Booditj Noongar Yorgas: Day 1

We went to Borden today to work with Jaime Phillips again, this time on the Booditj Noongar Yorgas program, also known as the Strong Noongar Women fashion project. Jaime started the program with Lynley Pickett a few years ago, and last spring two of the girls came to Colgate for the opening of the Picker Art Gallery’s exhibit on Noongar art, past and present. (Unfortunately I was abroad, so I missed this exhibit.) Girls learn about their Noongar tradition and family stories and incorporate this information into dresses which they design and model. Some of the dresses the girls created are truly incredible!

It was quite a haul to get to Borden, but once we were there, the facility was absolutely gorgeous. Having spent quite a bit of time in rural Australia, I am very impressed by the quality of the public recreational and cultural facilities. For example, the pavilion that we were in today was very spacious and functional, yet simply elegant.

About 15 girls participated in the program today; they came from Katanning, Tambellup, Mt. Barker and Wagin, all of which are little towns scattered within a pretty wide radius. We already knew two of the girls – Marley and Nadia – as they have been around with Ezzard this week. The other girls from Katanning and Wagin, though, were very welcoming and fun to spend time with. The girls from Mt. Barker came off as a bit more haughty and distant, though, which was an interesting contrast. (Mt. Barker is a tougher town, which I bet is part of the reason the girls were more standoffish.)

After some introductions, I led a few icebreakers with everyone which was pretty cool as this was a way in which I felt I could really contribute my expertise. We played Counting Coo and Have You Ever?, although I had hoped to play People to People, but I cut it at the last minute as I realized I wasn’t sure how close contact would be viewed by the Noongar girls. This is really the first time that I facilitated a group with such diverse cultural backgrounds, and as I thought about different behaviors acceptable in a group, it occurred to me that touching strangers might not be culturally acceptable, and that it was better to be safe than sorry.

We had a presentation from Lynley and Jaime on the history of the program, and then broke for lunch. A few of us walked into town to get lunch at the restaurant (Borden is very hopping with a general store and a restaurant and that’s about it). After lunch, though, we had a chance to actually make brooches and badges (pins) in a really fun, hands-on, creative workshop. Some of the pieces the girls made were absolutely beautiful, combining buttons, emu feathers, quandong nuts and other parts of Australian nature. I made a bracelet that I really love from a piece of leather and a sunset scene that was painted on a piece of cotton. It’s very campy, but the radiant pink sky reminds me of both Australia and sunsets over Ontario.

When we got back, eight of us went to the Blue House Diner for dinner. Shev and I split a delicious pizza that had a great mix of chicken, sweet and sour sauce, pineapple, onion and peppers on it. Mmmm.

Peace,
Jill