Programs and Activities - 2005
Indigenous Issues in Canada and Australia:
University of British Columbia
On 20 May 2005, the Centre for Canadian-Australian Studies hosted its fifth annual Indigenous Writers' Night featuring writers, poets, lyricists, filmmakers and musicians who delivered a night of new talent and old favourites to over 70.
Seven-year-old Dylan Russell braved one of the largest audiences in the event's history to read Nan, Dad and Me at the Zoo, a book he co-wrote based on his relationship with his father, who died before the book's launch only a month previous. He was followed by his grandmother Elaine Russell with A is For Aunty, and Aunty Kathy Dodd-Farrawell reading Our Rooster Jack. These books make up part of the Indij Readers: Books for Little Fellas and Big Fellas, a series of children's books written, illustrated and edited by Aboriginal Australians and designed for use in primary education systems in Australia and the world.
The didgeridoo acoustics of local musician David Kennedy echoed around the room as first-time-reader Natalie Burns read the lyrics of two new songs, ‘The Tree', and ‘Tears Are For Tomorrow'. Aunty Coral Pombo-Campbell read a poem written by a friend that spoke her experiences as a stolen child and her family's tearful reunion 12 years later.
Indigenous Writers' Night regulars Elizabeth Hodgson, a Wiradjuri woman from Wollongong, and Aunty Barbara Nicholson, a local Wadi Wadi elder, showcased a variety of poems ranging from powerful political issues to more contemporary work.
Ernie Blackmore shared a monologue from his latest play, Waiting for Ships, first performed in March 2004 for the New South Wales Seniors Week.
The evening ended with a screening of If the Weather Permits, a Canadian film by Inuit director Elisapie Isaac, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The film tracks the young city-based Inuit filmmaker as she returns to her Native community to reflect on the relationship between her First Nations' heritage and the modern world in which she now lives.
The Centre for Canadian-Australian Studies and the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre wish to thank the University of Wollongong, the Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation, the South Coast Writers' Centre and the Friends of the Wollongong Library for their continued support of this event. |
