October to November
Colours: blue, green, orange, red
Climate: Longer dry periods, the flowering season.
Known as: Wildflower season (season of birth).
The rain has started to ease and Boodja (Country) is warming, as seen from the clouds opening up and the Ngark (Sun) beginning to bring to life all the djet (flowers) of the land. We see an abundance of colours and flowers exploding all around us. The yellows of many of the acacias continue to abound, along with some of the banksias and many other smaller delicate flowering plants including the kangaroo paw and orchids.
One of the most striking displays of flowers to be seen during this season will be the mooja (Christmas Tree or Nuytsia). The bright orange and yellow flowers serve to signal the heat is on its way.
For the animals, October is also the most likely time of the year that you'll encounter a snake as the reptiles start to awaken from their hibernation and look to make the most of the warmth to assist them in getting enough energy to look for food. It is also a time that many young families of birds will be singing out for their parents to feed them. Koolbardies (magpies) will also be out protecting their nests and their babies.
During this time the Wadandi people would collect tubers and bulbs such as kara (bush carrots), borna (bush chilli) and djubak (potatoes) which were either eaten raw or roasted in the ashes.
As the bilya (rivers) are full from the previous wet season of Makuru and Djilba, the Wadandi people would wade through the water to collect marron, gilgie (freshwater crayfish), gnoonern (duck), kooljuk (swan) and boyee (turtle) as sources of meat.
The wannang (peppermint or sgonis flexuosa) flowers indicate that the tailor fish are schooling in waatu (ocean) and being caught in the bays.
The balga (grasstree) will also start to flower telling the Wadandi people that the season has changed, the warmer water creating the perfect opportunity for catching caabern (blue groper).
With thanks to Undalup Association for providing and giving permission for NLC to use this information: https://www.undalup.com/
