Gundungurra man David King, aka Dingo Darbo, spoke with National Indigenous Times about his connection to country, the history of The Gully in Katoomba and life growing up as the son of Aunty Mary King.

Mr King operates tourism and cultural guides throughout the Blue Mountains, land he knows like the back of his hand, having spent time on country with his uncles and aunties who have passed down the knowledge that he shares with visitors and locals of the region today.

His mother, Aunty Mary King, who was born in Katoomba in 1926, was a child of the Stolen Generation, having been taken from her family as an eight-year-old under the government policy of the time.

Mr King described the impact this had on her, saying how when you don't grow up with family, it becomes difficult to function as an adult in a family unit.

Aunty Mary's childhood memories of the Blue Mountains community are positive.

"Mum always said that Katoomba supported people, no matter who you were," he said.

Aunty Mary would often share stories of coming up out of the mission, which was referred to as The Gully to get to the top of the hill in Katoomba, and how everyone called her little Nellie Mack as opposed to her real name of Alice Cooper "because then they would know she was Nessie Cooper's daughter and they would take her."

Mr King said that community members would use different surnames to hide Aboriginal children's identity to try and protect them.

"They'd say to my mum 'Nellie have you been fed?' She would say no and then they would get around and give her a feed," he said.

"So I think we've had a good relationship, a lot of our family managed to survive up there and somehow stayed around town when you knew the local government was rejecting our people because that was just their opinions."

As a young adult, Aunty Mary travelled to London for a marriage that didn't work out and soon found herself back in Australia living in suburban Sydney, where she ironed and made hamburgers in the local pub for a living.

"Like every kid that was impacted by the stolen generation, despite going to many events where there were Aboriginal people, my mum was scared to identify because of that fear that I'd be removed, because she thought that's what happened to you" Mr King said.

Whilst he was disconnected from country at the time, Mr King still has fond memories of growing up in Guilford, a part of the Darug Nation and Parramatta also known as Burramatta country.

"I never went hungry, I'd leave school at lunch and head to the pub for a burger," he said, attesting Aunty Mary was known for making the best hamburgers.

Although Aunty Mary was scared to identify, she still shared culture with Mr King and they often visited family.

"We always went back up the mountains" he said.

It was in the mid 1990's that Mr King got called on by his uncles and aunties to come back to country.

Deciding to do this, he said taking his young family back to the Blue Mountains and reconnecting with the land and family members was a pivotal moment.

"It's just been a wonderful experience, I got up there in my opinion in the right timing, because the uncle and aunties were still with us," he said.

Mr King eventually joined his family members in the fight for rights to The Gully, caretaking of the land was successfully granted to the families that have a cultural connection in 2002.

This was similar to a Native Title claim.

"In this part of the country they give you the land under a legal contract, the Gully is co-managed and it's owned by Blue Mountains City Council but you can't come and dig a hole or anything there without GTO approval," he said.

The Gully was also known as South Katoomba Mission.

"It was actually set up by one of the churches in town to try and support those impacted by technically being outsiders," Mr King said.

"The people that live there so we have a separate constitution called Gully Traditional Owners, because a lot of people went there because it was sort of known as a spot where you could be safe.

"So when that got handed back and when Kevin Rudd said sorry, my mum had a sense of… it was really alright to be Aboriginal and I got to journey on country with her.

"Before that she'd fire up and get angry, she just didn't want to go there because you know, she had that fear.

"I hate to see someone as beautiful as my mum carry fear for the major part of her life because of a decision made by people that said, you're probably good to be a domestic, you're not really human and you know, we're just going to take you away.

"So she settled in then and it was a good period, a really good period for us."

Aunty Mary sadly passed away in 2015.

"It still hurts, we still miss her," Mr King said.

"I wish we had of had more time with her and learned more, she was always the greatest woman on earth anyway, the stuff she did to protect you as a kid so that you didn't get taken was just absolutely phenomenal.

"But yeah, we got that last bit on earth with her, with Aunty Mary King and it was good."

On places not to miss when venturing through the Blue Mountains, Mr King said the Grand Canyon walk in Blackheath was "sensational".

You head up towards Blackheath, you get out at Heavens Lookout Road. You park right at the end, you come back and you walk through so many beautiful ecosystems, rydges, rainforests and you come up and look right down the Grose Valley and Rydge Lines," he said.

"I reckon the Grand Canyon from an environmental connection to country perspective, there's nothing like that. That's one of my favorite walks."

Along with leading accessible cultural tours through tourism group Scenic World, Mr King also spends time working with school aged children.

He shared the positive impact that walking on country has on children who are doing it tough.

"I became a youth worker in my twenties because I was disconnected in my teen years and sometimes when you sit with somebody and you know that group you've got are struggling you know in the worlds eyes, because apparently you know we have a methodology where if you don't stay on that thin line, then there's something wrong with you," he said.

Mr King shared a story of taking students down to visit an elbow tree in Hazelbrook.

He said the way the tree had grown, it had creases in it and it looks just like an elbow.

A few days later, he received a call from the school who advised that one of their students who had not been an engaged learner had just written a poem about the elbow tree.

"He's so connected to that part of the country that we have seen a change in this young fellas behaviour," the school had said.

As someone who spends significant time engaging with First Nations students Mr King said starting high school can be a difficult transition because they go from a small primary school that is quite personal, to being in a bigger school where the teachers don't even know their names.

On his own high school experience, he said that there were many primary schools all in one and there are all these new kids who you don't know, but you may have played sport against them as opposition and then all of a sudden you are thrown into the same classroom together.

He would then get in trouble or sent out of the classroom because he "couldn't concentrate for 40 minutes straight".

Mr King is appearing on The Great Australian Walks with Julia Zemiro, a new SBS series airing Thursday's at 7.30pm on SBS or any time on SBS On Demand.