River Walk

This is a transcript of a sound file produced by Sam Dawson to accompany you on the Uki Village Heritage River Walk.

The MP3 file is available at the CTC

Introduction

Welcome to the Uki River Walk. My name is Sam Dawson and I will be guiding you on today’s journey.

Tweed River

The Tweed River was named in 1823 by John Oxley on his search for a new penal colony. After an exploratory expedition partway up the river in a long-boat, Oxley returned to his ship and continued northwards to Moreton Bay where he found the site for a new prison settlement.
Squatters arrived in the district in the 1860s and Free Selectors began to carve up the land and make settlements in the 1880s and 90s.
It was the opinion of the first settlers that the Tweed Valley, like the rest of the North Coast was good Dairy land.
Cedar Getters quickly exhausted the supplies of Red-Cedar and other valuable timbers.
The remaining rainforests were slashed and burned and the area was sown with pasture grasses to provide fodder for the European livestock. By 1910 the Valley looked much the same as it does today.

Uki Butter Factory

Known locally as The Buttery, the first factory was built in 1910-11 and was constructed from wood.
Later, the factory was rebuilt in 1939-40 out of bricks and mortar, with a rendering applied by Italian migrants. This is the same factory that stands today.
At its peak the Buttery produced 1420 pounds of butter/day. The cream for the factory was supplied by the local dairy farmers, which were family run enterprises. Children as young as 4 and 5 years old would be required to work with the rest of the family, milking cows every morning before dawn.
Cream was usually placed in a Cream box down at the front of the property along the main road and collected by the cream carrier, this was a horse and dray, which delivered the cream to the factory. In other areas where there were no roads cream was transported along creeks and rivers in the Cream Launch.

Back in the day the Buttery also had a Cool Room, which was used for storage and also to manufacture ice. Ice was sold to local residents and used for the purposes of refrigeration in Ice Boxes.
A cooperative of Dairy farmers and manufacturers formed to manage the industry and by the late 1930s Norco had been created. The name stands for North Coast Dairy Cooperative.

The Uki Buttery closed down in 1946 as part of a Centralisation strategy by Norco. Changes in technology and the economy at a regional, national and global level required that the Dairy industry become more economical.
Margarine had been recently developed and now provided a cheap alternative to butter.
More efficient transport meant that cream could now be delivered farther away without spoiling, removing the need for every village to have its’ own factory.
The final nail in the coffin for the local Dairy Industry came in the mid 1950s with the loss of the Sydney winter market and then the loss of overseas export markets when England became part of the European Economic Community.
Gradually, dairy farms were amalgamated or the land turned to different enterprises such as bananas or abandoned altogether.
So the Butter factory entered a period of neglect for 40 years until a new wave of settlers came to the area and helped to reinvigorate the community.
The Buttery was purchased by the community and has since become the hub of local enterprises. Now, the buttery supports a diverse range of local shops and is the focal point for the ‘Buttery Bazaar’ markets held every third Sunday.

The Bundjalung

As we walk away from the Buttery towards the river we come to an area that has cultural significance to the first inhabitants of the region.
The indigenous inhabitants of the Tweed Valley are known as the Bundjalung Nation. Their own unique language defined this group of people, but within this language group there were many subdivisions or tribal dialects. Each tribe inhabited their own particular area but would move around to participate in ceremonies or hunt in new areas.

The Mt Warning region is an extremely significant cultural and spiritual place for the Bundjalung as well as Aboriginal tribes from further away. Mt Warning the iconic peak of the Tweed Valley was named by Cpt. Cook and was meant as a warning to mariners. It is known locally as Wollumbin which is the Aboriginal name for the mountain this translates into the ‘Cloud-Catcher,’ or ‘Great Chief.’

Wollumbin was connected by songlines to other significant areas in the region.
The mountains, especially Wollumbin are considered men’s places and are forbidden to women. On the other hand pools of water in the rivers were considered women’s places and forbidden to men.

One such sacred place is the ‘Women’s Birthing Tree,’ on the Tweed River next to the Buttery.
It is believed this tree marked the spot where women of the local tribe would congregate when someone was giving birth. The birthing process was carried out in the river.
This tree has remained intact since the days of settlement and is a relic of the previous natural and cultural landscape.

The Sculpture Space

As we walk upstream from the sacred women’s tree we come to the Uki Sculpture Space.
The main work at this site consisting of three beams of wood is part of the ‘Timber-Trail’ a regional art network. Artwork that is part of the Timber Trail can be found in all the Tweed Shire’s villages and varies in theme. The abstract nature of this piece represents the unification of Aboriginal and European cultural heritage.
This is an area where local artists can create an artwork and leave it in place for others to enjoy.

The Regeneration Area

As we walk upstream of the sculpture space we come to the Regeneration area. In fact the whole river is in the process of being regenerated, but this site is easily accessible to the public and allows people to walk through the area.
Riparian Regeneration or restoration is the process of recreating the natural environment. The goal is achieved by the removal of exotic vegetation and the establishment of native plants.

This is a process fraught with much difficulty due to the massive changes wrought on the landscape since European settlement. It is a necessary job that has to be undertaken to preserve the remaining flora and fauna that define Australia, otherwise all that will be left for the future are weeds and feral animals.

Work at this site has been undertaken mostly through the action of volunteers within the local community.
The large wooden post, wrapped with a cable at the front of this site is the remains of an old Flying-Fox that was used by the locals to send supplies to the other side of the river and collect cream while the river was flooded.

The Platypus Viewing Area

As we walk upstream from the restoration area, and begin to proceed down Milsom's Lane we arrive at the platypus viewing area. In this section of theTweed River it is quite common to see Platypus frolicking in the pool below. If you are patient and lucky enough you may also see the platypus. Look for ripples in the water and the appearance of an oblong shape. Those people with sharp eyes or binoculars may be able to make out some of the more characteristic features of the platypus. Platypus are part of that unique Australian fauna group the monotremes. These are special mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The only other monotreme is the Echidna. Platypus live in burrows that they have excavated in the soft soil of the riverbank where they have their nest or spend their time resting.

The Flying-Fox Forest

As we proceed down Milsom’s Lane towards the confluence of the Tweed River and Rowlands’ Creek you will notice some of the trees and shrubs planted as part of the riparian restoration activities.
These trees are native rainforest trees that were abundant along the riverbanks and floodplains before the area was cleared.

As you proceed towards the confluence of the two water courses you will hear the sound of screeching and smell the musk of Uki’s resident Flying Fox camp. The Flying Foxes are roosting in Weeping Lilly-Pilly trees that are remnants from the original landscape

Often maligned and used as a scapegoat for society’s ills the flying-fox has an important role to play in the maintenance of Rainforest and Eucalypt forest ecosystems by pollinating trees and spreading seeds. Flying Foxes are also important pollinators of commercial timber trees.

Flying Foxes are a vulnerable species under NSW law and it is an offence to harm them or their habitat. This is a fact that people living next to Flying Fox camps have trouble coming to terms with as the sound and smell from so many individuals can become quite disagreeable.

Often Flying Fox camps have existed in the same place for decades and the populations move around following the fruiting or flowering of particular tree species.
Urban areas supply an abundance of food sources, like fruit and street trees, for flying foxes that are often more reliable than natural areas.
The habitat of Flying foxes has become so limited and that unfortunately they have nowhere else to go. Persecuted by farmers in rural areas they may seek relative safety by living in urban areas.
Flying-Foxes are reputed to carry many diseases, only one has been demonstrated to exist so far and is transmissible through being scratched or bitten. However, it is advisable not to touch Flying foxes and not linger too long in areas that they inhabit

Black-Beans and Waterhousea

Turning left from the Flying Fox forest and walking underneath the bridge will bring you to the Black-Bean forest.
These trees are remnants of the former ecosystem and provide an indication of what the area used to be like prior to it being cleared. Some of these trees would be four or five hundred years old.
The trees in this area have been left because this patch of forest provided shelter for the school student’s horses. The horses would be left in the paddock below the school (now a sport’s field) and could shelter in the forest when the weather was hot. This area also allowed the horses easy access to the creek to quench their thirst.
Black-Beans and Weeping Lilly-pillies exist in a floristic alliance and are known to occur together to form a distinct vegetation community. This community would have dominated the entire region prior to European Settlement
Uki is fortunate that it still has so many remnants of the Australian ecosystem in its backyard. This small village sets an example for the rest of the Tweed Valley and Australia, by demonstrating through hard work and tolerance that man and nature can coexist. 

Photography: Felicia Rose