Bringing together the old and the very old

Hello, legend-lovers!

How are you? What have you been up to this last week?

What have I been up to? Funny you should ask! I've been up to (*cackles*) the Northern Territory of Australia, staying in Darwin with my aunt and uncle! I spent the first half of June in Darwin, where I learnt about Indigenous people, culture, music and mission. I met Indigenous Christian brothers and sisters (and aunts and uncles 😄), sat in on Kriol Bible recording (I still can't quite describe how powerful that experience was), ate dugong (and an ant) and had a picture with an anthill because apparently that's a thing you do in the Northern Territory 🤷🏼‍♀️.

My last weekend there, we drove to an Aboriginal community called Borroloola for the Malandarri Festival. It was a long drive through the outback, with the trees and shrubs changing every few miles or so. When we got to Borroloola, my uncle started to recognise the trees. He said it was like old friends lining the road to greet us. :) My uncle and aunt work on Bible translation and songwriting workshops with the Garrwa people, and some Garrwa and Yanyuwa people live in Borroloola.

When we first arrived on Thursday night, our little group (my aunt, uncle, a coworker of theirs and myself) sat in our cabin and talked over tea. The missionaries swapped stories, and as we started passing around chocolate, my uncle brought up a traditional Yanyuwa dance he'd heard of called Ka-wayawayama. In English, the Aeroplane Dance.

I've told a couple of Aboriginal Dreamtime stories here before. These stories are passed down orally from generation to generation, and often tell stories of how the world came to be the way it was. Sometimes these stories are told through dances. They feel like they are older than time; set in an ancient world. The aeroplane, although traditional, isn't a Dreamtime story. It was created last century to tell a story from World War II. It's an Aboriginal modern fairytale :).

So what's the story?

The Little Eva was a US bomber plane on its way back from a raid in Papua New Guinea. Becoming lost over the north of Australia, four of its crew had to parachute into uncharted bush at night. In the middle of a vast and unfamiliar land, they began a terrible battle for survival.

They set off to look for civilisation with little food and only a few tools. They found a little abandoned hut to use as a base, and ate anything they could find: fruit and raw goanna, crocodile and fish. They waded across rivers and fended off crocodiles and dingoes. Even though they saw and heard planes flying overhead, they couldn't manage to signal them. One by one, the men passed away, until only Staff Sergeant Grady S Gaston remained alive.

One hundred and forty-one days later, he was found by a Yanyuwa man on a beach. This man took him to a cattle station owner, who gave him a bed and food. The cattle station sent an expedition to find the other men's bodies. They took them to a cemetery to be buried, and sent Sgt Gaston to a hospital.

One of the Yanyuwa men involved in the rescue operation choreographed the Aeroplane Dance to tell the story. I would have loved to see it performed at the Festival: I might have been able to ask some more questions about the props and story. :) (It was performed, but unfortunately it was j u s t after we left.)

Thankfully, it's on YouTube!

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I'll also attach some articles that tell the story in more detail, if you're interested. Neither are too graphic, but the first one quotes Sgt Gaston directly, so if you're sensitive or have a vivid imagination, maybe read the second one.

​Here's a newspaper article published at the time.

​This one has more detail about the journey.

All cultures change and adapt over time, yet they all also have wonderful traditions that make us feel like we're part of something bigger than ourselves. The struggle for many cultures is how to keep the balance between those two elements: how to conserve the old, and accept the parts that change.

How have you seen your culture adapt? What makes you feel like you're a part of something big, and old?

What cultures would you like to learn more about? :)

You know I always love to hear from you!

Till next time!

PS There's no blog post this week. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with me as I adapt and create a new schedule. :)