Dreamtime on the Derbarl Yerrigan is a very scenic voyage around the important waters of the area.

Dreamtime on the Derbarl Yerrigan is a very scenic voyage around the important waters of the area. Surrounded with an astonishing view of water and the city lights you are drawn into the charismatic storyteller's (elder Walter McGuire) description of the area before the British invaded.

It's a very interesting cruise, and informative too, looking at the various artifacts Elder McGuire had brought, particularly the 200 year old message stick. I was really taken with the two songs which Mr McGuire performed - I could have listened to them for much longer, they were so skillfully performed and very moving.

The one koora koora story he related belongs to his family to tell, but if you want to know one version of it, it's written on the wall of the Chevron Gardens facing the Derbarl Yerrigan. (Swan River)

The Crystal Swan was an excellent venue for this experience, and a very interesting experience all around.

8/10 Fascinating and a good tray of thali when you're peckish on the Sid & Nancy Scale.

#fringeworld #fringeworld2019 #nyungar #indigenous #nyoongar #noongar
https://fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/dreamtime-on-the-derbarl-yerrigan-fw2019

On Thursday night we saw the opening of A National Park.

On Thursday night we saw the opening of A National Park. Black Sapphire productions has produced a little gem - a one hour play invested with humour, wisdom and sensitivity. The two performers, Jessie Ward & Killian Harty as respectively Akasha the knowledgeable park ranger on her own boodjar, and Kasey, the Irish ecologist with something of a flaky outlook on things are very well attuned to their roles.

Harty's lovely voice and guitar strumming set the scene in the National Park as he awaits the arrival of Akasha the Park Ranger.

We're somewhere in the South-West of Western Australia 10 years from now - frakking is suspected of destroying the biodiversity of the National Park that Akasha is employed to care for. It being her mob's ancestral boodjar, or heartland, she would have been caring for it anyway I bet, but no harm in being paid, unna?

If you come to this play without any knowledge of Noongar protocols, it's a good first step into awareness of their approach to their relationship with the land and the life on it, and with their interaction with the modern world. Step inside the life of a woman who balances her work, her moort (extended tribe and family), with international travel and rock concerts very successfully.

She makes an extraordinary discovery in the National Park, and things suddenly get complicated - the political and conservation consequences have to be weighed carefully and Kasey the ecologist is very excited about the whole thing. Materialism wars with concern for the land and trust is a very fragile thing. When the very elements seem to be against them while waiting for Auntie some difficult decisions have to be made. You'll laugh a lot, there's some very funny writing there, and you'll think some too.

There's really not a lot I can say further without there being serious spoilers. I'd urge anyone to go and see it, but they're sold out, so perhaps if they extend the season or run it again you might get to enjoy it.

There were a couple of sections that I felt were a bit odd. They go to sleep, with still some way to go to the cave, but when they wake up, after some conversation, they're suddenly there? I'm not sure that for me that there was enough indication that some time had passed in travel. But then time is not the same for wadjela as it is for Nyoongar.

I really liked the soundscape of the birds and the insects, some very familiar southwest sounds there. Nice to have a few Noongar words too, being used and explained.

Andrea Fernandez, the writer heading up Black Sapphire productions has done a great job with these characters and with the story and I look forward to seeing more of her work! The next one will be a musical!

8/10 Boola moorditj and The Real Inspector Hound goes bushwalking with Napoleon Bonaparte on the Sid & Nancy Scale.

#fringeworld #fringeworld2019 #review #indigenous #noongar
https://fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/a-national-park-fw2019

Boorna Waanginy (Trees speaking) is a nocturnal excursion through Karda Katta (Kings Park) - a trek through the 6...

Boorna Waanginy (Trees speaking) is a nocturnal excursion through Karda Katta (Kings Park) - a trek through the 6 indigenous seasons of the South West of Western Australia and one I look forward to seeing. It runs

Fri 8 Feb, 8pm-11pm

Sat 9 Feb, 8pm-11pm

Sun 10 Feb, 8pm-11pm

Mon 11 Feb, 8pm-11pm

Last entry at 10.30pm.

I really want to get to this. #nyungar #noongar #westernaustralia #indigenous
https://www.perthfestival.com.au/experience/boorna-waanginy

South Africa has its fynbos, California has chaparral, France maquis and Chile has matorral - all landscapes...

South Africa has its fynbos, California has chaparral, France maquis and Chile has matorral - all landscapes experiencing Mediterranean climate. So sandy, with bushes and the occasional tree and a low phosphorous content, and limited rainfall.

Here in Noongar boodjar our equivalent is known as kwongan and it's proving to be of great interest because it's a hotspot of botanical biodiversity. Have a read of the wikipedia article. If you've driven through the Stirling Ranges and particularly the Fitzgerald River National Park you'll be familiar with the landscape.

It's also where Wongan Hills gets its name from (over 50% of places in the South West are derived from their Noongar names.) Kwongan Katta - hills above the Kwongan.

#westernaustralia #nyoongar #nyungar #indigenous #noongar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwongan