Handprints of Time

Scores of hands, plastered in time,

A signpost - of all who passed this ridge,

We, amazed onlookers, only stare

As we walk this sandstone time, a bridge

 

Red and ochred, prints of palm

Here, in this land of the Darug clan

Now, what remains are hidden signs -

This mountain too was conquered by man

 

And I wonder - how every palm is a story lone

Of a rambler in these hills of blue

But wherefrom they came, where did they go

How I wish those tales were captured too

 

Sometimes, perhaps, if you are in luck

You may see the ribbon of time rewind,

There, an artist of the Mountains’ muse

Leaving red a mark behind

 

Spitting from his teeth in stain,

One more mark, this was their land,

For thousands of years, before we came

But will we ever understand?

 

He looks at us, in chagrin, shame

And finds no hope in our future eyes,

He hastens - let at least his mark remain

A truth in times of a million lies

 

So that when a seeker comes in time,

Something’s left behind to show -

Stained in blood, handprints of time

A red hand cave from long ago…

 

22^nd October’23

 

At the start of the ascent up the Blue Mountains, in the village of Glenbrook lies the Red Hands Cave, filled with red hand stencils of Aboriginal art, made between 500 – 1500 years ago. One of the techniques used to produce the vivid contours of the hands was to fill the mouth with coloured paste and blow it onto the wall where the hand was held – leaving the white shape of the hand behind.

It is one of the best-preserved sites for Aboriginal art anywhere near Sydney, and is a wonderful reminder of the Dharug, Gundungurra and Burra Burra tribes who once used to roam in these lands, the Gulu-Mada or the Blue Mountains.