Barbara Oehring Photography

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY by writer/historian Giordano Nanni and Yorta Yorta playwright Andrea James, and directed by Rachael Maza, was first presented at La Mama Courthouse in Melbourne in 2010.

On 21 February 2016 La Mama Theatre staged a special one-off performance of CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY on-country at Coranderrk.

Coranderrk was an Aboriginal Station founded in 1863 near preset-day Healesville. In 1881 the people of The Coranderrk Aboriginal Station took on the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in a fight for dignity and self-determination. This led to the 1881 Coranderrk Parliamentary Inquiry.

The script of CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY consists entirely of extracts from the Minutes of Evidence of the Coranderrk Parliamentary Inquiry into the Aboriginal Reserve at Coranderrk. Through the medium of verbatim theatre the cast re-enact key passages from testimonies, letters and petitions of 20 witnesses (nine of them Aboriginal) who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry.

The re-staging on-country at Coranderrk itself was a truly historic event. It was performed by Uncle Jack Charles, Jim Daly, Syd Brisbane, Glen Shea, David Paterson, Greg Fryer, Pauline Whyman, Peter Finlay and Liz Jones.

The stage is all set up.

At 5.00pm the gates at Coranderrk opened and people started to arrive for the 6.30pm performance.

Mission Australia social enterprise restaurant Charcoal Lane provided food featuring native Australian ingredients. A delicious tasting plate was given to anyone with a ticket to the show.

A large crowd, including some descendants of the Aboriginal people who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry, turned up.

Baby Robert, a descendant of Robert Wandon, with his mother.
Wandon was a Coranderrk stockman, Barak's nephew and successor as Ngurungatea (leader).

Alan Wandin in the presence of his daughters Jacqui Wandin and Brooke Collins welcomed everyone.

CORANDERRK: WE WILL SHOW THE COUNTRY begins.

Uncle Jack Charles as Barak, Wurundjeri clan-head; Ngurungaeta (leader) of the Coranderrk community.

The wonderful cast.

It was a moving event particularly for the descendants of The Coranderrk Aboriginal Station.
After the performance a Question and Answer session was held. Here a descendant speaks.

For information on Coranderrk's past, present and future, please visit the Coranderrk website: coranderrk.com

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Blak & Bright: Blak Gala: Stories Behind the Songs

The first Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival is presented in Melbourne from 18 to 21 February 2016. Playwright and author Jane Harrison of Muruwari heritage is Blak & Bright's Festival Director. Her message: Let's read Blak, hear Blak and celebrate Blak stories.

On Friday night I attended Blak Gala: Stories Behind the Songs, a festival event presented by the Wheeler Centre and held at Shebeen in Manchester Lane in Melbourne. Aboriginal musicians Monica Weightman, Kutcha Edwards and James Henry performed and talked about the stories behind their songs. Actor/writer Tammy Anderson was MC.

Tammy Anderson interviews Monica Weightman.

Kutcha Edwards with Dan Fox on guitar.

Monica Weightman and James Henry.

For information on Blak & Bright, The Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival, please visit http://blakandbright.com.au/

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Yalukit Wilum Ngargee: People Place Gathering

The eleventh Indigenous music and cultural festival YALUKIT WILUM NGARGEE was held on 6 February 2016 at O'Donnell Gardens in St Kilda. The celebration is part of the St Kilda Festival. The main event, FESTIVAL SUNDAY, will be held on Sunday 14 February on the St Kilda foreshore.

Yesterday, on a beautiful summer's day, I visited Yalukit Wilum Ngargee: People Place Gathering - for the first time.

I arrived after the Welcome to Country by Arweet Carolyn Briggs, a senior Boon Wurrung spokesperson. Boon Wurrung is a clan of the greater Kulin nations. Euro Yuroke, more commonly known as St Kilda, is on the land of the Boon Wurrung people.

Embracing smoke at a Smoking Ceremony.

Indigenous Hip Hop Projects performed. I admired their dancers.

Yalukit Wilum Ngargee was hosted by the wonderful actor/writer Tammy Anderson.
Tammy watches the Hip Hop crew from the stage.

Birds of Prey were on show at Yalukit Wilum Ngargee.
Barn Owl and Masked Owl.

Wedge-tailed Eagle.
The eagle is the Kulin nations' spiritual being.

On the stage Monica Weightman gave a great performance.

There were many more musical acts to follow finishing with Bart Willoughby in the evening but it was time for me to leave.

I am looking forward to another Yalukit event: CONFINED. The exhibition by Indigenous artists currently in or recently released from custody in Victoria will be shown at the Gallery, St Kilda Town Hall, from 10 February to 8 March 2016.

For details and further Yalukit events:
http://www.stkildafestival.com.au/yalukit/other-events

Monday, January 25, 2016

A Cruise Around New Zealand

My partner and I enjoyed travelling around New Zealand on the Golden Princess in November/December 2015.

On a very hot and overcast late spring afternoon we boarded our cruise ship in Port Melbourne.

We travelled 1,620 nautical miles from Melbourne to Auckland, our first port of call.

The day we arrived in Auckland the Christmas Parade was on.

Albert Park, a restful place with magnificent trees, right in the city.

The Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki adjoins Albert Park.

Early next morning we arrived in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. The name Tauranga is a Maori word that roughly translates to "a sheltered anchorage".

We walked to the beach town of Mount Maunganui and wandered around the base track of Mauao (Mount Maunganui), a dormant volcanic cone of great cultural significance.

Embarkation time.

The following day in Gisborne we visited the Tairawhiti Museum which provides one of the best studies of Maori and colonial history of the East Coast region.

November 2015 marked 100 years since the death of William Fitzgerald Crawford who is best remembered for his photographs of activities of the Gisborne-East Coast region. We viewed remarkable images from the vast collection of photographs and negatives that survived.

Two beautiful examples of Maori art on display were Robyn Kahukiwa's Hinematioro, 1988, alkyd oil/enamel on canvas and H. Dickson's Bust of Heni Materoa, 1910, bronze.

The next day we explored Wellington, the capital of New Zealand on North Island's southernmost point.

We spent a satisfying afternoon at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. I was impressed by the beautiful space dedicated to the Treaty of Waitangi. The glass Treaty is a replica of the one signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840 and now stored at Archives New Zealand. The Treaty is not a single page but a group of documents.

This waka horua (voyaging canoe) Te Aurere Iti is a small scale replica of Te Aurere. The waka are sacred to Maori.

Photography at the museum was well represented by a great visual history of New Zealand: New Zealand Photography Collected, an exhibition of photographs drawn from the museum's national collection. A beautiful publication New Zealand Photography Collected was available to purchase in the museum shop.

Sunrise on the way to Akaroa on South Island.

Akaroa , a charming village on Banks Peninsula, was the only French settlement in New Zealand.

The following morning our Princess ship docked in Port Chalmers near Dunedin. Dunedin, New Zealand's oldest city, is located at the head of Otago Harbour.

The Otago Peninsula is one of South Island's most significant wildlife areas. My partner and I travelled to Taiaroa Head where we experienced wildlife in its natural habitat.

New Zealand Fur seals.

The next day was spent scenic cruising in Fiordland National Park. Fiordland is New Zealand's largest National Park. It was declared World Heritage Area in 1986.

Much of Fiordland's indigenous temperate rain forest clings to steep faces of rock.

After a few days at sea our cruise ship reached Melbourne. We had travelled a total distance from Melbourne to Melbourne of 3.910 nautical miles in 13 days.