Larry to weave his magic with Indigenous storytelling
Larry Brandy is a renowned Indigenous story teller who will be appearing at the Dubbo Sustainable City Expo and Science Festival on Saturday, September 2, 2017. Bringing copies of his new ABC Colouring-in book, called “W is for Wiradjuri”, Larry is always
What will you be doing at the Expo?
At the expo I will be displaying real Aboriginal artefacts from the Wiradjuri Nation. These include emu callers, spear throwers (wamar), boomerangs (bargan) and spears. I will also have a kangaroo (wambuwuny) skin cloak with my story on it (designed by Wiradjuri artist Lynette Riley), and possum (wilay) skin. I will be talking about how Wiradjuri people hunted and found food in traditional times. I will also be talking a bit about science and how Aboriginal people had a great knowledge of their environment.
What do you think visitors to the Expo will take away from your stories?
Visitors will take away a knowledge of how much Aboriginal people know about their environment and the plants and animals. I want children to know more about Wiradjuri culture as they live on Wiradjuri Country.
Do you talk about Indigenous astronomy and what are some of the key elements to that?
I don’t really talk about Indigenous astronomy as I am still learning. Dinawan (the emu) is on my kangaroo skin and he is an important animal in the sky near the Milky Way.
How old are the stories you share?
Aboriginal stories have been here as long as Aboriginal people have been here. Archaeologists say that this is more than 60,000 years, Aboriginal people say that we have always been here. Some of our stories include the megafauna which were giant marsupials which were here 10,000 years ago.
What can we learn today from them, particularly with regard to living sustainably?
I talk to children about how Aboriginal people didn’t cut down trees and never killed an animal for fun. We used part of the tree for bowls and canoes, and when we killed an animal for food we used almost all of the animal. There was very little waste. Our tools and weapons could be used for many things for example the spear thrower (wamar) is also a knife, it can carry water and it can help make fire. If it breaks we would fix it using resin. We would not throw it away.
Are there words in the Indigenous languages or stories which talk about protecting the environment?
There are many stories about protecting the environment and not being greedy. Tiddalik is probably the best known one about not being greedy with water. Australia is such a dry country that water is very important for everyone. The story of Tiddalik shows how the smallest animal (Galindulin the eel) made Tiddalik laugh to let out all the water and Tiddalik promised never to be greedy again. Other stories talk about never killing animals for fun and respecting the laws taught by the Elders.