It was 8:30pm, pitch black, and torrential rain created long silver streaks in the high beam lights of the car as we sped along the narrow strip of bitumen that is typical of roads in the Victorian high country. In these conditions familiarity with the road is impossible, your world is blackness, rain and the hundred or so feet of bitumen you can see in front of you. There are no lights in the distance to provide context or to hint at progress. After some time, out of the blackness, a roadside sign takes form. It is rust coloured sign and signals our departure from the bitumen.

We find the dirt track awash with the torrential rain and barely visible. It is our first time up here in the 4WD and the “sure footedness” of the new car feels comforting in these appalling conditions. Easing our way across the small bridge that spans the flooded Rubicon River we pull in Jungai Camp for a weekend of cold, rain and aboriginal culture.

This is Taungurung country, in the heart of the Victorian highlands, in the depths of winter. The hills are shrouded in cloud and a steady drenching rain keeps at least a centimetre of water over all but the steepest sections of ground. It is a very normal winter scene in the high country, the environment in which the Taunurung lived for thousands of years in simple bark shelters and wearing nothing but the occasional animal skin.

It is a testament to their survival skills and resilience that they survived here. I would not stand much of a chance dressed like that out in these conditions, nor would the Taungurung of today probably. Not to worry, along with me, they are cocooned in the warmth of Camp Jungai talking of archaeological surveys, land rights and the preservation of language and culture. This was a much more intellectual effort than our last trip here, which was about art, music and dance. It is still important stuff but not so much fun, never the less, it is impressive the progress being made in reconstructing the language.

The group has been working with a linguist and through extensive research the basic nouns of the language are being uncovered and documented but there is still such a long way to go.