people still have inside us. And we need to get that out there and make sure we do the right thing by all our people," he says.
Korean high school visiting Wiradjuri country Source: Mark Saddler
Mark Saddler says that he and other Indigenous counterparts are more than just tourism operators.
“We are messengers, we are sharers, bare in mind that for 250 years we’ve had our culture eroded and taken away from us but we are still a race, a people that likes and are happy to try and teach and share. When you look at NSW, more specifically for Aboriginal culture, we have, and I mean that with no disrespect for any past Aboriginal people by talking about this, we have a Mungo man and a Mungo lady at a Mungo lake near Balranald which are being dated to around 60 thousand years. And I say that without any disrespect for anyone…And then we have another gentleman near my dad’s country near Euabalong. And he is an extremely old man…
"So, if I go to school and teach culture and all that, I can say to people and I say to you and your listeners today: In NSW we have three of the oldest people that have ever been found in the known universe and that is an amazing thing for us Aboriginal people to understand how long we were in this country. We have a word in Wiradjuri which is Ngalingin-gu, which means mine yours and ours, share… Ngalingin-gu Ngurambang: my Country, your Country our Country," he says.
"We need to make sure people who come to this country people call Australia now, that everybody understands that there were First Peoples here and there is a First People still here that share and love this country like you wouldn’t believe. That is the importance of our tourism operations. We talk and I talk from my heart, from my Wandaang, from my soul. Other operators are the same. We are very passionate about our country."
