The Storytellers Guide to Australia

 

THE STORYTELLER’S GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA is an umbrella title for a set of shows that vary according to a school’s curriculum focus.

Drawing from his wide repertoire of songs and stories, and with up-front planning, Jan configures the repertoire to suit your needs – mixing and matching to themes you request – be they political, historical, cultural or anything else you want to try.

If you want to discuss the possibilities,please ring (0417 332 065) or email

Song & Story Menu

Here are three example themes/formats:

 

Australia in a Suitcase

Jan has a suitcase of items collected on his Australian travels, and with each item there is a song or story, such as:

  • a photo of Jan’s refugee family for  a song of migration
  • a conch shell leads to the story of the origin of fire
  • a piece of quartz rock inspires a song of the gold rush
  • a miniature of Ned Kelly’s armour brings forth a bushranging song
  • a dog-spike from Jan’s youthful stint as a fettler on the Ghan railway line leads to a song about the Afghan cameleers

Anecdotes from Jan’s travels link the items, and students are invited to shape the show by choosing items themselves.


 

Song & Story Menu

Blackfellow – Whitefellow

Jan has a wide range of songs and stories about black and white Australia, including:

  • historical stories of first contact
  • traditional songs learnt from Indigenous friends
  • contemporary songs from events such as the 1966 Gurindji walk-off
  • excerpts from Jan’s theatre shows Whitefella Learns to Dance and Buckley: The Go-between
  • material from radio and television documentaries made with Indigenous people, and from Jan’s biography with Wardaman elder, Yidumduma Bill Harney.

 

Song & Story Menu

Old Days, Old Ways

As is well-known, Jan was a founder of Australia’s most famous bush band, The Bushwackers, specializing in Australia’s folk repertoire of 18th, 19th and early 20th century Australia.

These songs, humorous recitations and vivid tales portray the lives of ordinary men and women, including:

  • convicts who lamented leaving home

  • people who tramped the country looking for work shearing, droving or fencing
  • bush people who took pride in their work and skills

  • families on the farm to face bushfire, flood and drought
  • the swagman’s delights of a peaceful billy of tea, by the river, with a fish on the line
  • the hangovers that followed a bushman’s spree, and all the quirky, funny tales that go with these times.

With these songs and stories Jan gives students a glimpse of these past times and people now long gone.

 Song & Story Menu