Current passport photo of myself 

The John Croft Gaia Pilgrimage Project

Thursday 2nd March - Departure Day minus 5

Noongar Greeting for Visitors

Gaia
Yes! Hello There

Nitja ngalaar kaalalgap, noonagat nitja bookadja yaalbillie woortbillie,
This is our fireplace home, you all here/this over there this-side away-side,

nitja boodjar ngalaar kaalagap
this land-soil-earth our fireplace home
-----------------
Wodern-ngat, Moord-ngat, Victoria Park nidja, yarkin doorntch
Ocean by (near by the ocean), Darling Scarp by (near the Darling Scarp) Victoria Park this, standing together
We are here together at Victoria Park.

Nidja Noongar boodjarr, nidja kwopidaa boodjarr, nidja yaarkin doorntch
here (this) Noongar country, here (this) beautiful land, here standing
together

Why a Greeting in Noongar?

The Wadjug Noongar people are the traditional owners of my hearth-place, Gaia House, 35 Camberwell Street, East Victoria Park, the place from which this Pilgrimage will commence, and the place where in 12 months time, the Pilgrimage will end. For people looking for information on the Wadjug Noongar I invite them to check out the information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whadjuk and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noongar.

From these sites you will learn that the Aboriginal inhabitants of this land are not only the oldest surviving culture on the planet, that they constitute amongst the oldest modern Human Homo sapiens group found outside Africa, and that they have been living in this region for over 70,000 years! Considering that modern humans have only lived in Europe fro about 35-40,000 years, this is an amazing achievement. You will also learn a little about how Wadjug Noongar dispossession of their country has resulted in enormous social distruption and continuing cost to all Western Australians.

Also, Western Australians generally understand a number of ways of saying "Hello" in other languages (eg Bon Jour, Guten Tag, Buenas Dias etc), but very few can say hello (i.e. Gaia) in the indigenous language of their own home. I include the Noongar greeting as an unapologetic attempt to educate us settler people in the languages of the country we have seized from the indigenous first nation peoples of this land.

A little more Community Education.

To acknowledge the traditional owners of this country of Australia, I invite everyone reading this Weblog to change your mailing address to include the Aboriginal name of your bioregion. What is a bioregion? The Global Biodiversity Assessment defines bioregion as "A territory defined by a combination of biological, social, and geographic criteria, rather than geopolitical considerations; generally, a system of related, interconnected ecosystems." Most people in Western countries can relate to the geo-political units to which they are a part but are woefully ignorant of the bioregions they inhabit, with the result that their lifestyles are cancerous and destructive of the integrity of the environments in which they live.

So what is your bioregion? Look at the map attached at the site http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=2&page=TIN_Tribal and you will be able to find your own natural bioregion.

Now on your address, insert your bioregion name IN EVERY LETTER YOU WRITE FROM NOW ON!

In my case

My address for snail mail (which can be forwarded to me) is

John Croft
Gaia House
PO Box 1417
East Victoria Park
Wadjug Bioregion
WA 6981
Australia

Enough Education for the moment!

Welcome to John Croft's weblog for his world-wide "Gaia Pilgrimage" Project. This project will be John's major Gaia Foundation project for the next 12 months, and will end with his return to Perth Western Australia, in March 2007.

Are you in the right place?

There are many John Croft's in the world. My GP has 5 all of whom attend the Victoria Park Medical Service (it makes fun when I go to my doctor, I have to make sure he is entering my medical details on the right file. The attached photo is of the creator of this Weblog.

This weblog will contain photos, stories and information of my journey around the world. This is not just a tourist jaunt. My intention is that this project will meet the three criteria of all Gaia Projects

1. It will be a project of personal growth for me
2. It will be a project that strengthens the communities of which I am a part
3. It will be a project that works in service to the Earth.

So folks, I invite all visitors to this blog site to Indroduce yourselves and start by creating for yourself personally, an intention for you that would make my journey (and your frequent visiting of this blog) worth your while.

"Em tasol, bai mi lukim yu"

(That's all, see you later)

For the Earth

John