Birds of an opera perform together
Telling the story of a little bird with big aspirations has inspired Associate Professor Helen English and Co-Director of Purai Global Indigenous History Centre, Professor Kate Senior, to investigate how creative arts supports the health, wellbeing and inspiration of primary school children.
In June 2026 primary school students from Rutherford and Heaton Public Schools came to the University of Newcastle’s Conservatorium to explore Dr Ray Kelly’s Dunghutti Dreamtime story of the damatag bird through song, dance, art and storytelling with the aim of creating a Bird Opera.
The story is about a small native Australian bird, the Spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) who overcomes challenges to rise above all the birds and become king.
The damatag usually grows to about the same size as a Pale-flecked garden sunskink (common garden skink) and the male has a black and white spotted back, with a yellow throat and a sunrise blend of feathers on their tail.
One of Purai Global Indigenous History Centre’s objectives to support the creation of non-traditional research outputs (NTRO’s).
NTRO’s do not take the standard academic form of journal articles and conferences.
Instead, they encourage practiced-based research such as performances, visual art, music pieces and cultural events with a view to offering alternative ways of approaching research which challenge the cycle of academic colonisation.
To this end, Rutherford and Heaton children participated in several workshops where they created bird characters, designed costumes, composed songs, wrote lyrics and choreographed dances in preparation for the up-and-coming performance.
National College of Dance student Tom Vodic-Senior and his sister, Lily collaborated with students to develop ideas for dances which mimicked the movement of different kinds of birds.
Apart from flapping their arms, students got creative with other bird habits such as shaking their hands to resemble the unfurling of a peacock's tail feathers and emus pecking the ground for food.
Senior Research and Engagement Fellow in Music, Dr Gillian Howell, and Jordann Christie, a PhD student studying vocal pedagogies and wellbeing, workshopped original song lyrics for a range of emotionally significant scenes in the opera.
By encouraging student-led musical creativity Howell and Christie inspired verses which celebrated empowerment and personal attributes.
I can do all the stuff you can do
I just don’t look the same
I can fly up high, ‘cos I’m so light
My colours are bright when the sun is in sight
Using a combination of craft paper, feathers, leaves and felt-tip colouring markers, creative arts PhD student Estelle Leishman and Professor Senior, provided students with the opportunity to design costumes for each bird in the performance.
Professor English repeatedly emphasised, throughout the workshops, that an opera relies on a strong storyline drawing on birds’ characteristics and behaviours.
Project Coordinator, Dr Jacqueline Wright, PhD student, Lucy Egan and Indigenous undergraduate student, Ella Fisher, encouraged students to tell their own stories of native Australian birds and develop character studies.
Students grouped birds into three main personalities; sassy, wise and kind. Students agreed that any bird that belonged to the owl family (Strigiforme) were wise, knowledge-holder characters. Kookaburra characters (Alcedinidae), the students chirped, would be a “class clown” and “the funny-side character” while birds that flock together such as Rainbow lorikeets would be “preppy” and “loud chitter chatters”.
The impetuous to run this event was based on sentiments expressed after the completion of a similar workshop, in 2025, which left both students and staff left on a cliff hanger.
Energised students and staff were eager to further explore unfinished business.
With the support from the state schools and the university, Professor English swooped in and organised this 2026 event to allow participants to provide the story with an ending that was student-led.
Clearly, they found the opportunity to brainstorm the story’s ending very egg-citing.
English and Senior both agreed the students were able to effectively collaborate drawing on characters, themes, dialogue and storylines that have shaped a new perspective about how the story progresses and ends.
At the workshop’s completion everyone chattered, laughed and chirped that the young students had built a strong nest of fledgling ideas ready to take flight.
Professors English and Senior are certain to see them soar on stage when the full performance takes place.
Contact
- Ella Fisher
- Phone: + 61 2 4055 1082
- Email: Purai@newcastle.edu.au
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