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The Australian Literature Resource
Welcome to our latest edition of Black Words e-news aimed at keeping you up-to-date with new books going into the Black Words Research Community and with what's happening on the ground with our team members around the country.
Email us on info-austlit@austlit.edu.au or use the Black Words feedback form.
Black Words has a new feature! Users can now click on the ‘See Random Author’ and ‘See Random Work’ links in the grey menu area on Black Words pages and can discover a different Black Words writer, storyteller, or work with each ‘click’.
Coming soon to Black Words are Subject Trails on: Stolen Generations, Identity, Music, Sporting Heroes, Land Rights, Children’s Literature, Reconciliation, Torres Strait Islander Literature, Kath Walker or Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Noongar (WA Indigenous Nation) and Wirajduri (NSW Indigenous Nation). Each Trail will provide an introduction and direct the user to selected texts, poems, films, plays and websites with relevant information for students and researchers interested in the subject.
An update from the Black Words team:
Dr Anita Heiss (Black Words National Coordinator, based in Sydney) will be presenting at the 2009 Black Writers Reunion and Conference in Las Vegas, June 19-21. More Black Words promotion on the international stage. Later in the year, Anita will also be attending the Tenth Annual Sprung Festival in Albany and the Big Sky Festival in Geraldton. Anita is also the National Books in Homes Ambassador for this school term. Currently there are 10,000 disadvantaged children on the Book in Homes program from 107 disadvantaged school communities across the country. In April, Anita was lucky enough to visit the Papunya School which is part of the program and witness students receiving their books.
From the desk of Jake Milroy (at the University of Western Australia). This month I came across a variety of poems and stories by talented Indigenous Australians. One of the works was 'When the Sea Level Rose' by Noel Nannup, an important Noongar man. 'When the Sea Level Rose' is a continuation of 'The Carers of Everything' and follows Nyingarn the Echidna, Kaarda the Goanna and their role of caring for the spirit of those who have passed. The story includes Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) when it was part of the mainland and goes on to introduce Mamong the Whale and Kieler the Dolphin who were to help Nyingarn and Kaarda. Noel Nannup is a gifted storyteller, and by sharing 'When the Sea Level Rose' has enhanced the knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritage within the region.
Between 15 June and 3 August, Yirra Yaakin presents the 2009 schools touring program of Windmill Baby, written and directed by David Milroy. This play will be touring Perth between the 21 May and 12 June, Gascoyne and Midwest between 15 June and 3 August. This play has won a number of awards and is set in the Kimberly.
From the desk of Elizabeth Hodgson and Dr Ernie Blackmore (at University of Wollongong)
Black Words – South Coast Research. Well, day two drew to a close and we began suffering from a kind of frustration brought about by following several 'red herrings'. According to the librarians at Bega, Bermagui and Moruya there are a great many items of published material and books by Aboriginal authors which have been passed on to Eden where a cultural centre and archive are currently under construction and although the published material is there, it is still packed away in boxes. We did, however, manage to find little treasures tucked away on the shelves that were useful to AustLit, if not to Black Words specifically. We had been relying on Auntie Beryl and Uncle Ozzie Cruse at Eden to provide us with some information, but they left Eden for Sydney the day before and there was no one who could be of assistance to us at this stage. This has now been somewhat compromised by the sudden and unexpected death of Auntie Beryl's younger sister Dossie. Auntie Beryl and Auntie Dossie, and the whole Cruse family, have a footprint that extends right down the coast from the Illawarra. Elizabeth has enjoyed a very close relationship with Auntie Dossie and in some ways it is hard to know how to proceed past this point without offending. The positive upside is that there are barriers coming down as we meet with community peoples as well as librarians, with whom we have had discussions and who are now aware of AustLit and Black Words and are 'on-side' and will be on the lookout for anything they feel may be of value or importance to the Black Words project. Dr Ernie Blackmore and Miss Elizabeth Hodgson
Wollongong University
From the desk of Yaritji Green (at Flinders University). In the past month I’ve been indexing a book called Dreaming in Motion: Celebrating Australia’s Indigenous Filmmakers. It is a fascinating book about the beginnings of Indigenous filmmaking from the filmmakers to the Indigenous Branch of the Australian Film Commission. I was really interested in the short movies that were in the book, so I placed a few orders such as Confessions of a Headhunter, Green Bush, Shit Skin and Cold Turkey for the Flinders University Library collection.
At the beginning of May, Tully Barnett (another AustLit worker at Flinders University) and I presented on AustLit and Black Words at a seminar for Humanities staff and postgraduate students. The seminar went over time due to numerous questions that were asked about AustLit, Black Words and the idea of indexing Storytellers on the database. For a Storyteller to be on Black Words, they have to be recognised by their community as having ownership to tell these stories. In the presentation I showed them Ngitji Ngitji’s agent page, I said she has a Storyteller status because we come from the same community and I know she is recognised as such. In Black Words we can find Storytellers from books we index, but we also rely on the Indigenous Australian community to let us know of their Storytellers, so we can place them on our database.
New Black Words team members coming soon!
Our next newsletter just might contain some reports from a couple of new Black Words team members who may be starting soon…. Watch this space for contributions from the Torres Strait and Brisbane!
Black Words Things to Do around Australia
Head on over to the west coast to see Bangarra combining theatre with True Stories in Geraldton and Karratha in late May. If you are there for a while think about attending the Kimberley Writers Festival (Kununurra, WA, July) (email librarian@thelastfrontier.com.au for more information). For those on the east coast, ‘The Past Matters’ (28-29 May, 09) is a reconciliation event for everyone to attend. It is a festival of Indigenous writers and Indigenous themed writing. Or if you prefer more hands on activities you could attend, Our Land, Our Culture Environmental day (3 June, 09) at RMIT Stiggants Reserve which explores Wurundjeri life through activities and storytelling about the significance of country (Please phone 03 9840 9246 to register your attendance). If you are over in Brisbane, Sam Watson’s Oodgeroo: Bloodline to Country is being performed by La Boite Theatre Company at the Roundhouse Theatre (30 June – 11 July).
If you would like to make sure Black Words is available in your community, ask at your local library if they subscribe to AustLit, or email us at info-austlit@austlit.edu.au to get a free trial for your library.