Australia and Scotland

Sean Choolburra , Jess Smith and Anne E Stewart celebrate their love and respect for the land in an evening of fantastically haunting stories, songs and dance, music and spleen-splitting comedy.

Jess Smith was our host for the evening and with her knowledge of Scottish indidgenous traveller tales we were off to a great start. Her passion for her people and their treatment by Scottish Government has a lot in common with Sean. He was totally engaging and funny and danced and sang and gave everyone a sense of indigenous culture. I shared a couple of stories but was very proud to share with them the Story of Barak, the Last of the Wurrundjeri who was supported and championed by a Scottish woman Anne Fraser Bon ( nee Dougall).

The Scottish centre was pleased to hear of her early efforts at reconciliation and they loved it so much they have asked for a copy of the story. Having visited her home town of Dunning in Perthshire I had a greater understanding of the woman and her cultural background.