Culture Love 2012 'Stories Under Tagai'

Overview of the Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program spoken by State Library of Queensland staff members Victoria Carless and Tyler Wellensiek.

Victoria Carless explains that the program was a 3 day Easter holiday school holiday program that took place on Badu/Mulgrave, Poroma/Coconut, Keriri/Hammond, Mabuiag/Jervis, Iama/Yam and Waiben/Thursday Islands in the Torres Strait and centered around the legend of Tagai, a warrior and fisherman who came to be part of a constellation in the sky.

Tyler Wellensiek then shares the outcomes of the project that included:

• the creation of digital stories and e-books with illustrations by children guided by local and visiting artists.
• the development of content unique to each community that would be housed in each IKC to become part of their cultural resource collection.
• community celebrations which allowed the children to showcase their creations.

The video begins with Elder John Whop (Mabuiag/Jervis Island) and Councillor Keith Fell (Mabuiag/Jervis Island) talking about the importance of stories and the program to the community.

The video then covers examples of program activities including:

• art activities: children lino printing assisted by arts worker Dick Billy, Poruma/Coconut Island.
• family literacy programs: children writing stories assisted by elected Elder Josephine David-Petero, Keriri/Hammond Island.
• story telling: children listening to traditional stories shared by Elder and Councillor Simeon Mackie, Iama/Yam Island; Senior Elder Chief Joseph Wasaga, Horn/Ngurupai Island; Elder Frank Fauid, Poruma/Coconut Island; Alice Fauid, Poruma/Coconut Island; Cygnet Repu, Mabuiag/Jervis Island; Nancy Pearson, Keriri/Hammond Island; and Elder Peter Warria, Badu/Mulgrave Island.
• combining Indigenous knowledge and technology – Councillor Keith Fell (Mabuiag/Jervis Island) talks the importance of this combination, Ranger Kevin Levi, Poruma/Coconut Island, teaches children how to use an iPAD app to identify star constellations and other children learn how to use a video camera to create their very own videos.

The video finishes with Elder John Whop, Mabuiag/Jervis Island, talking about the importance of Indigenous storytelling and how the sharing of Indigenous stories between Indigenous peoples and other peoples is a good example of practical reconciliation.

Elder Peter Warria shares the ‘Baidham story’ with children using a model of the Southern Cross to demonstrate. The story is told in English with Indigenous words translated.

The video shows arts worker Charlie Street demonstrating to children how to print a prepared linocut. It then documents the children drawing, cutting and printing their own linocuts that reflect parts of the ‘Baidham story’ previously shared with them by Elder Peter Warria.

The video also contains brief footage of two adults weaving using coconut leaves.

This item contains two different formats of the e-book ‘Cray fishing on Hammond’ written by Malik East and the children of Keriri/Hammond Island with illustrations by Ceferino Sabatino, John Garnier and the children of Keriri Island. The story is about a successful cray fishing trip on Keriri Island.

This item contains the e-book ‘Our stories under the stars’ by the children of Keriri/Hammond Island. The book contains a collection of stories including:

• ‘How my mother grew up’ by Rozahlia Dorante about what she herself has learnt about her culture as she has been growing up and her aspirations to learn more as she continues to grow.
• ‘Things I like to do’ by Rita Garnier about activities she enjoys doing.
• ‘Helping my Grandma’ by Loey Davic Sabatino about activities she enjoys doing with her Grandma.
• ‘How I go to school’ by Anah Garnier about herself, her school and how she gets there.

Two different formats of the e-book ‘My story’ by elected Elder Josephine David-Petero. The e-book is about her life and her advice for children growing up today. It is illustrated with photographs of herself and others as well as other subjects.

The video documents Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ activities on Keriri/Hammond Island:

• singing in a traditional language accompanied by footage of the island.
• elected Elder Josephine David-Petero sharing parts of her life story with children as they are driven about the island in a mini bus by a police officer. The bus stops at various locations important to the story. Josephine also shares her advice for children of today.
• elected Elder Josephine David-Petero assisting children write and illustrate stories.
• arts workers Ceferino Sabatino and John Garnier assisting children paint a mural, discussing the design and subject of the mural at the same time. The subject of the mural is how women lived in the 1960s compared to today. Nancy Pearson briefly talks about her life contrasting the differences in facilities she encountered during life on Keriri Island with life on Weipa before helping present the finished mural to participants.
• children learning how to use a video camera to film island scenery.
• elected Elder Josephine David-Petero talking about progress and its positives and negatives. Josephine's narrative is accompanied by footage of the mural; Josephine in the bus with children; children being taught to create shooting stars from coconut leaves, which were traditionally worn while dancing; island scenery; and children filming with a video camera.
• singing in a traditional language.

The video begins with Ranger David Baragud sharing a story with children about a traditional practice which was thought to protect fishermen from threats they might tread on while fishing. It involved rubbing a rock formation with your feet before going out and has evolved over time to today where fishermen rub the same rock formation with their hands.  David then talks about the importance of storytelling to the community.

Visual artist Lauriana Harry then talks about the how much the children enjoyed a story told by Councillor Simeon Walter Mackie. This is followed by footage of children colouring in pictures which were also used in the mural and being interviewed about them.

The video finishes with footage of artist Glen Mackie assisting children paint the background for a mural depicting a traditional story unique to Yam Island. The details on the mural were painted by Glen Mackie himself later. The mural was painted on a wall of the museum in the Dawita Cultural Centre.

The video begins with Councillor Simeon Mackie helping children sing in a traditional language. Simeon then talks generally about Yam Island.  

Councillor Simeon Mackie then shares two stories with the children which are reflected in the mural created by the children and artist Glen Mackie during a Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ activity (refer Item 9).

• the first is the ‘Story of Aka Medthre’, a woman map maker who after a dispute went to live on the moon.
• the other is about a rock formation which fisherman traditionally rubbed their feet on prior to fishing, which was thought to bring protection from venomous sea creatures that could potentially be trod on etc. Simian comments that this practice was still in place 30-40 years ago when he was a boy.

Footage of children listening, the mural, the rock formation and the island accompany the narrative of the stories. 

This item contains part 1 of the e-book ‘The saga of Kuyam' produced in a workshop during the Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program on Mabuiag/Jervis Island. The text was written by Cygnet Repu with linocut illustrations by local artists and the children of Mabuiag.

This story is an extract from ‘The saga of Kuyam’, which was told by the grandfathers: PAAPI, AILUMAY, NOMOA the former chief of Panai and by WARIA the present chief of Panai.

In Part One: Two brothers Kang (who was blind) and Thoegay (who was keen sighted) went fishing for a turtle. Kang and Thoegay could make good and bad weather and were very tall. After a long and successful fishing trip to various islands they slept while their crew drank all the water.  When they woke they headed back home to Mabuyag (Mabuiag).

This item contains part 2 of the e-book ‘The saga of Kuyam' produced in a workshop during the Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program on Mabuiag/Jervis Island. The text was written by Cygnet Repu with linocut illustrations by local artists and the children of Mabuiag.

This story is an extract from ‘The saga of Kuyam’, which was told by the grandfathers: PAAPI, AILUMAY, NOMOA the former chief of Panai and by WARIA the present chief of Panai.

In Part Two: The hunting party reached Mabuyag (Mabuiag) where Kuyam, their sister’s son, asked them to kill the turtle they had caught. The party decided to kill the turtle on a nearby island instead. They were collecting water when they noticed that the water vessels had holes in them. They now knew who had drunk all the water. They returned to the canoe and set sail. Kang and Thoegay killed the crew and then directed the dead men to positions in the sky. Then the two brothers and their sister Kwaka set sail.

This item contains part 3 of the e-book ‘The saga of Kuyam' produced in a workshop during the Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program on Mabuiag/Jervis Island. The text was written by Cygnet Repu with linocut illustrations by local artists and the children of Mabuiag.

This story is an extract from ‘The saga of Kuyam’, which was told by the grandfathers: PAAPI, AILUMAY, NOMOA the former chief of Panai and by WARIA the present chief of Panai.

In Part Three: The brothers caught a bug and sailed to Badu overnight. In the morning the brothers asked their sister Kwaka to fetch water and set sail while she was fetching. They directed Kwaka to become a black bird. They returned an octopus they had caught in the original hunting trip asking it to appear on the surface each day at 9 o’clock. They arrived at the place where they had previously killed the turtle, cooked it and sailed back to Mabuyag (Mabuiag). Kuyam greeted them and noticed parts were missing. Kang and Thoegay realized they had left them where they cooked the turtle and left to get them.

This item contains part 4 of the e-book ‘The saga of Kuyam’ produced in a workshop during the Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program on Mabuiag/Jervis Island. The text was written by Cygnet Repu with linocut illustrations by local artists and the children of Mabuiag.

This story is an extract from ‘The saga of Kuyam’, which was told by the grandfathers: PAAPI, AILUMAY, NOMOA the former chief of Panai and by WARIA the present chief of Panai.

In Part Four : On their way back to Mabuyag (Mabuiag) they stopped and Thoegay gathered fruit for them to eat eating many himself in the process. A woman came to the garden to gather fruit and noticed the fruit was all gone and had been eaten. She saw Thoegay and frightened by his size ran away. Thoegay thought he had been discovered by a man and stomped on the ground creating a storm. The woman hid in fear and was then killed by lightning. Thoegay returned to the canoe, the two laughed at what had happened and returned to Mabuyag (Mabuiag). When they returned they taught Kuyam a song. Later Kuyam carved emblems on the turtle shells.

Cygnet Repu talks about his roots and then shares the ‘Tagai story’ also known as ‘The saga of Kuyam’. This is a more detailed and slightly different version of the story presented in Items 11-14 above. Footage includes linocut prints from the e-book presented in Items 11-14. The video finishes with Cygnet Repu acknowledging those who passed the story to him.

The video begins with Councillor Keith Fell talking about the importance of the Culture Love ‘Stories under Tagai’ program to the community.

It then shows footage of a lino printing workshop where arts worker Charlie Street assists children draw designs, cut these from lino, then print them onto paper.

Councillor Keith Fell then talks about how it is natural for the children to love art as the community already creates art from natural objects such as shells. Keith then discusses a night time activity wherein children used an iPAD app to help identify star constellations. He comments that this is a good marriage of culture and technology as the Southern Cross and other stars were traditionally used for navigation. He talks about the importance of keeping up with technology and there is brief footage of children learning how to use a video camera.

This item contains two different formats of the e-book ‘The legend of Tagai’. The story was written by Elder Frank Fauid with linocut illustrations by visual artist and print maker Dick Billy and the children of Poruma/Coconut Island.

In the story Tagai the warrior, his brother Kang and others went fishing and noticed that the hot weather was killing the fish. While Tagai and Kang were fishing the crew were hungry and thirsty and consumed all the supplies Tagai had brought. When Tagai returned and discovered this he was furious and killed the crew who transformed into spirits and became stars.

The video documents various Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ program activities on Poruma/Coconut Island:

• Alice Fauid singing in Kalau Lagau Ya to children a song about the story of Tagai with English subtitles.
• Elder Frank Fauid sharing a story about the warrior Tagai. Tagai and brother Kang went fishing out on the reef with their crew. The weather was very hot and fish were dying from the heat. Tagai and Kang went fishing while the crew waited. The crew became hungry and thirsty and consumed all the supplies. Tagai and Kang returned and when Tagai discovered this he became very angry and killed all the crew who became stars.
• Alice Fauid singing in Kalau Lagau Ya accompanied by footage of the island.
• Ranger Kevin Kevi teaching children about star constellations and how they were used to tell the time of the year. They then leave the building to examine constellations in the night sky with the assistance of an iPAD app. Some of these constellations were mentioned in the story of Tagai.
• traditional dances by men and boys to an audience of children and adults and singing in a traditional language.
• children drawing their own designs, cutting lino and printing the designs with the assistance of arts worker Charlie Street and visual artist and print maker Dick Billy. The designs centred around the story about Tagai as told by Elder Frank Fauid. Pre-prepared designs were also printed.
• Alice Fauid singing briefly in Kalau Lagau Ya.

The video documents Culture Love 2012 ‘Stories under Tagai’ activities on Waiben/Thursday Island:

• singing in a traditional language to footage of island scenery.
• Mabuiag Elder John Whop talking about the importance of storytelling to Torres Strait and Aboriginal peoples and how the sharing of Indigenous stories between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is an example of practical reconciliation.
• Kaurarag Nation/Horn Island Chief Elder Joseph Wasaga sharing the story of ‘Kaiang and Tagai’. The narrative is accompanied by footage of Joseph Wasaga sharing the story with children, coloured illustrations, children acting out parts of the story and singing in a traditional language.
• Kaurarag Nation/Horn Island Chief Elder Joseph Wasaga sharing ‘The story of ‘Waiba and Iwizi’. The narrative is accompanied by footage of Joseph Wasaga sharing the story with children, illustrations, maps, children acting out parts of the story, children and artists drawing illustrations to the story and scenery of the island.
• Kaurarag Nation/Horn Island Chief Elder Joseph Wasaga singing a song in a traditional language, probably Kalaw Lagaw Ya.
• facilitating artist Edwin Turner and Mabuiag Elder John Whop assisting children draw pictures based on traditional stories they have been told.
• children re-enacting ‘The story of ‘Waiba and Iwizi’ assisted by facilitating artist Edwin Turner and Mabuiag Elder John Whop.
• Mabuiag Mavis Bani, Library officer & Thursday Island ‘Stories under Tagai’ project coordinator thanks those involved in the project in both English and a traditional language.
• singing in a traditional language.