Makers

StoryHere’s to the

Learn the stories behind their stories.

and

ourstories

thank youWe say

For your courage, your creativity.

For your

voices.For keeping

yourwords

alive.

www.wml.vic.gov.au

Joan Webster ...Author. Poet. Journalist. Historian. >

Jiang Ding Wen ...Artist >

I first came to Doncaster when it was just turning from orchards into suburbs in 1959. There was no water, no electricity. Nothing. My mother had a fit. I’d just had my first child.

So I started my campaign — writing letters to Council, to have water, the gutters cleaned, to have proper street signs. The bus situation needed fixing, it took a year but the services were improved.

The editor of the local newspaper came around and said, ‘You can write. You can take photos. How about you be our correspondent? I’ll pay you two cents a line, $5 for a published photo.’

So I launched myself into being a news correspondent. I’d only been a writer of creative material before that, so I had to learn.

In Doncaster the community spirit in the 60s and 70s was wonderful. So much needed to be done and we all pitched in.

I’ve been teaching and making art for over 30 years in China. I really like the old houses, the architecture of western Hunan province. My art shows people’s traditional way of life for hundreds of years and my nostalgia. The houses are almost gone now, I keep them in my paintings.

I came to Australia in February this year. My daughter is now an Australian citizen and I have permanent residency.

It’s a huge change, to have to start from scratch and create new art. It’s hard, because of the language barrier. I can only say sorry, thank you in English. It’s very hard, but I have to keep learning.

It is a real privilege to show my artwork and share my experience, to show China’s heritage to Australian people ... and to give some insight.

I think my art is a way to communicate with Australians, it can help build a relationship with people.

Joan Webster OAM was an award-winning journalist with local newspapers for more than 25 years. She is a poet and author and now lives in Castlemaine.

Jiang Ding Wen recently exhibited at Box Hill Community Arts Centre, lives in Mitcham and will be looking at applying traditional Chinese painting techniques to Australian landscapes.

The community

spiritwas wonderful

My artis a way to

communicatewith Australians

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Saara Sabbagh ...

Saara is a leader, educator and public speaker. She is the director of Benevolence Australia, formed to meet the growing needs of Melbourne’s Muslim community and is based in Doncaster.

Educator >Terry Lane ...

Terry Lane is a much-loved broadcaster and long-running newspaper columnist. He is the author of eight books and has lived in Blackburn for 40 years.

Broadcaster. Author. Columnist. >

I was born in Beirut, my parents were fashion designers [from Syria]. We migrated because of civil war. Australia opened its door, generously.

When I was 14, my mum passed away. Saying goodbye made me question. What am I doing here? Is there life after death? I took on my faith.

I’ve been a speaker since I was 16. I’ve spend my life debunking myths, running school programs and trying to build bridges. That’s not easy to do today, with the rise of the right wing.

My friends and I feel like we go into the battle zone every day. We put our armour on and go out with a smile. No matter what people say, we smile.

It’s hard. It really wears you down. But you can either lose hope or be hopeful, to be part of the change or part of the problem.

So I choose to align myself with hope. There is always goodness in people.

I went to a very small primary school in country South Australia where there were no expectations that children would be anything other than labourers.

I went to high school and it was never suggested anybody go into tertiary education. In my leaving year we had a wonderful English teacher who encouraged us. I guess it started there.

I started at the ABC 1971. [After two breaks] I retired at the end of 2005.

It’s a strange thing, if you sit still in a studio long enough, everybody in the world will come through.

When I look back I had the most extraordinary privilege. I got to meet [and] talk to the most extraordinary people. I have had three or four conversations with David Attenborough.

It was an education for me. I don’t think of it as me who contributed much, I take a more selfish view. I was lucky, lucky, lucky!

I chose

hopewith

people

I got to

extraordinarytalk to the mostto align myself

“

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Hazel Edwards ...Author >

Cliff Green ...Screenwriter. Editor. >

Hazel Edwards OAM is an award-winning children’s book author, best known for her classic book There’s a hippopotamus on my roof eating cake. She has published over 200 books.

I had only been in Warrandyte for 18 months. I worked from home and was earning my living as a screenwriter and wanted to get involved in the local community.

The local youth club wanted a newsletter, and so I said ‘I’ll do it’, and the Warrandyte Diary was born, in December 1970. I did it as a hobby, I had no intention of being involved with it for the rest of my working life!

I wrote the screenplay for Picnic at Hanging Rock in 1974. It wasn’t such a big deal then. Peter Weir was a young upcoming director. I drafted the script in six to eight weeks.

It was a brilliant job, it just felt so good. When I read the book, it intrigued me. I couldn’t put it down. I could see it as a film, I could see every frame.

Stories are basic. They are vital. They are not just about us, they are part of our culture.

Cliff Green OAM is an award-winning screenwriter for film and television, and founder of the community newspaper, the Warrandyte Diary. He still calls Warrandyte home.

I’ve lived in Blackburn for 43 years. It was orchards and bush. We built the house. And it’s the house that has the hippo on its roof.

There was a defect in the roof. It was raining and water was pouring in. My son said, ‘That’s not a leak, that’s just the hippo who lives on the roof eating cake.’

I still have kids come up and asking, ‘Is this the house where the hippo lives?’ It’s lovely.

I’ve been writing a long time. I published my first book when I was 27. I had a book and a baby at the same time. I’m 71 now. It’s a way of life.

I write to understand how people think, to get inside somebody else’s world and see things from another view. I like the feeling that what I write enables somebody else to do that.

I write

thinkhow people

to

understand

culture

Storiesare part of our

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Mandy Nicholson ...Woiwurrung language specialist >

Dave O’Neil ...Comedian. Broadcaster. Writer. >

Mandy Nicholson is a Woiwurrung specialist and a PhD candidate. She works with the Victorian Corporation for Aboriginal Languages to produce community resources in language.

I used to write in primary school. I wrote for the school newsletter. I always loved writing, I didn’t know it was a job though, so I trained to be a teacher.

Then once I got out into the wide world I realised that writing was a job. I wasn’t that interested in writing serious stuff. I wanted to write funny stuff. I never taught.

It’s been good. I got into stand-up. That was in 1990, 26 years ago. Once you start doing stand-up you meet other comics, and when you don’t know anyone, it’s a good way to start.

The actual writing is not hard, it’s the thinking of ideas. I’m always thinking about stuff.

I reckon it’s important for people to tell stories, particularly Australian stories. And stuff from the suburbs, because that’s where most people come from, people relate to it.

There are good stories everywhere.

Dave O’Neil is a comedian, broadcaster, writer and all round funny guy. His latest book is The Summer of ’82.

My father is Wurundjeri. My mother is German. I have connections to three language groups of the Central/Eastern Kulin.

I didn’t grow up knowing any of my language [Woiwurrung], maybe a few cheeky little words like moom [backside] and munna [head lice]. Little words which have lingered through the generations.

My grandmother wasn’t allowed to speak language. My great-grandmother wasn’t allowed to teach her. A lot of people say it’s dead. I prefer to say that it’s asleep and we are waking it up.

We only have a word list not even a dictionary. But our northern neighbour Taungurung does have a dictionary with grammar included. The grammar for both languages is the same, a tool to create sentences and phrases.

It’s helped me create songs, new dances and translate our stories. When we do ceremony we sing in language, we dance the movements to represent those words.

When I was in high school and really shy there was something really empty. This stuff has filled that hole. Language gives culture life.

Languagegives culture

lifestories

goodThere are

everywhere

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Joy Dettman ...

Joy’s first book Mallawindy was published in 1998. Since then she’s had 15 books published and her sixteenth is currently with her editors. She has lived in Whitehorse since the 1960s.

Author >Varvara Ioannou ...Mentor. Educator. Consultant. Leader. >

Varvara founded the Food for Thought Network in 2001 — which is run entirely by volunteers — to foster connections and create more opportunities for women. She lives in Templestowe.

I was always a writer, as a tiny kid I was writing poetry. I thought everybody did it. I had a sister eight years my junior who wouldn’t go to bed without a story so I would start spinning her stories.

I did a lot of writing before I was married then I had three daughters and we adopted a son and for the next ten years I had little time for writing.

They grew and out came my old typewriter again. When they went to bed, it started rattling. I’d rattle half the night, writing.

When the letter came telling me Macmillan wanted to have a meeting, I had my daughter and grand-daughter with me and I danced them up and down the drive.

People say that when your first child is born that that’s the greatest moment of your life, but I think that maybe when my first book was born it was the greatest moment of mine.

I’d chased it for so long.

I am an educator, a consultant, a community leader. I’m a mother, a wife, an academic, a friend — all those identities we women have.

I was born in Greece and came to Australia when I just turned 19. I came here with no English and went to every school I could find because I couldn’t stand the fact people might have thought I was stupid.

I am a learner, I seek stories because I learn something every day.

I founded the Food for Thought Network to connect different generations, professions and cultures. It’s about providing an avenue for people to succeed by telling their stories and enhance their self-esteem.

Once you are able to articulate your own story you see stories from others in similar ways. You have much more meaningful conversations. This is a gift not only to you and those around you, but to future generations: a more humane, understanding world.

I’d rattle

writinghalf the night,

I seek stories

something

because I

every day

learn

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the writers, the journalists, the photographers. The singers, the songwriters, the speakers, the scriptwriters. To the wordsmiths, the playwrights, the artists and poets. To the filmmakers, the speechmakers, the linguists and leaders.

Whitehorse Manningham Libraries ...www.wml.vic.gov.au >

Thank youFor sharing your stories, for highlighting the plight, for championing the cause and cultivating our culture. For every carefully chosen word, every whimsical flight of fancy, every piece of passionate prose, and every creative crisis. The rattling, the battling, the letters, the luck.The learning, the language, the listening.

Thank you for your courage. Your vision, creativity and skill.

Thank you for keeping our stories alive.

#storytelling #whatsyourstory

The Story Makers project is part of Our Community Stories, a Whitehorse and Manningham Libraries initiative which aims to keep local stories alive by helping people connect with their history and heritage. For more information about Our Community Stories, please visit www.wml.vic.gov.au

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