The Living Dreaming: A Study of Sydney’s Living D’harawal Knowledges
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2024
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The D’harawal people of the now-Sydney region are a complex and diverse nation of Indigenous Australian peoples. Since the British invasion of our lands in 1788, our Knowledges have been (mis)represented and documented primarily by those from outside our culture, in many cases creating bodies of colonised knowledges grounded in error, deficit and erasure. These colonial discourses are at best paternalistic (we need saving), at worst, genocidal in nature (we no longer exist).
As a D’harawal Knowledge Keeper and government registered Traditional Owner of Sydney, I position myself in a gaping void within the discourse, from where, inspired by the works of Worimi scholar Kirsten Thorpe and Wiradjuri scholar Nathan Sentance, I offer an Aboriginal Right of Reply to the colonial Storytelling about my Country. My research, deriving from a deep synergy of my Indigenous Women’s Standpoint with that of the inspirational work of respected Indigenous and First Nations scholars, including the foundations set by Narungga, Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri scholar Lester-Irrabina Rigney’s Indigenist Research Methodologies, Bard and Yjindjarbandi scholar Dawn Bessarab’s Indigenous Yarning, and Stó:lō scholar Joanne Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork.
D’harawal Narinya (Living) Stories are stories deriving from our lived experiences and contemporary cultural praxis in response to colonially imposed assumptions that our Ancestral Dreaming ended with the invasion of our lands. My research investigates the life stories of two of our respected D’harawal Elders, Uncle John Foster and Aunty Fran Bodkin. I undertook the research culturally, using different methods of Indigenous Yarning (e.g,. personal Yarning and Circle Yarning) as well as collaborative Storywork practices.
The research was presented to Elders within the D’harawal Traditional Descendants and Knowledge Holders Circle for consideration as a potential D’harawal Narinya Story; a story that represents the values and Lore of the D’harawal Elders and Communities today. Through Collaborative Yarning with the Circle members, new themes emerged including the importance of Community Centred or ‘ground up’ research, and the effectiveness of Storytelling to capture key aspects of our cultural beliefs and ways of being. The Circle reached a full consensus that both Uncle John’s and Aunty Fran’s Stories qualified as Narinya Waduguda Stories and could be disseminated as such. This research project positions our Narinya stories as knowledge creation and contemporary cultural practice that we create and document, not just for the preservation of our Knowledges, but also to forge connections to culture and Country for future generations.
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