The Koori Curriculum Book Summit review
By Leanne Logan - Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) Committee Member
A storytelling gathering like nothing I’ve ever experienced – that was the Koori Curriculum’s recent Book Summit. 8th-9th July. It was a place of plenty, where culture and knowledge were generously shared, and where indigenous and non-indigenous were made so welcome. It was a place to start conversations, some of which hurt, deeply. It was an invitation to know more about the people who have lived here since, as author Greg Dreise, explained, “the beginning of time”. To my knowledge it was the first time a virtual conference like this had been held, and it was extraordinary.
The Book Summit was the work of, amongst others, Wiradjuri woman, Jessica Staines, director of Koori Curriculum, an Aboriginal Early Childhood consultancy that “supports early childhood educators to grow their cultural confidence and capacity”.
Jess began the Summit by saying that story sharing is one of eight ways of learning in Wiradjuri pedagogy. This immediately gave me a strong indication of the importance and relevance of story to humans. Story is not just for entertainment – it carries power as a means of learning, communicating and connecting.
For the Summit, Jess brought together many authors and illustrators to not only tell the back stories of their titles that sit in bookshops around Australia, but also to connect with the growing number of Australians who want to know, really know, the stories of this land.
As Boori Monty Pryor, author of many books including “Story Doctor”, eloquently put it: “We as a nation find it hard to say the words that we need to say that will heal us – like invasion, terra nullius, genocide, massacre – that’s like a four-prong stake on the heart… But we’ve got to deal with that… We have to do the work on ourselves first. The only way we’ll deal with this is together. It’s not a black and white thing. It’s an ‘us’ thing.”
For many many hours, I listened to the sharings of these creative people – some of whom would never have predicted that they would become an author. Like Thomas Mayor, from Larrakia country, a wharfie in the Top End for much of his life, and who has published what now may be one of our most sort-after children’s picture books, “Finding our Heart” – a story about the Uluru Statement for young Australians.
And as I sat, and listened, I grew more and more hopeful for the future of this incredible country. There are so many amazing stories out there, yet to be told. There are so many inspiring people, working to make Australia a better place for all. There is so much generosity of spirit, it is almost hard to fathom - as a non-indigenous Australian of Anglo-Saxon descent. And that’s without even really mentioning nature and culture and country … so much for us to be curious about and inspired by.
My hope is that, step by step, we are moving into a time where Australians not only proudly honour our First Nations people, but humbly sit, listen and learn with them.