Listening: Indigenous Stories from the Central Coast

"Listening: Indigenous Stories from the Central Coast"

The performance based research project entitled, "Listening: Indigenous Stories from the Central Coast" is an interdidisciplinary project which emanated from the work of the "Umulliko Darkinjung Research Working Group" (UDRWG). The UDRWG was founded in 2000 with membership drawn from the Dakinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, Umulliko Indigenous Higher Education Research Centre, local community organizations, various government departments, the Gosford City Library and students. It is chaired by Associate Professor Nerida Blair, and is charged with the task of researching Darkinjung histories.

In June 2002, the UDRWG invited Dr.Jocelyn McKinnon, Drama Lecturer from the School of Humanities, to participate in the groups research processes via the medium of performance. Performance was felt to be a more appropriate cultural medium for publishing Indigenous knowledges than the written text. To this effect, Dr. McKinnon initiated a project that has involved interviewing local Indigenous peoples currently living on the Central Coast (Darkinjung country) to share their life stories as the basis for a performance text. The performance text, simply titled, 'Listening" uses the 'actual' words of the interviewees (storytellers) to construct the text.

Dr. McKinnon has worked with a Steering Committee of all Indigenous peoples from the community and the university to facilitate this project. The project has received funding from an Early Researchers Grant, the Gosford City Council and the Theatre Board of the Australia Council of the Arts. An all Indigenous local cast is currently in rehearsal under the Artistic Direction of Dr.McKinnon and the expert choreography of Francoise Angeneiux.