Cameron Ross Kemarre

Nothing made sense on this day in Jan the 2nd 1983. First day at Wallace Rockhole a new home till Nov. 1983. It was to be my punishment for being a naughty teenager in Town (Alice Springs), so here I was about 90kms west of A/S. First day there, it was really hot that day, my mum and dad dropped me off there. Met the boss man then my parents left me there.
The boss man eventually went to lay down in his house in the air-con cos it was really hot. Before he left me alone, he said don’t go over there. There was old yards and a mulga scrub behind it. Ok I said back to him. He left I naturally walked straight over to the old yards and into the mulga scrub. I said to myself nothing here, what’s so important that I wasn’t allowed to come over here. There was nothing of interest nothing in sight but mulga trees. Then a little red, black and white bird came down low. I at first thought wow, a pretty red robin, then straight after that a blue, black and white, and then a yellow, black and white one. Amazing, blew my mind instantly. IO was so fascinated, 3 differently coloured robins I thought then. They turned out to be fairy wrens.
Now I didn’t think about what the boss told me. Don’t go over there.
There 3 birds were not what I thought them to be. A Kadatja Man was playing tricks on me, getting in my mind showing me the three pretty birds and leading me away cos every time I wanted to get a really good look at them the red one kept flying to another tree or bush. They led me quite long way from the old yards and into the bush. When they finally gave me a really good long look and it was so satisfying and worth the long jog, cos I was only 16 years old, and pretty fit. Now while I was having a good look at the birds, something amazing happened. My mind was bombarded with warning signals. Danger, something was really wrong about all of this. I got goosebumps. I told myself, I know about Kadatjas and today there is a Kadatja right near me, right now. I felt frightened, and racing I was off like a rocket all the way back to the old yards.
It was quite a distance. After this I never told anybody till years later what happened on that day. This Kadatja Man followed me for many years to Tiwi Islands, Adelaide, Darwin, back to Alice and so forth. And now this year in Nov. I’ll turn 60 years old and I now understand and can make sense of it all.
The Kadatja Man came into my life for a reason, a purpose, to help me along my journey. I’ve learnt a lot and I’m so grateful and happy that I got to experience all the amazing things in life not many others do.

– Cameron