Welcome to Marvellous Melbourne!
Melbourne is known as a highly culturally diverse city, and it was easy to find storytellers who were game to try our new storytelling format. We met in the Old Council Chambers, a room with horse-shoe seating arrangement with a long history as a place of holding important stories.
We were welcomed by Mandy Nicholson, who gave a dramatic welcome to country in Woiwurrung, the original language of Melbourne and the Yarra Valley. Mandy has been teaching herself the language of her ancestors, and teaching her daughter Ky-ya. Following Mandy’s welcome, Kunle spoke. He began by turning to where Mandy sat at the side of the stage, and Kunle addressed her in Yoruba. Although he didn’t translate, everyone knew what he was saying. This was probably the first time in the modern history of our city that we have seen a welcome to country and an acknowledgement, conducted entirely in indigenous languages!
We wondered, what could we offer to the people who were not present at the event? This was our first experiment in creating podcasts from the show.
The Details
Where: Melbourne Trades Hall
When: 18 February 2017 (for International Mother Language Day)
Format: Freestanding event
Storytellers: Kunle Adesua (Yoruba), Amber Wang (Hokkien), Mandy Nicholson and Ky-ya Nicholson-Ward (Woiwurrung), Udaya Parampalli (Kannada), Elizabeth Amedeo and Jane Lobalu (Lopit).
Production: Steven Bird, Rosey Billington, Jonathon Lum, Jonathon Schlossberg, Ekaterina Vylomova, and Brandon Wiltshire
Sponsorship: Research Unit for Indigenous Languages, University of Melbourne
Photography: Andrei Shcherbakov
Program: pdf