Oral storytelling has enjoyed a major resurgence in the last few years, with the massive popularity of The Moth, This American Life and even TED, and an explosion of breathless announcements about ‘the power of storytelling’.
But for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the power of storytelling is not exactly breaking news – it’s knowledge that is tens of thousands of years old. Australia has many rich oral traditions, and the endurance of these traditions to the present day says more about the value of storytelling than anything.
In 2013, the Wheeler Centre hosted a popular series of Indigenous storytelling events, co-curated by Genevieve Grieves. We’re bringing it back for one night as an intimate, entertaining bookend to our week-long Outbound series of events about life in regional Australia.
Curated and hosted, once again, by Genevieve – with new and returning guests including actor and filmmaker Pauline Whyman, elder and storyteller Larry Walsh and writer Hannah Donnelly – this night of yarns will explore the theme of country through storytelling approaches old and new.
Featuring
Genevieve Grieves is an Indigenous educator, curator, filmmaker, artist, oral historian, researcher and writer who has accumulated nearly 20 years experience in the arts and culture industries. She is Worimi – traditionally from mid-north coast New South Wales – but has lived and worked on Kuli... Read more
Uncle Larry Walsh is a local Aboriginal cultural leader and storyteller. He particularly loves working with the younger generation as he sees them as the torchbearers of the future. Inspired by his local Aboriginal community, plus his own Kulin ancestral blood connections to his country, Uncle is on... Read more
Hannah is a Wiradjuri woman from NSW who grew up on Gamilaroi country in Tingha and Inverell. She is the creator of the Sovereign Trax music blog, which aims to foreground the creation and consumption of Indigenous music ‘through our own paradigms that speak to collective stories, identities and r... Read more
Pauline Whyman is a proud Yorta Yorta and Kulin Nations woman. Pauline’s work as an actor, writer and director includes verbatim theatre for La Mama’s Minutes of Evidence, proudly playing roles of the women of Coranderrk and their fight for structural justice. She played the role of Aunty Cath ... Read more
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