Past Programs
Poetry - 2008
Kinship stories
31/05/2008
Kinship is defined as the biological and cultural relationships we inherit through birth. In Aboriginal culture, these bonds run deep - extending like rivulets across the continent. Ali Cobby Eckermann's life has been shaped by her journey to discover her Aboriginal family, while the late Ngarrindjeri senior woman Doreen Kartinyeri once described kinship as her life's passion.
In this program Ali Cobby Eckermann talks about finding her birth mother after more than 30 years - as well as her relationship with her son, who like herself, had been adopted out. Klynton Wanganeen remembers the life of his mother, Doreen Kartinyeri and Jennifer Martiniello reads her poem Birthing Cloth, about the kinship bonds between generations of Arrernte women.
The Aboriginal voice - the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature
17/05/2008
What defines Aboriginal literature? Is it history and politics or are black writers now free to exercise their creativity in works of the imagination?
Anita Heiss and Peter Minter have edited a new anthology which, in a chronological way, documents the Aboriginal voice - from a plaintive letter that Bennelong wrote in 1796 after his return from England to the work of more contemporary writers like Kim Scott and Alexis Wright.
Return to the Narran Lakes
10/05/2008
The migratory water birds that once flocked thousands of kilometres to the Narran Lakes have returned and so has the Aboriginal community after recent heavy rains across north-western New South Wales and upstream in Queensland.
Nick McClean takes us back to Gamilaroi/Yuwaalaraay country to see how the Lake is coming back to life.
Also, we bring you a tribute to the playwright Jack Davis and the curator Djon Mundine reads another of his essays, about an exhibition of digital art.
<em>Kalkadungu</em>
29/03/2008
A 23-minute piece scored for orchestra, electric guitar, solo voice and didjeridu, Kalkadungu is based on a song which the master didjeridu player William Barton wrote in his language when he was 15.
The song was inspired by his Kalkadungu country in north-western Queensland.
William Barton says the song itself is about the passing of Kalkadungu culture from one generation to the next.
He joins us to talk about the new composition, co-written with composer Matthew Hindson, which is being performed for the first time by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra next week.
Also we hear Also, the poet Yvette Holt reads from her newly-published anthology 'Anonymous Premonition'. And curator Djon Mundine ruminates out loud on the significance of water and waterways in contemporary Indigenous art.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as a downloadable MP3.
