Time spent on Country is important for the development of a work on many levels. Connection to place fortifies connection to story. This visceral, in situ experience floods the body and senses with sights, sounds, smells etc. It is a learning experience different to that of reading text or watching footage. The dancers and creatives connect to place and draw on this in their workshopping and story-telling on stage.

Aunty Frances Bodkin brought her beautiful, hand made feather cloak to Appin, as a loan to Bangarra for the season of Macq. The cloak is adorned in feathers which had been gathered by Aunty Frances after having freely fallen on D'harawal country. The feathers are not stitched into the material but are carefully pressed into the material. Aunty Frances asked that, "if the feathers fall out, as sometimes they do, leave them where they settle as it is their choice to move on". Not one feather fell during the entire mainstage season of Macq, while the cloak was off D'harawal Country. Choreographer Jasmin Sheppard worked this special cloak into the section Hope, which is towards the end of Macq.