"I just wish the world should go to Makli and absorb the unique feeling of peace and calm," says Professor Jaky Troy, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney.
Troy hails from the Ngarigu community in the Snowy Mountains and has an academic focus on the Indigenous languages of Pakistan. She recently returned from Pakistan, where she was amazed by archaeological sites in the southern province of Sind.
The historical city of Thatta and its surrounding region were crucial parts of the Indus civilisation between the 14th and 18th centuries. Makli Necropolis is spread over 10 square kilometres and is one of the largest funerary sites in the world.
Professor Jacky Troy in Pakistan Source: Supplied
There is a very strong blend of past and present there, as Professor Troy found, noting the past echoes through current local traditions, culture, food, architecture, music and almost every part of the region's rural life. It is an extraordinary place, she says.
"I just wish the world should go to Makli and absorb the unique feeling of peace and calm," says Troy, "especially standing at Makli when the sun was setting, its gorgeous pink-red glow and it went down and lit-up these ancient architecture made of the same colour... Single piece stone slabs are carved and embossed in an extraordinary artistic style.
"I have seen some fabulous art around the world but this is such perfection."
Professor Troy says her decision to visit Pakistan stems from her own very personal interest in archaeology and ancient civilisation.
"As an Aboriginal person, I feel a strong connection with Pakistan because it is not only full of its own indigenous people but the region also retains its huge cultural history."
The banks of the Indus River (locally called Deraya-e-Sind) are the land of one of Earth's very ancient civilisations.
"It actually goes back six to ten thousand years [when] there were people traveling from that part of the world that is part of the same region," she says.
Professor Troy says that Australia's history should be viewed as more South Asian than European, as it is quite similar to the history of Pakistan and India, where the British first arrived as merchants, but subsequently came to invade, dominate and colonise the region.
Makli in Southern Pakistan is "outstanding testament" to Sindhi civilization between the 14th and 18th centuries Source: Supplied
The Ghan cameleers who assisted in traversing and opening trade routes through central Australia also hail from that region.
Professor Troy says the ancestral connections between Aboriginal people and people who came to Australia from what is now Pakistan prove great links between the cultures and civilisations.
Source: Supplied
"I personally know another Aboriginal whose great-great-grandfather came to Australia from Lahore," she says. "He was a hawker there and worked in Australia as a salesman in the Australian outback and remote rural areas in very early days. There are many people who are connecting up with Pakistan in a very recent history because their families are Aboriginal and Pakistani.
Further, Troy believes an icon of the Australian outback - the dingo - hails from Pakistan too.
"The other thing brought to Australia 6,000 years back is our favourite wild dog commonly known as 'Dingo'," she says. "Dingo's Aboriginal name is 'boolomo' or 'mirigung' and when I was in Sind and also in North of Pakistan I found a lovely yellow dog running around everywhere with similarities to Dingo in Sydney Aboriginal language."
Troy says she felt very safe and welcomed during her stay in Pakistan.
Source: Supplied
"People treat each other with love and respect and care in Pakistan. There is nothing fractious or frightening and I have never afraid in Pakistan while traveling across the country on my own."
Credit: Images and reflective views shared by professor Jacky Troy
