Paul will be presenting a talk about Indigenous Astronomers at 8pm on Wednesday 8th October 2008 at the National Herbarium Building, Birdwood Avenue, Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. All are invited.

Find out more about Indigenous Astronomers from the following websites.

Aboriginal astronomers see emus in the sky.

http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?/science/news/stories/s1437646.htm

and

Aboriginal Skies

http://sa.apana.org.au/~paulc/loreaussie.html

With enough pelts to make two cloaks, Aunty Jean and Loraine sewed the pelts together and brought along the unfinished cloaks to inspire the other members of the Franklin clan. Numerous ideas of imagery were put forward to represent the nine sons and three daughters of John Charles Franklin and Harriet Tull. A concept drawing was developed and circulated to all present at the gathering held on Sunday 31st August. A further workshop has been scheduled to settle on the drawing and to start the burning.

The project was funded by Monash University and quite a number of the Taungurung community participated in this cultural artifact.

The coat was decorated using a traditional approach of burning iconography onto the pelts that were then sown together. The patterns burnt onto the pelts represent the various research schools of the University and it is intended that the coat will be used in ceremonial activities at the University.

Here is some of the feedback from the organiser of the conference.

What an amazing woman Aunty is and you have to know that she drew everyone in the room close to her with her beautiful natural Welcome from the heart. There were a lot of people from large Organisations and Managers from the Department of Human Services who have all seen a lot of Welcome to Country's - but Aunty impressed every single one of them with her honest and sincere Welcome. I spoke with a number of the delegates from the meeting both at the conference itself as well as back here at the office yesterday and every single one of them smiled and said how amazing Aunty Jean was - hearing Aunty talk of her personal life was just so refreshing, and wow, you should have heard the roar of laughter when Aunty made a funny comment, she captivated everyone's attention.

You can contact Aunty Jean on jean.williamson_@taungurung.net (you will need to remove the _ before the @ sign.

More details and photos will follow shortly

Click here to see photos of the day

The supervisor's house is currently undergoing renovation however it seemed to be a considerably large building for the time and period.

Further information about Coranderrk can be found at the following website.

http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/encounters/coranderrk/index.htm

This is a photo of my grandparents Elise and Joe Murphy and myself. I uploaded this photo as after the recent passing of Joe Murphy, he will be missed by all that new him.

(L-R) Minister Gavin Jennings, Jean, Noel Williamson, Pru Stewart and partner

Jean with Aboriginal soprano, actor, composer and playwright Deborah Cheetham

Melbourne Lord Mayor John So and Jean Williamson

The program for the week include an Indigenous Film Festival, guest speakers talking about reconciliation and land rights. Along with Bernadette Franklin I have been invited to demonstrate possum skin cloak making. I understand that other workshops include traditional basket making and wood burning. A group of young dancers from the Dandenong area will perform.

Providence log crossing, Yea circa 1920

Click here for a larger image

1. Herbert (front row) Herberts football career spanned 27 years from 1908 - 1935. He had a medal for "long service" and one for "best and fairest".

2. Jack Franklin 31 years 1877 - 1908 (kneeling )
3. Bill Franklin 28 years 1880 - 1908 (back row)
4. Walter Franklin 18 years 1890 - 1908 (back row)
5. Charlie Franklin 24 years 1884 - 1908 (back row)

click here for an enlargement

I slept in this house in the 50s when it was owned by my cousins, Claude and Effie Rogers. Effie was a daughter of Harriet May, one of the original 12 children. I used to visit them with my family and stayed on occasion. We used to swim in the Yea river just over the back fence.

My grandparents Herbert and Mable Franklin lived next door. My mother was Rose and her Twin system Elsie, Less Bernadettes dad was born 3 years later, then Eileen, Norman, Ivan and Olive.

My memory of it was that it was very old, with beds on the verandahs, because it was summertime when I was there.

A scarred tree from which a canoe had been cut out has been stood up under the cover of a protective roof. Local residents, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, participated in developing the lovely paved area which is flood lit at night.

click on the sign to enlarge.