The Tingha Stone Woman

Before the European Invasion, Aboriginal society and culture was both complex, intricate and very highly developed to survive in the harsh conditions of Australia. Stories/law contained many levels of meaning depending upon the knowledge that you yourself were privileged to hear and own, and depended upon age, sex and totem.
The Tingha Stone Woman story suggests severe punishment for breaking the rules of kinship and totem by marrying someone that the family group did not approve of for various reasons.

The story goes that a young girl went against her family and ran off to marry a man who she was deeply infatuated with and the family sent a warrior after her. He caught up with her as she was bending over and taking a drink in a creek. He whacked her over the head/neck and she fell into the creek and turned into stone, forever upside down with her head in the water..

I decided not to photograph the Stone Woman for a number of reasons. She is not very big and is behind the centre boulder.
I was totally horrified to find out that a few years ago she suffered a terrible attack with paint and hammers by mindless vandals, she has since been restored.Gee if only the warrior had reappeared to whack these vandals on the head and turn them into stone!!! That would be a lesson for the modern age.

This is a Scenic Sunday post.

This is a Sunday Bridges post.