Following the success of the Kulin Creation Stories Booklet published in collaboration with Arts Victoria, we have extended this project and are pleased to announce the publication of ‘Nyernila, Listen Continuously: Aboriginal Creation Stories of Victoria’. Nyernila brings together stories of creation and Aboriginal life from Koorie communities across Victoria, capturing over 18 language groups.
Paul Paton, Executive Officer, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages:
“Language connects to spirit and the land. Languages uphold and reinforce Indigenous world-views held by previous generations. Reviving and maintaining language is core to reviving cultural and spiritual practices. Aboriginal knowledge is a resource to everyone and this publication provides an insight into the diversity and depth of Aboriginal people’s connections to the land.”
Vicki Couzens, Project Co-ordinator, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages:
“Our stories are our Law. They are important learning and teaching for our People. They do not sit in isolation in a single telling. They are accompanied by song, dance and visual communications; in sand drawings, ceremonial objects and body adornment, rituals and performance. Our stories have come from ‘wanggatung-waliyt’ – long, long ago – and remain ever-present through into the future.”