Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Art', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

So this is a white ochre, and we put our traditional marks on our girl's faces like that. You put the marks down there for the girls, and we just paint their faces. There you go. Now, the next one, there you go. Thank you very much. Very important to be part of a way of our traditional way. We'll paint up like this. And you guys are going to enjoy just painting up and being part of our heritage today, just by putting our traditional markers on, something that's very important to us.

I think we'll put you this way, ey, with you on there. There you go. So this is part of our teaching today, what we do with the children or the students we have here. We do chalk drawings, just like the drawings that we've done that our ancestors taught us how to do, the different drawings. We go along-- we go along-- when we're doing our traditional stuff, we put our sands across them, and the same thing as what we did on the ground. These are the ones we work along here. You put those there, and all different special markings we have on our animals that all represents different things in what we do, different areas of where we are.

And this is part of our heritage drawings. Now, I'm doing the lizard or the Goanna today. And then we look around at the other drawings that we did there. Lez is doing the emu. And part of what we're doing-- he's doing our emu one. And then we get our Sonny. Sonny is doing our meeting place, and the people coming together. And basically, the story of what the stage was about. So this is part of what's very important to us as we do our traditional drawings. This is very important, because this is part of our history and part of our traditional way of life.

Art breaks the barriers of a lot of work that we do and a lot  of place. And the important part of doing this is the children take pride in looking at the art. They color it in the way they'd like to color it in, and we enjoy watching them doing the work that they like to do.

MALE: And see this? See, this is a lady snake, with the eggs in it.

BOY: Yeah.

-Well, she's got to have some way to lay eggs, so this is the area that she's going to come to. And when we do, we'll do the tracks and the snake. So the tracks are coming like that. And leave that. And that's where she laid her eggs. That's where the people are. Left the eggs with the--

-How do you stick the bow on?

-Well, we get the PVC glue, and we actually put it on the paper, sometimes even brush it on, or just put it on with the actual bottle itself. And then from there, you just get the sand, and you sprinkle it on. Now, you scrape away if there's anything that shouldn't be there. And after that, you get different colored sands. With each, you wait until that dries it off, and then you add another piece.

And with each piece, the sand gets different colors, and you have a really good picture there.

BOY: How's that?

-That looks really good. You've done a good job there. I like the platypus. How are they doing here?

MALE SPEAKER: As you could see, we're doing really well. It's starting to come together.

-Yeah. This is our traditional sand. These are the sand drawings that we used to do in the ground, where our children used to be taught in the ground, our ancestral children. And then we cut them in the ground. And then they'd be putting the different colors in, because actually, we never had the glues that we have now. But what we have had, we've got good boards here. And look at that.

Look at this coming together, this young lady's. You're doing a terrific job with these. That's a platypus?

-Yep.

-And we've got this young fellow. We've got echidna now over here, and another platypus over here. This one's coming up really well. Look at this. This is coming up very good.

Let's have a look at this one. Very well done. Look at that. This here is the bank of the river, and there's a platypus in the river, as he's swimming along in the river. The lines on the outside represent the banks, so they're doing a good job here. You enjoying your day today?

-Yeah.

-Yes? As you look, you see part of my story up there. This here's the mimi man, spirit man fishing. When you see the three people up here, these ones are doing it. I lift this one a little bit to finish this. I'm not finished. I can see what they're doing. This is the mimi man, spirit man. And they caught the first fish.

This here's the bank to the river. These are the canoes on a banks. These are the canoes in the river, and these are the digging sticks of the women along the bank of the river catching the, looking for the yabbies, and mussels and things along the river banks. This is our camp site. This here's the movement, what the tail fin does in the water when the fish is swimming. And this here's a particular story about the first fish that was ever caught in our Yorta Yorta the story, and these are the three spirit men still fishing to this very day.

And that's basically what we're looking at there. Now, what we're going to do, we're going to come over here, and we'll go over and have a look over at the didgeridoo playing, all right?

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Boomerangs', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

This is a part of how we go out along the riverbanks and find the boomerang knees or elbows to make the traditional wooden boomerang. We cut ‘em out, we get the…get the best part of the wood from the middle of ya…middle of ya knee an’ we cut away the outsides. This is part…this is how we sort of look at it. We got two pieces of wood here an’ I’ll show ya basically of how I make the boomerang come out. We got a piece like that an’ when we cut ‘em out the side there, that part is come…taken away…I don’t use that part because it’s not, you know, not good wood. That’s the best part of the wood there…is the part where we cut the two sides off in the middle…and that’s where we take it out to use it to make the traditional boomerang.

So, what happens now is that, you know, we...well I shape it down, I cut it down with a tomahawk an’ then I scrape it down with a glass an’ then we end up with…like these ones here. These are…these are smaller boomerangs; these are better boomerangs for myself to throw…more small boomerangs and that’s…that’s …from that there...from this part here to that part there, that’s what that boomerang will turn out…this one here will turn out to look like this one, an’ that’s how thin it is because it’s easier to throw, it’s better for…better looking piece of wood and it’s a better piece of wood inside. So inside that again, is where we take it down from the middle again an’ that’s where we get another better boomerang.

Oh, there’s different types of boomerangs that we look at an’ different types of shapes an’ as we use ‘em we get around and make the shapes. I make smaller boomerangs because it’s easier to throw, they’re better to go flying on the wind, we make…I make up killer boomerangs, we use ‘em to show the kids how to…how my ancestors were hunting an’ things like that….most important. We got other shapes of boomerangs, we got different types of shape…it’s not the shape that makes it, but this is…like you see the bends are much sharper an’ this is going back to the original…the Yorta Yorta boomerang an’ this is the ones that…you know, like the old people used to make an’ when we go back, they used to make these shape boomerangs…so, that’s where…but that’s where I come in with this one, that’s where I got that design from…is we got a nicer shape like that an’ then we come back ta…then I come back to a wider bend and to make a better boomerang an’…but see, most of it, when we’re making different types of boomerangs, you’re make ‘em so they can fly. I like a listen to the whistle of a boomerang…it’s, you know, important that they whistle. I think that’s what my father taught me an’ my grandfather…he said…“when you’ve made a good boomerang, it has to whistle” I said “that’s when you know you’ve made a real good one”.

I’m yet to make areal good whistling boomerang because when I heard ‘em when they used to throw ‘em, they used to whistle like, oh, something you’ve really never heard an’ it’s only…once you get it, I think then...then I ‘spose I can call myself a boomerang maker…but that’s basically what we look at is…we look at that…an’ I’ve got to get to that stage yet.

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Spears', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

I was sittin’ down makin’ some reed spears myself one day an’ showin’ the kids at school an’ Kev he come up an’ said “dad can I make a spear?” an’ he’s only five year old an’ I said “yeah son, no worries, we’ll sit down an’, you know, I’ll give yer a couple of sticks” an I give him a piece of reed an’ he sat down an’ I give him some string an’ he sat down an’, you know, this is what makes me feel good is because like my Elders an’, you know, the ancestors before us, we just sat and watched an’ we never was taught or told how to do anything and we did it in our own time, we enjoyed what we were doin’ an’ we enjoyed…this spear is two year old an’ it was made by Kev an’ I’m very proud of the fact that he sat down an’ had time to do a reed spear with me. Yeah, these are real spears…these ones here. This one here’s actually over 100 years old an’…it could tell a few stories. There was a seven generation family that gave me these two spears. There was this one ‘ere, a much longer one they used for hunting an’ this one ‘ere were used …probably, well what we look at…for guerrilla warfare an’ as protecting yourself.

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Bark Canoes', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

Making a bark canoe was pretty important. You had to go out an’ select the right canoe. You had to go looking…looking around the trees. You had to go out and find…you couldn’t just walk up to a tree an’ cut down a tree or cut a piece of bark off a tree and make a canoe out of it. You had to go out and select the right canoe whether you’re going to make a canoe for yourself for the day to go hunting or whether you had to make a large canoe so we can take a family out fishing or take ‘em across the Lake.

Why this canoe here, is a large canoe, where they probably…it’s part of a story that I learned, when I was down there, by Uncle Eric Onus an’ Uncle Harry, they taught me a story about a young fella that travelled for three days up the River. He rowed in a large canoe like this, takin’ ‘im up there to pick up his bride…his promised bride…an’ as they went up the stream they camped for many days an’ eventually they reached the spot where they were gunna …where they were gunna pick up this young woman…an’ have the marriage ceremony.

Then they come back an’ all the way down along the river they’d…meeting the tribes as they come’ along the river…happy, rejoicing and it’s all part of our clans, the five clans of the Yorta Yorta people.

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Didjeridu Music', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

The didjeridu wasn't native to the Victorian aboriginal people. All we had was our music sticks, and our boomerangs, and club sticks, or music sticks, as we call them, and our clubbing boomerangs. That's how we made our music. And we also used to have a skin draped over our knees, and tucked in between our knees, and pulled tight. And that's how we had a drum. We made a drum sound like that.

That is basically what our music was until around about-- I think it was-- oh, it could have been about 8,000 or 9,000 years ago when along through the trading, a very important part of our traditional heritage and our lifestyle was our trade routes of where we come from and how we had different types of weapons, whether it was a weapon, whether it was a piece of salt, whether it was a piece of ochre, or with a good boomerang, or a stone ax head. No people had stones in their areas for stone axes, that's what we'd do. That's how we come to get our didjeridu.

A didjeridu is a trade instrument that was brought down here, it could have been around 8,000 years ago, because it's been here for quite awhile, and that's what we basically... What we do is we get cardboard tubings, and we look at those things, and it's the hollow piece of tubing that we look through. And it's a piece of cardboard. That way, you can say, didjeridu's are forbidden to be played by girls. But cardboard ones, this is part of our traditional way of life. No, that's all right.

That's all right for a first go. All right, you give us a bit of a tuning now, see how it goes.

[BLOWING]

-Oh, wait.

-That's all right. Keep going.

[DEEP TUBA-LIKE SOUNDS]

That's it. What about this young lady? Come over here. You give me some bit of a go here. Let's see how you go there with your didjeridu.

[DEEP TUBA-LIKE SOUNDS]

That's all right. That's not too bad. No, that's all right. What about this other?

Come over here and give us a listen of where you can go. Come on. Come over here and give us a listen. There you go, [INAUDIBLE] digeridoo.

-Just as good as her.

-Yeah, just as good. Come on, that's the way.

[WEAK SPITTING NOISES]

That's all right. Now, come on son. Give them a bit of a chain over here, and let's see. You've got to listen over here. Now, what you're going to do now, Sonny's going to have a little bit of a go along here. And now, after one, why when I say right-o, you've just got to come in here with him. Listen now. Listen. Let him keep going.

Let him keep going. We need to start getting your beat faster.

[LOW VIBRATING TONES]

All right. Now, we're going to start.

[HUMMING]

That's the way. Keep going. That's the way. Go with him. Go on, go with him. That's the way. Keep going with him. That's the way.

Sounds good to me. Gee whiz, look out. I'm going to start dancing in a minute. Look, they've got it.. They're going to start jumping around here. Look out. Oh, keep going.

[SINGING]

Keep going. Good stuff. Aw dude, that sounds good. That's the way. Keep your rhythm going. That's the way. Good stuff.

Sounds good to me. And that's it. OK. Thank you very much. Well done.

Give yourselves a bit of a hand, because I reckon you can come to my corroboree any day. Good on you. Well done.

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Possum Skin Cloaks', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

We look at our possum skin rugs and this is part of what we use for our clothing and what we do is get the rugs…get the skins and basically I decorate ‘em up an’ do a little bit of drawings on ‘em an’ as you can see we sew ‘em all together and this is just a small rug, this is just a small one for the young fellas and showin’ how the little fellas put their rug on. In the summertime they wear it with the fur on the outside because the wind blowing through the fur on the outside keeps it cool on the inside. An’ in the winter time they turn it around and they put the fur to the inside their body and that’s what keeps ‘em warm and it also runs the water off on the outside.

I look at just distinct markings or, you know, structures in a piece of wood, like this piece here for instance… we had a little stick sticking out there, so what happens then, I got me knife out and me grinding tools out and we cut down and I cut down and made a snake…sort of twisting around the piece of wood and so basically gives that little bit of a distinct marking…something to do… an’ we put our grasses down here an’ well it’s a snake hanging on round a piece of wood. An’ then we, you know…other different parts...I think you look around…I always look around to find different things here.

I looked at this one here and there was a bump…there was a bump on this one here and so I said, well gee wiz that looks like a turtle shell to me. An’ so I cut it around and grinded it down a little bit, an’ I got my burner out, an’ then I brought the turtle out in the piece of wood.

Film - Richard Frankland (writer/director), Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk: Emu Egg Carving', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust (Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki)

Uncle Sam Kirby was…he was my hero, sort of thing an’ he was one of the fellows that showed me how to carve an Emu egg. I’d go over to him, I’d say “Uncle Sam, teach me how to carve the Emu egg” ‘an he said “Yeah son, one day” he said “you keep comin’, you watch, you’ll learn that way” he said “just watch, that’s the way you learn” he said “I can’t teach you” he said” because we can’t teach you this sort of stuff” he said “you gotta learn it”. He said “you gotta have…you gotta have…like the spirit” he said “like the feel” he said “you’ve gotta have the feel, like the wind through the trees, or have the feel of your art or your dancing…the movement, the touch” he said “ an’ that’s how you’re gonna learn to carve an egg”.

So what I did is, I sat there for over two years, probably…nearly every second weekend, looking at Uncle Sam carving Emu eggs an’ then one day when I left, I went away and was livin’ over in Swan Hill, an’ I picked up an Emu egg an’ I decided to carve the egg myself. An’ so I picked up an’ sharpened my pocket knife on a oil stone an’ I started carvin’ and I like the moonlight scenes, there’s something that’s very special in moonlight to me…I like the scenes of the moon an’ then I saw two swans once, flyin’ across the Barmah Lake in a full moon an’ so I decided to put that…that was photographed in my memory…an’ I decided to put that on the egg, so that was my first egg as I carved two swans flyin’…flyin’ across the moonlight Lake of the Barmah Forest.