Author :
AUNTY JOY MURPHY WANDIN AO (WURunDJERI) & ANDREW KELLY
ILLUSTRATOR:
LISA KENNEDY (TRAWLWOOLWAY)
‘Me no leave it,
Yarra, my country,
There’s no mountains
For me on the Murray’
This quote from William Barak, 1874 Wurundjeri Ngurungaeta, sets the tone for “wilam, A Birrarung Story” by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly.
Barak’s words at the beginning of this story highlight the timeless connection the Wurundjeri people have with Birrarung, spanning thousands of years.
Lisa Kennedy the illustrator, depicts Bunjil the creator spirit of the Wurundjeri people at the beginning and end of the narrative. Bundjil can be seen as our guide through this beautifully told and stunningly illustrated book.
The survival and reclamation of Wurundjeri culture in Intergenerational Ceremony is centrally portrayed in this narrative, along with the flora and fauna that finds its wilam in Birrarung. The everyday activities of riding, walking, reading, and sitting by Birrarung provide a frame for the centrality of ceremony and the continued existence of native flora and fauna at all levels of Country, sky, water, above the earth and below the earth.
Indigenous literacy is honored in this story as it is told in both Woiwurrung and English. The detailed illustrations give children of all ages an opportunity to ‘read the land’ for a deeper understanding of what lives and grows on this significant part of Wurundjeri Country.
My thanks to Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO, Andrew Kelly, and Lisa Kennedy for sharing this story and taking us on a journey on the path of a lifetime of learning.
Aunty Dr. Sue Atkinson AM is a Yorta Yorta woman, Aboriginal Early Childhood Consultant with over 40 years of experience in the Early Years. Dr. Sue completed her Ph.D. “Indigenous Early Childhood Curriculum and Self Determination in Victoria”, ten years ago. She has written three Aboriginal Children’s books and is the author of the “Cultural Knowledges Story’ with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Aunty Sue continues to foreground Aboriginal Pedagogy and gives voice to the Aboriginal Community through the consultations and development of ‘Possum Skin Pedagogy’(PSP).
3 PSP Documents can be downloaded with compliments from our YSS website, click here to download them.