CARROLUP-COLGATE CONNECTION CELEBRATED

Elders and entire families from throughout Noongar country came together at the Katanning Noongar Centre on Saturday 31^st May 2008 to acknowledge a successful future and pay respect to a painful past.

The arrival in Katanning of Professor Ellen Kraly and a group of fifteen international exchange students from Colgate University in New York State provided a rare opportunity for an immersion in Noongar culture during a fourteen day study tour of the Great Southern.  

The guests were treated to a traditional Welcome to Country performance by Noongar group Gya Ngoop-One Blood.  Rain forced the dancers inside but that was not enough to dampen the spirits of those in attendance.  The lights were dimmed and the audience was treated to several dances before the rain cleared and the dancers took the performance outside under the stars.  Onlookers marveled at the revival of traditional Noongar culture in the heart of Noongar country-ancient dances handed down from father to son, a first for many viewers.                                                                            

A highlight of the long weekend was the artists’ workshops at the Mungart Boodja Art Centre studios.  Three generations of artists worked in tandem (including original Carrolup artist Alan Kelly, now in his seventies, and his nephews, renowned artist Lance Chadd, and Bunbury artist Troy Bennell).  International students not only observed but were taught the Carrolup style of painting and witnessed first hand the living links between the child artists of Carrolup and contemporary Noongar arts practice. 

A poignant moment occurred at the Carrolup Native Settlement, now known as Marribank Family Centre.  It was the first time that Alan Kelly had returned to Carrolup since he was taken from his family in Brunswick Junction in the late 1940’s at the age of eight years old. Alan, a member of the Stolen Generation, recounted his story of the day he was taken and the conditions he faced at the mission.  The international students were deeply touched by the pain and hardship that Mr Kelly and the children of Carrolup experienced during the time when the Government policy segregated Noongar people from mainstream society.

The students will farewell the Noongar community of Katanning having experienced a broad overview of Noongar culture including the poignant experiences of the young artists of the Carrolup Native Settlement.  The Carrolup child artists’ paintings are the impetus for this international exchange; the spirit of Carrolup is very much alive in Noongar country- and in Colgate University, New York State.

Mungart Boodja Art Centre thanks its partners the Southern Aboriginal Corporation, the Great Southern Development Commission, the Department of Families, Housing Community Services & Indigenous Affairs, the Katanning Aboriginal Corporation and the Shire of Katanning provided an enriching cultural experience for the international guests during their stay in Katanning.