In the beginning…

Ancient stories were often about family, history and tradition – a way of remembering people and past events.  Other stories were to teach the younger generations about their culture and how they should live, or to pass on laws or morals.

Many Indigenous Australian stories are like this.  Some talk about how the landscape was created.  Others are lessons on how to live life.  These are also referred to as Dreamtime Stories.

Dreaming

To learn more about Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories, check out Dust Echoes on the ABC.

http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/dustEchoesFlash.htm

(uses Flash so takes a little while to load)

Family tales

Family stories are a little bit like ‘Show and Tell’.  Often they involve travelling to a particular place to learn the stories of that area.

Writing Spot

Can you remember something that your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties or other family members have told you about when you were young? Perhaps there are stories about you and your family that are attached to a particular place, such as a house where you used to live, or the place where you were born?  Sometimes we have photographs to trigger these memories.

It is important to keep the stories being told.  Although they might be in a photograph, or even written down, they may also be kept in community or family memory.

Search out some family stories of your own: make time to visit, phone or write to older members of your family and listen to their stories: they might be about you or they might even be stories about your parents or grandparents as youngsters.

Choose one of these family stories and write it down.  Try to write it as you hear it.  A good way to practice this is to record someone telling the story, and writing it as you hear it.

Once you have captured your Family Story, make sure you pass it on to the rest of your family!