After completing a research project into the sky knowledge of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples of North Western New South Wales, Bob Fuller, a research student from Macquarie University’s Department of Indigenous Studies, Warawara, has travelled to Lightning Ridge to give back this knowledge to the community.
Fuller’s higher degree research project, commenced in 2012, has seen him adding the stories of a number of participants from those and neighbouring language groups to the stories reported over the last 150 years in scientific and popular literature.
These combined stories were reported in three journal articles in Australian Aboriginal Studies and Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage which made up part of his thesis by publication. A number of new areas of knowledge were also reported, including:
On finishing the project, Fuller looked for ways to present it back to the community.
“We sought and successfully received a grant from the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme for giving back of the knowledge to the community,” said Fuller.
“This has taken the form of a school education program on Aboriginal sky knowledge, and in particular, a documentary by the well-known filmmaker, Eleanor Gilbert.”
The documentary, “Star stories of the dreaming”, is partly a fireside story-telling by Michael Anderson, a Euahlayi culture man, tied in with Western science from Professor Ray Norris, an astrophysicist from CSIRO, and an Adjunct at Macquarie University. Norris has also been instrumental in promoting the study of Indigenous astronomy.
This knowledge was handed over to the respective communities in a ceremony in late November, with a teacher education program and a ‘star party’ with telescopes and more at a local school.
The material was given back to Brenda McBride, a Kamilaroi elder from Lightning Ridge. Documentary storyteller Michael Anderson said: “this project was a starting point in the research and return of such cultural knowledge to the Indigenous communities of Australia.”
Fuller’s higher degree research project, commenced in 2012, has seen him adding the stories of a number of participants from those and neighbouring language groups to the stories reported over the last 150 years in scientific and popular literature.
These combined stories were reported in three journal articles in Australian Aboriginal Studies and Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage which made up part of his thesis by publication. A number of new areas of knowledge were also reported, including:
- the use of patterns of stars in the sky as “waypoints” for teaching travel to ceremonies
- the close connection between songlines in the sky, songlines and Dreaming tracks on the ground, trading routes, and star maps
- the knowledge concerning the background to the cultural belief of “What’s up there is (or was) down here”
On finishing the project, Fuller looked for ways to present it back to the community.
“We sought and successfully received a grant from the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme for giving back of the knowledge to the community,” said Fuller.
“This has taken the form of a school education program on Aboriginal sky knowledge, and in particular, a documentary by the well-known filmmaker, Eleanor Gilbert.”
The documentary, “Star stories of the dreaming”, is partly a fireside story-telling by Michael Anderson, a Euahlayi culture man, tied in with Western science from Professor Ray Norris, an astrophysicist from CSIRO, and an Adjunct at Macquarie University. Norris has also been instrumental in promoting the study of Indigenous astronomy.
This knowledge was handed over to the respective communities in a ceremony in late November, with a teacher education program and a ‘star party’ with telescopes and more at a local school.
The material was given back to Brenda McBride, a Kamilaroi elder from Lightning Ridge. Documentary storyteller Michael Anderson said: “this project was a starting point in the research and return of such cultural knowledge to the Indigenous communities of Australia.”
