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Ardèche Mounts

Understand Old One

What if you came back now
To our new world, the city roaring
There on the old peaceful camping place
Of your red fires along the quiet water,
How you would wonder
At towering stone gunyas high in air
Immense, incredible;
Planes in the sky over, swarms of cars
Like things frantic in flight.

Oodgeroo Noonucal
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Ardeche

Ardèche département is located in Rhône-Alpes région, southern France. It was formed in 1790 from the Vivarais district of Languedoc. It occupies the Cévennes edge of the Massif Central and is a highland region that is deeply scored by torrents feeding the Ardèche River flowing to the Rhône, which forms its eastern boundary. North of the Ardèche River valley, the volcanic hills of the Coirons jut out southeastward toward the Rhône River valley, and in the west Mount Mézenc, part of the Velay volcanic plateau, rises to 5,751 feet (1,753 m). The upper Allier River forms part of the département's western boundary. The sheltered valleys near the Rhône River are warm, but winter is severe on the higher ground.

Climb Date: château de Craux (site volcanique), Genestelle (Ardèche) 20 avril 2002, à 15 heures.

Reading organized by René Quinon, poet and writer, and Christiane Tricoit, publisher of the art and literary review "Passage d'encres" which participate to Le Palais des poètes, at the Conciergerie, Paris (16-17 March). With Joël Bastard, poet and writer; Alain Chaneac, editor of "Faire part", literary review; Jean-Gabriel Cosculluela, poet and writer.
Oodgeroo Noonucal
Oodgeroo Noonucal (1920-1993) was known for most of her life as the writer, painter and political activist, Kath Walker. In 1988, she resumed her traditional name and returned her MBE in protest at the condition of her people in the year of Australia's Bicentenary celebrations. Oodgeroo shared with her father the Dreaming totem the carpet snake (Kabul) and his sense of injustice. Leaving school at the age of 13, Oodgeroo worked as a domestic servant until 1939,when she volunteered for service in the Australian Women's Army Service. Between 1961 and 1970, Oodgeroo achieved national prominence not only as the Queensland State Secretary of the Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (CAATSI), but through her highly popular poetry and writing. With her 1964 collection of verse We Are Going, Oodgeroo became the first published Aboriginal woman. Selling out in three days, We Are Going rivalled the previous record for a publication of Australian verse set in 1916 by C. J. Dennis and his Moods of Ginger Mick. The Dream Is at Hand (1966) was her second volume of poems. My People (1970) represented verse from the earlier editions as well as new poems, short stories, essays and speeches. Stradbroke Dreamtime was published in 1972. Oodgeroo also wrote a number of children's books-- Father Sky and Mother Earth (1981), Little Fella (1986), and The Rainbow Serpent (1988) with her son, Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Vivian). Oodgeroo was involved with many Aboriginal rights organisations. These organisations included the National Tribal Council, the Aboriginal Arts Board, the Aboriginal Housing Committee, and the Queensland Aboriginal Advancement League. Oodgeroo spent her last days on Stradbroke Island where she established a cultural and environmental education centre known as Moongalba (resting-place).