Storytelling and re-purposed guitars

I reckon everyone has an interesting story to tell. So I knew that when I started this trip, I'd meet all sorts of ordinary people with extraordinary stories. In Deni I had the privilege of sitting down with a couple of genuinely good humans over a glass of red (faux, in my case) and hearing about the fascinating things they're doing. Introducing Daryll and Karen.

Daryll is a uke player (we're everywhere). He and Karen had the endured the noise I'd made with my own uke and that's what started our conversation. I heard the story of Daryll's first uke - a bright green soprano purchased with half of the $30 he'd earned from Karen for being the first to spot an Emu on one of their trips from Brisbane to Deniliquin (no idea what he did with the change). I asked what had brought them here this time. Karen said she'd grown up in Deni and still had strong connections with the community; and Daryll said, "I'm a storyteller". What did that mean exactly? Author? Scriptwriter? Playwright? Journalist? Actually, it's none of those things. Daryll is simply a storyteller. Retired, he says, but I reckon that's something you never really retire from.

With a background in dramatic arts (improv, clowning, juggling, song and dance) Daryll spent 30 years visiting kindergartens, libraries and primary schools just telling stories. "I'd start with a song, like 'Mary had a little Lamb' and then I'd build on the story. What happened to Mary? What devilish antics did the lamb get up to?" The stories would evolve and grow with the kids' own imaginations. He'd also create stories that drew on local culture and community. Like the story of the kid in Rochester that hooked a Murray Cod so big it pulled him along the Campaspe River like a water skier.

On one of their regular trips to Deni the local Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Yarkuwa, asked Daryll if he'd help them with a project to help revitalise the Wamba Wamba language. Yarkuwa had received a grant to bring back the language that had been suppressed to the point where it had all but died out. Daryll had no training in Indigenous languages, but he did have a passion for the structure of language and of course, for storytelling, so he agreed to help out. "I believe in the importance of revitalising and celebrating Indigenous language" he told me. With Daryll's help and that of Canberra-based linguist Dr Luise Hercus, who interviewed fluent speaking Elders and published and an invaluable dictionary of the surviving Wamba Wamba language, the Wamba Wamba community started to teach language and culture. The project has been so successful that Wamba Wamba language and Indigenous culture is now taught to every Year 7 student in the area. Daryll has also helped Yarkuwa to build a website that houses a Wamba Wamba dictionary, language guide and cultural database.

Karen’s background is also based in language: teaching English to refugees and migrants from places like Iraq, Burma, Sudan and Iran. Passionate about refugee issues, Karen recently connected with ‘Noteworthy, Music Without Borders'. Don Hearn, Noteworthy founder, gratefully accepts donated guitars, re-strings them and then re-donates them to someone who wouldn’t normally be able to afford one. One of Don’s guitars recently found its way to a young refugee released from nine years detention by the Australian government. Recipients can enjoy the simple pleasure of playing and listening to music and perhaps even experience some of its transformative magic. Don’s mission of acquiring, repairing and donating guitars from his small workshop in Perricoota, west of Moama, is supported by the persistence of people like Karen, who help identify those who need them most. As we sat huddled in front of a tiny heater in their draughty cabin, one such guitar lay on the bed awaiting transportation to its new owner, a recently released refugee in Brisbane. It had been donated by a woman in Echuca whose husband had died. She wanted it to be put to good use, and I'm sure it will be.

It was a delight to spend time with Daryll and Karen and to hear their stories. If everyone I meet on my travels is as interesting and engaging as these two, it'll be a very enjoyable journey.

To find out about Yarkuwa and the Wamba Wamba language go to www.culture.yarkuwa.org,au

For more information about Noteworthy go to www.noteworthy.net.au