SPIRITUAL EVENTS

Wow what a day I've had.

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Four days ago a young guy was killed at the mine I work at here in the Pilbara. A tragic event to say the least.

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As a result of this a group of Maori workers here on site were feeling extremely uncomfortable about returning to work in the area in which the death occurred. A couple of the Aboriginal guys on site were also nervy about it all.

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The Maori workers asked that an elder of theirs be flown up from Perth to do a cleansing ceremony. A local Aboriginal elder was also flown in to welcome the Maori people to country and to give them permission to carry out their ceremony. The Aboriginal elder was also asked to perform a ceremony to free the spirit of the deceased, he however made it clear than in his culture the spirit did not need to be freed from where he died as he died in country and thus was free to move on.

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His room at the camp was another matter entirely.

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The Maori elder arrived after lunch, he met with the Aboriginal elder and they nutted out the procedures and protocol needed.

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First up we visited the space where the guy died. This was a bit weird as there was activity all over the place except for a silent void around "the spot". The Maori elder took his place in front of this part of the structure and proceeded to perform the ceremony spoken in his tongue.

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Following this we headed back to the camp where the Aboriginal elder lit some green acacia leaves and placed them inside the room (I had disabled the smoke alarm prior). He then recited a lords prayer in English followed by a speech in his own dialect. This was done in order to send the deceased guys spirit from the room and allow it to be at peace and continue its journey.

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Then the Maori elder also blessed the room, again in his language.

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A very long day for all but a rewarding one. Finally some Maori nose rubbing at the airport and everyone was flown out.

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Hopefully a positive ending to a very sad event.

The elders leaving the camp this afternoon