Dharawal Dreaming is a music production of 60 minutes duration, that incorporates storytelling and dance. Dharawal Dreaming is based on Dharawal Aboriginal creation stories, and is created and performed by the music trio “Waratah” in collaboration with Dharawal performers Matthew Doyle, Deborah Lennis and Frances Bodkin. The project celebrates Australian contemporary music, indigenous music & stories, and native flora. Although an unlikely combination, these topics are linked through the fulcrum of Dharawal culture.

Dharawal Dreaming focuses on two related stories, and treats them sequentially – Miwa Gawaian (“How the White Waratah Came to Be”) and Miwa Gawaian and Waratah (“How the White Waratah Became Red”).

Dharawal Dreaming involves a creative team of six people, and is performed by five of them.

Miwa Gawaian tells how the Spirit Woman Korrobori came to Earth from the sky, and created the world as a place to rest during her travels. She created trees and plants, to provide food, beauty and shelter. Then she created two sisters to look after the world she had crafted. She named the sisters Wurrata, the Beautiful One, and Wiridjiribin, the Rememberer. Korrobori showed the sisters all around the world she had made, and taught then which plants they could use for food, medicine, and other things.

When the time cam for Korrobori to return home, the sisters were sad, and begged her not to leave. Korrobori took her magic staff and planted it into the ground, where it turned into a beautiful white flower. She named it Miwa Gawaian, although this flower is now known as the White Waratah. Korrobori told the sisters that if they needed her, they could always talk to her through the Miwa Gawaian. She would hear them and come to help them.

Wurrata and Wiridjiribin were the ancestors of the Dharawal people. For many generations, only women named Wurrata were given the special task of tending the Miwa Gawaian, the gift of Korrobori.

Miwa Gawaian and Waratah tells of a time many generations later, when a particularly beautiful young woman named Wurrata was given the task of tending the Miwa Gawaian. Many young men of the Dharawal clans fall in love with Wurrata, but she wanted only to do her duty to Miwa Gawaian. Mananga, a great and powerful warrior, also fell in love with Wurrata, and wanted her for his wife, regardless of her duties to Miwa Gawaian.

Mananga tried many things, including magic, to make Wurrata fall in love with him, but it did not work. Finally Mananga threatened that if Wurrata refused to go with him, he would destroy the Miwa Gawaian. As he swung his axe at the flower, Wurrata threw herself in the way, to protect the Miwa Gawaian. Managa’s axe struck Wurrata instead. Mananga had killed the woman he loved.

Although verging on extinction in the mid-19th century, the Dharawal Aboriginal people of the greater south-western Sydney area survived, and today are actively regenerating their culture and language. Leading this regeneration have been Dharawal elders and knowledgeholders Frances Bodkin and Gavin Andrews. They have been assisted by Matthew Doyle, who has committed many of the Dharawal Dreaming stories to neo-traditional music and dance.

Among the Dharawal Dreaming stories are many about their principal totems, Wirid-Jiribin (the lyrebird) and Waratah (the flower) – including “How the White Waratah Came to Be” and “How the White Waratah Became Red”. It is from these stories that the trio Waratah has taken its name – with the full consent and approval of the Dharawal community.

All members of Waratah have worked with Matthew Doyle, individually and collectively. Tony Lewis has a long history of collaboration with indigenous Australian artists, and with Doyle in particular. Together, Doyle and Lewis created Wirid-Jiribin, The Lyrebird – a contemporary dance drama on a Dharawal creation story, performed by them with Dhamor Percussion – for the Festival of the Dreaming (Sydney, 1997).

Waratah has worked with Frances Bodkin, Deborah Lennis and Matthew Doyle to create Dharawal Dreaming. At the heart of the production are the creation stories of the Dharawal people, as recorded and written by Frances Bodkin, and in performance told in English by either Frances Bodkin (in Australia) or Deborah Lennis (internationally). Also central are Matthew Doyle’s interpretation of these stories in neo-traditional song (Dharawal language) and dance.

The members of Waratah have composed collaboratively to interpret and extend these stories into music that is contemporary, innovative and international in its scope. In doing so, the artists collectively present the Dharawal Dreaming, not as historical curiosities, but as living examples of eternal and universal wisdom.

Dharawal Dreaming also celebrates the extension of Dharawal culture and history into the contemporary Australian identity – for example, every Australian knows the Waratah as a flower and the floral emblem of New South Wales, but how many know the origins of the name?

Dharawal Dreaming premiered at the Jeonju Sori International Festival in Jeonju City, South Korea, in September 2006. It also performed at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival in Gapyeong. We are now scheduling performances in Australia in 2007.

Frances Bodkin is a Dharawal woman of the Bitter Water Clans. Her mother was a storyteller, and her grandmother and great grandmother were medicine women, all of whom passed their knowledge on to her. Frances is now herself an elder and knowledgeholder of the Dharawal people. She is also a recognised botanist, and is the author of Encyclopaedia Botanica, which has over 11,000 entries on Australian native plants.

Since 1998 Frances has worked as an Indigenous Education Officer at Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, a Garden for Australian natives. In this capacity she combines her formidable knowledge of Australian botany with her invaluable knowledge of Dharawal creation, history and law, and uses her mother’s stories to teach children at Mount Annan Botanic Gardens about the environment, and the animals, insects and birds which inhabit that environment.

Frances’ creative input as the knowledgeholder and cultural consultant is critical to the integrity of the work.

Deborah Lennis is a Dharawal woman of the Salt Water Clan. Since 1998, Deborah has been learning the Dharawal creation stories from Frances Bodkin. Since that time Deborah has also worked as an Indigenous Education Officer at Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens, and has been telling these stories to children and adults at both Mount Annan and Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens.

As an artist, Deborah has also been illustrating these stories for educational purposes in a variety of contexts. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Education degree in Aboriginal Studies at Sydney University. Deborah tells the stories in performance.

Matthew Doyle is one of Australia’s most acclaimed, accomplished and important contemporary indigenous artists. Singer, didjeridu player, composer, dancer and choreographer, Matthew is a graduate of NAISDA Dance College. He has since worked with many high profile artists and companies, including Bangarra Dance Theatre, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Children’s Choir, Taikoz, Riley Lee, Dale Barlow, Sandy Evans, Satsuki Odamura, Tony Lewis, Colin Offord, David Page, Michael Atherton, Michael Askill and many others.

Matthew has composed, choreographed and performed for a number of major international events, including three Olympiads (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004). In 2005 he has performed at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, in China, and at World Expo in Aichi, Japan. He currently teaches at NAISDA and works in schools and communities.

Matthew is a Dharawal Aboriginal, and has been central in working with Dharawal elders and knowledge holders Gavin Andrews and Frances Bodkin, in researching and restoring Dharawal culture. He has composed a number of Dharawal Dreaming into a neo-traditional song series, and has choreographed many of them. In 1997, with Tony Lewis and Dhamor Percussion, Matthew created Wirid-Jiribin, the Lyrebird, a contemporary dance-drama extended from a Dharawal creation story, for the Festival of the Dreaming.

Waratah – Sandy Evans, Satsuki Odamura and Tony Lewis – is an Australian music trio which unites jazz, world music and contemporary Australian music into a remarkable fusion. The ensemble brings together these three acclaimed musicians and their instruments, from different stylistic and cultural traditions, into a new and challenging context. The group members each compose for the trio, both individually and collaboratively. Waratah take their name from one of the creation stories of the Dharawal Aboriginal people of south-western Sydney, with the full consent of the Dharawal community.

Waratah has performed at World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, the Festival of Asian Music and Dance (Sydney Opera House), Woodford Folk Festival, Bellingen Global Carnival, Government House (Sydney), the Songs of the Wind Festival (Blue Mountains, NSW), Asia Fest (Lismore), the Brett Whiteley Studio (Sydney), Café Carnivale (Sydney), and has broadcast for ABC Radio National’s Music Deli.

Sandy Evans, winner of the Inaugural Bell Award For Australian Jazz Musician of The Year 2003, is recognised as one of the leading saxophonists (tenor and soprano) and composers in contemporary jazz in Australia. She leads the Sandy Evans Trio, and co-leads the dynamic new 8 piece ensemble GEST8. She is co-leader of the internationally acclaimed Clarion Fracture Zone. She is a member of Waratah, Ten Part Invention, The catholics, the Australian Art Orchestra, Sweet Freedom, austraLYSIS, and Passionfruit.

She has toured extensively in Australia, Europe, Canada and Asia playing at many major jazz festivals and clubs. Highlights of 2004 included performances in America at The Chicago Jazz Festival with Ten Part Invention and concerts with her trio in Canada and Europe. Sandy is renowned for her composition Testimony about the life and music of Charlie Parker commissioned by ABC Radio Drama. Testimony was performed by The Australian Art Orchestra in the Concert Hall at The Sydney Opera House for The Sydney Festival in 2002.

Sandy has recently returned from World Expo in Japan where she performed a specially commissioned piece with Waratah to celebrate Marine Day. Sandy has won many awards including a Young Australian Creative Fellowship, APRA Award for Jazz Composition of the Year, 2 Mo Awards and three ARIA Awards.

Satsuki Odamura is a Japanese koto virtuoso, who has pioneered the teaching and performing of koto, an ancient Japanese instrument in Australia. She has won the Australian World Music Awards 2000 World Music Instrumentalist of the Year, two Sounds Australian Awards for Most Distinguished Contribution to the Presentation of Australian Music by an Individual and the 1998 Green Room Award for Original Score.

Her performances range from jazz-like improvisations with saxophonist Sandy Evans and percussionist Tony Lewis to collaboration with sarod virtuoso Ashok Roy. In the process she has inspired a number of Australian composers to write music for the koto. Among these compositions are Carl Vine's concerto Gaijin written for her 13-stringed koto and bass koto, Peter Sculthorpe’s Little Requiem written for koto and bass koto and premiered with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Liza Lim's work for the contemporary music ensemble Elision and Barry Connyngham's Afterimages for koto and small orchestra.

Satsuki has released three CDs, Like a Bird, Burning House, and Koto Dreaming, the latter two consisting entirely of Australian compositions for the koto. Satsuki’s CDs are produced by Tony Lewis.

Tony Lewis is a percussionist and composer with over thirty years of professional experience. Based in Sydney, he specialises in contemporary cross-cultural music forms, and music for dance and theatre.

Tony currently performs with the acclaimed “world jazz” group Waratah, and in duet with recorder player Racheal Cogan. He has performed with many of Australia’s leading contemporary and cross-cultural music, dance and theatre groups, and with many visiting international artists – including Sangam, Tal Vad, B’tutta, The Renaissance Players, Southern Crossings, Ariel, Kim Sanders & Friends, REM Theatre, the One Extra Company, Alison’s Wonderland, The Great Bowing Company, Matthew Doyle, Riley Lee, Mark Atkins and Michael Atherton. He has toured internationally to perform, study, teach, and/or conduct cultural exchange projects in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, many Pacific Islands, and indigenous communities around Australia. He appeared as a soloist at the Commonwealth Drum Festival in Auckland, 1990, and was Musical Director of the Asian segment of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Tony has composed major works for the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (Munjong, Victorian Arts Centre 1990), the One Extra Company (Dancing Demons, Indonesian tour 1991), the Chrissie Parrott Dance Company (Satu Langit, Perth Festival 1994), Matthew Doyle and Dhamor Percussion (Wirid-jiribin, the Lyrebird, Festival of the Dreaming 1997), and Sadari Theatre Company (Ching-kom Dari, Seoul 2001). He has composed many other works, full length or shorter, for small dance and theatre companies and independent artists.