3. Garminungeena, Jenny Thompson – Part 2 – Women’s Business, Family and Seven Sisters

Renown Aboriginal artist, Jandamarra Cadd, shares the ancestral inspiration behind his incredible paintings, and invites us to look beyond the dots into the depth of the space between and the essence of reality.

Jandamarra’s unique style of combining traditional Aboriginal dot painting with more contemporary portraiture creates a much-needed link between ancient knowledge and mainstream modern society.

See SHOW NOTES PAGE for links to Jandamarra's website.

SUBSCRIBE to Songlines of Australia on Apple Podcasts (iTunes)

Two little boys dancing for the first time on country at Buddabadoo in Far North Queensland are joined by the spirits of their ancestral 'Popeyes' (grandfathers). 

Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Lauraine Barlow shares this beautiful mystical experience with us.

Aunty explains that ’Country’ is "the land, the animals, the place, the water, the sea, the people – it’s all that in one; and it’s knowing that you fit in there".

Aunty Lauraine also shares how she was called to go on a healing journey up the entire length of Queensland to “sing the spirits on”, and how you’ll know when it’s time to make your own ‘power stick’ when you’re ready to really walk in the way you chose to follow your life’s purpose.

Keep listening also for an interesting introduction to the Australian rainforest pygmies.

For links to the ‘Act’ that Aunty Lauraine refers to in Part 1, and to more information about the Yarrabah mission, head to my blog for this podcast on www.songlinesaustralia.net.

Ever felt a strong urge to ‘go bush’, hit the surf, climb a mountain, or just sit by a river?

Respected Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Lauraine Barlow, explains how she can hear Country call and welcome her, and that Country can also tell one when it’s time to go away again to carry on life’s purpose.

Aunty Lauraine also tells us how ‘half-blood’ children were taken from their families and forced to live in the segregated dormitory system at Yarrabah Anglican mission, and how copious files were kept on all Aboriginal people documenting their every move.

Aunty Lauraine shares with us her full Aboriginal name and how she came to be the proud custodian of a beautifully-carved Black Wattle walking stick, and talks about ancestral totems.

We also talk about songlines, Dreaming paths, the living energy of water, and responsibilities that attach to knowing the songs.

The ‘Act’ Aunty Lauraine refers to when she talks about exemptions is The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld). A link to a copy of the Act will be included in my blog for this episode on www.songlinesaustralia.net website.

Over 35 years ago, Dr John Bradley took up a teaching position at Borroloola in the Northern Territory, at a time when Yanyuwa children were flogged for speaking their own language at school.  Defying policy, John encouraged his pupils to speak in their native tongue and he, in turn, gradually learned the Yanyuwa language from the Elders.

Don’t keep history a mystery - come with us and explore some of the real history of Australia as John talks about the commentary around songs and stories, and shares tantalising snippets of his vast knowledge about the timeless nature of songlines as taught to him by the Yanyuwa people.

For anyone even remotely interested in the complex but intriguing concept of Aboriginal songlines, “Singing Saltwater Country” written by John Bradley with the Yanyuwa families, is definitely a ‘must-read’. 

Find a link to John’s work, including incredible 3D Dreaming and other animations created by the Monash Country Lines Archive project, on the website at www.songlinesaustralia.net.

How is it that oral cultures, that didn't rely on writing, could memorise and accurately hand down vast amounts of information and knowledge for millennia?

Garminungeena, Jenny Thompson, talks about the importance and sacredness of song in Aboriginal culture; and demonstrates how deep emotions expressed through mournful wailing and singing, and the practice of deep listening to others and to Nature, can help in healing personal and planetary pain.

Garmi concludes the final part of her podcast with a message from the heart that it is time for all of us to "weave in a new Dreaming".

The other parts of Garminungeena's podcast are:

Part 1 - "It's Time";
Part 2 - Women's Business, Family and Seven Sisters; and
Part 3 - "Get on to your Dreaming Track".

See also Songlines website for more info on each episode (currently being updated).

In this part 3 (of 4) of Garminungeena, Jenny Thompson’s chat with me, Garmi recounts the traditional Dreaming story of Nungeena, and discusses how healing groundwaters underlie some song- and ley lines.

We also discuss the connection to land, and how the individual energy or spirit of a place can be felt even if you’ve never been there before.

In this part 2 (of 4), Garminungeena, Jenny Thompson, tells us about the land acquisition for the Nungeena Aboriginal Corporation, and talks about the importance of women’s business and family. 

Garmi also recounts the Dreaming story of three of the sacred mountains now known as the Glass House Mountains, and talks about the Seven Sisters songline.

Respected Aboriginal Elder, Garminuneenga, Jenny Thompson, descends from the Wakka Wakka people belonging to the Kabi Kabi language group in Queensland.

Garminungeena, an ordained Anglican Deacon and accomplished academic, is a spiritual healer and medical intuitive, using these methods in her counselling practice working with grief and loss, anger management, mental health, emotional release and play therapy. For over 20 years, Garminungeena has conducted workshops and seminars in Indigenous cultural and spiritual methods of healing and connection.

In Part 1 of this podcast episode, Garminungeena:

• discusses the difference between ‘welcome to Country’ and ‘acknowledgement of Country’;
• talks about traditional language, giving very amusing examples of the origins of some local place names; and
• tells us that now “it’s time”.

In this incredible first episode, Dr Lynne Kelly discusses how oral (non-literate) societies used songs, stories and other memory aids to pass down vast amounts of knowledge and information necessary for the survival of their culture over many millennia.

Topics include:

• Non-literate (oral) vs literate societies;
• Sub-headings in songlines;
• Rights to and responsibilities for the many layers of knowledge;
• Knowledge as power; 
• Types of information embedded in songs and landscape;
• Education in schools, and the importance of story and song;
• Portable memory devices, e.g. Aboriginal tjuringa/churinga and African lukasa;
• Other memory devices, e.g. Stonehenge;
• Sky as a memory aid; and
• Ageing and dementia. 

Follow Lynne's work at: http://www.lynnekelly.com.au