“It’s like me getting permission to go to your place,” she said.

“I’m letting you know I’m on your property, like making a phone call to let someone know what you’re doing.

“Back in the old days they would have let someone know by smoke, or yelling out, that you’re coming onto their land. There used to be strict land boundaries in times past.”

Ms Duroux said she still does this in everyday life, and it’s not only to let the present landholders know what’s going on, but also past ones.

“We also let the spirits know,” she said.

She feels the Welcome to Country is a valuable part of ceremonies like NAIDOC Day, saying it always brings tears to her eyes.

After she did Welcome to Country duties at a recent showground event she said a lady came up to her afterwards and thanked her for explaining what the tradition means.

“She said a light came on for her, now that she understood what it meant.”

Ms Duroux said the practice shows respect for old spiritual customs. When she visits Curry’s Gap Conservation Area she feels someone watching, and goes through the ritual of touching rocks and letting the spirits know what she’s doing there, in order to placate them.

She recalls walking through an area with her late mother Lavinia and suddenly feeling paralysed. Her mother chastised her, saying if she was fit enough to do the walking then Helen should be able to as well, but Helen replied she couldn’t move her legs.

Mrs Duroux had the solution.

“She touched the rocks and spoke in some lingo I couldn’t understand, but then I could move my legs again. 

“When I asked her what had happened, she said, ‘I spoke to the old people and told them you were with me’,” Ms Duroux said.

“And that really happened.”