Past Programs
Women - 2008
Ngarukuruwala - 'we sing songs together'
22/11/2008
A rare music collaboration brings together a group of culturally strong women from the Tiwi Islands off Darwin and a 6-piece jazz outfit from Sydney. Ngarukuruwala means 'we sing songs together' in the Tiwi language, and in this program we present a full concert recording from the Sydney Opera House. The Wangatunga Women's Group from Bathurst Island are the heart of this collaboration, and the jazz, blues and swing band led by Genevieve Campbell its musical backbone.
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 healing power of stories
24/05/2008
William Munget was presumed drowned when the pearling boat Enid sank off the coast of north-western Australia in 1928. Many years later and on the other side of the continent, six of the 12 children of Nugget and Mary Edwards were kidnapped by police acting on the advice of government welfare authorities. These two stories illustrate the power that memory and loss exercise over our lives, the deep love of family across the generations and the need for healing.
Heartsick for Country: Pat Dudgeon
Pat Dudgeon is from the Bardi people of the Kimberley region in north-western Australia. A psychologist who's just completed her doctoral thesis, Pat is one of the contributing writers to a new anthology about country and the spirituality of place. Her story is an evocation of the mysterious death at sea of her great-grandfather, William Munget, a pearler whose boat sank off the north-west coast in 1928. 'The sinking of the Enid' skilfully combines oral history and documentary evidence from the files of the WA Department of Native Affairs. In this program, Pat reads from her story and talks about the role of psychology in healing.
Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man: Kutcha and Mick Edwards
Kutcha Edwards was 18 months old when he and five of his brothers and sisters were 'kidnapped' by police who were acting on the advice of government welfare authorities. As a family and as individuals, their lives were permanently fractured. Even though they were reunited years later with their mother Mary, the damage had already been done. The production Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man is literally set around a kitchen table. Kutcha and his older brother Mick talk about the show's return season and their unbroken family songline.
