Baseball WA is pleased to recognise Reconciliation Week by rebranding Winter League as Makuru Baseball League for fixtures on Saturday 1 June.
The upcoming weekend of Makuru Baseball League is named for the native Noongar Season for winter (June/July). This falls within National Reconciliation Week (NRW), which is celebrated from 27 May to 3 June. The annual observance in Australia commemorates two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey: the successful 1967 referendum and the High Court Mabo Decision 1.
During NRW, Australians reflect on Indigenous histories, cultures, and achievements, and consider how to contribute to achieving reconciliation.
Baseball WA is grateful to play a small part in the acknowledgment and celebration of Indigenous culture, and we look forward to continuing our support through Indigenous Rounds in partnership with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service. DYHS provides culturally secure primary health, mental health and dental services for Aboriginal families living right across the Perth metropolitan area.
“Thank you to Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service for helping us to build stronger relationships with the Indigenous community,” Baseball WA CEO Lachlan Dale said. “We are inspired by this partnership and want to do our part to recognise Indigenous culture and support First Nations people.”
Fixtures for the Makuru Baseball League round can be found below.
If you would like to learn more about the meaning behind Makuru Baseball League, here is some information from Edith Cowan University explaining how Aboriginal seasons are guided by the land.
Noongar Six Seasons
Unlike the European calendar, there are six Noongar seasons in Western Australia’s South West region, which are indicated by changes in local plants and animals.
Traditionally Noongar people hunted and gathered food according to the seasons, being guided by the signs in nature as to which animal and plant resources were plentiful at those times.
Makuru
The Noongar Season ‘Makuru’ is represented by the colour dark blue as it symbolises rain and cold weather.
Makuru sees the coldest and wettest time of the year in the South West. Traditionally, this was a good time of the year to move back inland from the coast as the winds turned to the west and south bringing the cold weather, rains and occasionally snow on the peaks of the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges.
As the waterways and catchments started to fill, people were able to move about their country with ease and their food sources changed from the sea, estuarine and lake foods to those of the land, in particular the grazing animals such as the kangaroo.
As well as a food source, animals provided people with many other things. For example, the ‘yongar’ or kangaroo, not only provided meat but also ‘bookas’ (animal skin cloaks that were used as the nights became much cooler). Nothing was left. Even the bones and sinews were used in the manufacturing of bookas and for affixing barbs to hunting tools such as spears.
Makuru is also a time for a lot of animals to be pairing up in preparation for breeding in the coming season. If you look carefully, you might see pairs of ‘wardongs’ (ravens) flying together.
Upon the lakes and rivers of the South West, you’ll also start to see a large influx of the Black Swan or ‘Mali’ as they too prepare to nest and breed.
Flowers that will start to emerge include the blues and purples of the blueberry lily (Dianella revoluta) and the purple flags (Patersonia occidentalis).
As the season comes to a close, you should also start to notice the white flowers of the weeping peppermint (Agonis flexuosa) as the blues start to make way for the white and cream flowers of Djilba
