A woman who believed she had been "cursed" after taking rocks from a sacred Indigenous site, has shed happy tears after sending the artefacts back to where they belong.
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The 36-year-old, who did not want to be named, was holidaying in the Northern Territory with her husband, when he picked up a handful of small rocks during a hike at Nitmiluk National Park near Katherine.
After returning to their Sunshine Coast home, the couple experienced an avalanche of bad fortune, with three sudden "freak" deaths just the tip of the iceberg.
The woman, who also lost one of her frozen embryo eggs at the same time, took to social media in a desperate bid to end the "horror" and "save a life".
After hearing stories about other people experiencing endless strings of bad luck after taking rocks from Indigenous sites within Northern Territory National Parks, the woman found a Katherine local who she sent the rocks to for them to be returned to Nitmiluk Gorge.
"Thank you so much for taking these rocks back to their home. It means the world to us," she wrote in a note.
Jane Runyu-Fordimail, the Cultural Manager at Jawoyn Association, has since taken the rocks back to where they had come from and "let the ancestors know that they are back".
In her more than 30 years at Nitmiluk Ms Runyu-Fordimail said she had seen "lots and lots" of items returned to the park.
"People take things away and then they suddenly have bad karma and bad luck in life," she said.
"I've heard a lot of stories. Tragic, terrible things have happened to people. That's why we tell people 'You can see but you can't touch'.
"Bad karma is real.
"People take rocks or driftwood, pebbles or sticks as memorable items, but they belong here, they belong to country.
"It is our belief that they are part of that area, they belong here. It's a precious thing for the area that gets stolen.
"It's like someone coming to your house and taking something. You would want it back. It's the same here, country wants it back. Don't steal from country."
Ms Runyu-Fordimail said visitors to National Parks were encouraged to "take photos, nothing else" but taken items would regularly turn up in the mail with the request for them to be returned to where they had been taken from.
In regards to the recently returned rocks, the Cultural Manager said she was "thankful" the Sunshine Coast woman had sent them back.
"We are sorry for what has happened to her and her family," she said.
"We wish her well. And now that the rocks are back, everything should be working out for her."
Annie Hesse
I am an award-winning media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcast, as well as photography and videography. I am the NT Correspondent at Australian Community Media and I write for my hometown newspaper, the Katherine Times. I love telling people's stories, and I am passionate about giving those a voice who may otherwise remain unheard. When I am not busy putting pen to paper, I spend time in my garden, go bushwalking or travel across the Northern Territory, Australia or the world. In my spare time I write, illustrate and publish books.
I am an award-winning media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcast, as well as photography and videography. I am the NT Correspondent at Australian Community Media and I write for my hometown newspaper, the Katherine Times. I love telling people's stories, and I am passionate about giving those a voice who may otherwise remain unheard. When I am not busy putting pen to paper, I spend time in my garden, go bushwalking or travel across the Northern Territory, Australia or the world. In my spare time I write, illustrate and publish books.
