While visiting Canberra for the launch of Children's Book Week and the CBCA Awards, I was able to connect with the ACT Storytellers .
The ACT Storytellers Guild holds two Story
Circles a month and all are welcome. With Canberra’s sprawling suburbs, the
group meets on the north and south of the city. The first Wednesday of each
month is on the South Side and the second Wednesday of each month, is on the
North Side.
I attended the North Side Story Circle and
can report that these tellers have told more stories than most of us have had hot
dinners. They’re highly skilled and living in the National capital has given
them opportunities which those of us living elsewhere have not enjoyed. Between
them, they’ve crafted stories for the National Museum, War Memorial, Botanic
Gardens and other national institutions. Some have worked alongside, historians
shaping primary source material for telling inside exhibitions or in collaboration
with horticulturalist and rangers and education officers.
The ACT is also home for Patsy Allan who
has made telling stories to the very young her specialty. On the day of my
visit, Patsy had just launched her DVD, The
Wonder and Joy of Storytelling to Young Children. Pasty, makes, tells and
writes stories. She is a well-loved storyteller with much to teach all of us
who dare to tell to the very young – surely the most challenging but rewarding
audience.
The North Side Story Circle was attended by
nine tellers who made good use of the time to try out stories before going
public. Mary French (our hostess) used the gathering to share a tale to
commemorate 48 years of marriage to Eric with an immaculately crafted story
about their wedding day. Vonny Kemister tested a story she is learning to tell
at the Botanic Gardens, while the resident teller, Roslyn Hull is away. Vonny’s
story comes from Olga Earnst’s Fairy Tales from The Land of the Wattle (1904).
If you are interested in reading these early Australian Fairy stories, you can
do so HERE. (This takes a while to download so be patient. Its worth it.)
Thank you to the Act Storytellers for good
company, fine food and the warm fire.
Visit Patsy Allan and The
Wonder and Joy of Storytelling to Young Children available: HERE
Visit the ACT Storytellers Guild: HERE
Storyteller Roslyn Hull was unable to make the Story Circle but the following day Ros took me on a tour of The Australian National Botanic Gardens and talked me through her role as the resident storyteller. We made this little video (rough as it is) to share how she approaches storytelling in this setting. Be amazed Ros's knowledge and enthusiasm is exemplary! Australian National Botanic Gardens: HERE
