The Dreamtime Story of the Black Swan 

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

As an opportunity to learn more about our country and the wisdom of the land we inhabit I enquired into courses I could do regarding Indigenous culture. What popped up were Noongar language classes at the Fremantle Meeting Place. I immediately enrolled in a five-week course. When we (my boys and I) arrived at our first class I soon realised beginners did not surround us, as they were speaking fluent Noongar. Oppsie! Regardless the beautiful Sharon Gregory accommodated us and we were soon on our way to greeting our fellow classmates, ‘kaya Fern’. The theme for this class was magpies (koolbardi), so as you can imagine we had a lot to share about our clan, The Reservoir Dogs. 

To conclude the classes we each delivered a presentation about a bird of choice. I researched the Dreamtime story, how the swan got its black feathers. The black swan (kooldjak) is the bird on the emblem of Western Australia and takes her home on the Swan River.  To help me present the story I created a very short play using cardboard characters. 

Kooldjak Bardip 
The Dreamtime Story of the Black Swan

Djardak maali bilya-k kwobadak baal waangkaniny.
The white swan was in the river boasting about how beautiful she was. 

Waalditj baal yoowart djoordap maali. 
The wedgetail eagle did not like this display of vanity.

Waalitj baal balyoonga-k djardak daakil-ool.
The wedgetail eagle took the swan to the sandhills and pulled out her white feathers.

Waardong baal maali moorn daakil djookering.
The crow helped the swan by placing his black feathers all over her. 

Yeyi kooldjak bilya-k mirda moolya-l, mayow djardak daakil baranginy.
Now the black swan has the red beak, and only a few white feathers. 

In addition to Noongar vocabulary, I also learnt the following. 

  • The complexity of turning an oral language into a written one

  • Noongar structures sentences as actor-location-verb

  • There are many words we use day-to-day taken from the First Peoples

  • The strengths of my boys in a learning environment

  • The relationship between the land and the wisdom of knowledge

  • There is an enormous amount of knowledge to learn about the country we call home

  • The driving energy behind the First Peoples cry for reconciliation

Also, have a table full of food at every class and learning is bountiful. 

Boordawan
 

Leadership developmentDonna Zaffino