Bart Pigram
FOUNDER OF NARLIJIA TOURS IN RUBIBI/BROOME
‘NARLI’ MEANS ‘TRUE, PROPER, authentic’ and ‘jia’ means ‘true authentic for you’. I called the company Narlijia because I don’t focus on the glossy side of the pearling industry in WA. Truth-telling is a major part of reconciliation and I cut deep with some tragic stories that no other operator dares to tell. I have been running tours for seven years and I don’t shy away from anything. It’s a revelation. I want to change the narrative. If I wasn’t so committed to continuing our traditional knowledge and practice I would not be in a position to absorb the true living spirituality of the landscape, its beauty and environmental and cultural significance. It is my responsibility to communicate to others the truth about Western Australia’s colonial history and how that impacted our ancestors and the ripple effect that has had on our circumstances today.
I learned about my culture from my grandmother, through music and heritage, and how that glues people together. What I am most proud of as a Yawuru man is speaking the language, practicing the culture and being connected to the Country of my paternal grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. I am a saltwater man and I belong to the Pigram-Puertollano family, who have a long tradition of pearling and performing. I have two Filipino great-great-grandfathers who arrived here due to the pearling industry and married Aboriginal women. That is a common social history in Broome and acknowledging that is a great way to connect visitors with Broome’s history.
My hope is that anyone who takes my tour feels they have made a ‘true’ connection to Broome. I’m not talking about lapping up the great weather and beaches, I’m talking about sponging up its fascinating social, political, industrial, cultural and environmental history, which is pretty unique. I have a very strong spiritual connection to this land. I feel the country. When I take visitors on my Mangrove Discovery Experience tour we walk on Country through Roebuck Bay, which is significant both culturally and historically for Broome. We also trek through jabalbal (mudflats) where I talk about the cultural significance of
