MC Tammy Anderson. Photo: Geoff Ellis By Catherine Watson
WHEN the Post asked people to name their favourite moments of the Phillip Island Literary Festival, one name kept coming up. Actor and playwright Tammy Anderson, who presented her own session and chaired several other sessions, commanded the stage and the audience in a mesmerising display of talent and eloquence.
Festival co-organiser Kay Setches said the committee wanted "stop you dead in your tracks" stories from tellers who gave of themselves. “On Sunday, people were plucking at me, wanting to talk about what they had just heard, groaning about what they had missed, what they thought!
“At times there was barely contained excitement at the ideas aired and conflicts examined. People happily telling me we had got the balance right. I was told Saturday was marvellous and then ‘Sunday was even better’.”
WHEN the Post asked people to name their favourite moments of the Phillip Island Literary Festival, one name kept coming up. Actor and playwright Tammy Anderson, who presented her own session and chaired several other sessions, commanded the stage and the audience in a mesmerising display of talent and eloquence.
Festival co-organiser Kay Setches said the committee wanted "stop you dead in your tracks" stories from tellers who gave of themselves. “On Sunday, people were plucking at me, wanting to talk about what they had just heard, groaning about what they had missed, what they thought!
“At times there was barely contained excitement at the ideas aired and conflicts examined. People happily telling me we had got the balance right. I was told Saturday was marvellous and then ‘Sunday was even better’.”
The Post asked festival goers to name their favourite moments. Here's a selection of responses.
Tammy Anderson
It’s a measure of the originality and boldness of the organisers that they worked so hard to get a very strong contribution to the program from indigenous writers, artists, filmmakers, and then to ask this talented actor, playwright, director to chair the events in the Cowes Cultural Centre. Tammy Anderson’s warmth, honesty and generosity were evident as she danced, microphone in hand, from speaker to audience.
For 23 years Tammy has been performing her solo theatre show I don't wanna play house in institutions, prisons, before judges and magistrates as part of her ongoing movement to stop violence and abuse. She performed the first 20 minutes of this play, transforming herself into child, mother, grandmother, father, neighbour, even grandmother's yappy dog ... She was funny, clever, immensely moving, and finally shocking.
Liz McDonald
What Colour is an Aboriginal? Patrice Mahoney, Edie Wright, Stephanie Skinner, Steve Parker, MC Tammy Anderson
The members of the panel showed incredible bravery facing an open and credulous audience anxious to learn but who found it difficult to fully understand the nuances imbedded in the life experiences of people of colour in our dominantly white and often intolerant society. It slowly became clear that the difference between us in the audience and those on the stage was attachment to Country. The people before us had at least 50,000 years of continuous attachment, the oldest and most profound attachment anywhere in the world. When those on the panel finally spoke of Country, a feeling of respect and awe seemed to fill the room. It gave credence to a difficult but deeply moving session.
Carolyn Landon
Tammy Anderson
It’s a measure of the originality and boldness of the organisers that they worked so hard to get a very strong contribution to the program from indigenous writers, artists, filmmakers, and then to ask this talented actor, playwright, director to chair the events in the Cowes Cultural Centre. Tammy Anderson’s warmth, honesty and generosity were evident as she danced, microphone in hand, from speaker to audience.
For 23 years Tammy has been performing her solo theatre show I don't wanna play house in institutions, prisons, before judges and magistrates as part of her ongoing movement to stop violence and abuse. She performed the first 20 minutes of this play, transforming herself into child, mother, grandmother, father, neighbour, even grandmother's yappy dog ... She was funny, clever, immensely moving, and finally shocking.
Liz McDonald
What Colour is an Aboriginal? Patrice Mahoney, Edie Wright, Stephanie Skinner, Steve Parker, MC Tammy Anderson
The members of the panel showed incredible bravery facing an open and credulous audience anxious to learn but who found it difficult to fully understand the nuances imbedded in the life experiences of people of colour in our dominantly white and often intolerant society. It slowly became clear that the difference between us in the audience and those on the stage was attachment to Country. The people before us had at least 50,000 years of continuous attachment, the oldest and most profound attachment anywhere in the world. When those on the panel finally spoke of Country, a feeling of respect and awe seemed to fill the room. It gave credence to a difficult but deeply moving session.
Carolyn Landon
MC Tammy Anderson with the panel: from left, Edie Wright, Patrice Mahoney, Stephanie Skinner (obscured) and Steve Parker. Photo: Geoff Ellis Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories
Local artist Patrice Mahoney’s interview with Adam Briggs on opening night set the tone for a program that included both confronting and positive accounts from Aboriginal speakers. Aunty Fay Muir’s audience was enthralled as she explained the process of re-assembling and recording her Boon Wurrung language and her work for the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages. In the provocatively titled panel session “What colour is an Aboriginal?” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander panel members shared their experiences with racism, identity and belonging to this country. The Q&A that followed showed we are still grappling with these important issues.
Linda Cuttriss
Tammy Anderson
Her crowded hour was populated with the spectres of the people who formed her as she made us laugh, cry and think. She radiated defiant resilience as she acted out episodes of her life and she knew exactly when to shout “Stop!” as horror was conjured on stage. Her ability to embody three different people in the one conversation was evocatively brilliant. So much loss, personally in her life and in the broader context of invasion. Lots of love in there, too, and hope for the future bounds from stage to audience.
Geoff Ellis
Intraliminal: Shasta Stevic
When I saw the catalogue photograph of Shasta Stevic looking like an Inuit dressed in an oversized, daggy costume, I decided to find out more. So glad I did. I discovered a young woman who devotes much of her time and energy to facilitate exhibitions which showcase the work of emerging artists, some as young as sixteen. Not only here but also in Iceland. Not necessarily in established galleries, but in venues in the most unlikely places. All working together. All being positive and creative. An uplifting experience.
John Adam
Destroying the Joint: Why Women Have to Change the World: Jane Caro
I’ve always been an admirer of Jane Caro. I heard her speak at a function in Sydney last year and was thrilled when she accepted an invitation to our festival. I enjoy her books and articles in the media. Her TV appearances are frequently provocative. She is a great supporter of public education and of course gender equality and opportunities for women. Her recent mid-year Walkely Women in Leadership Award was for her focus on ageing and the apparent illegitimacy of women in high office. It was richly deserved.
Jane’s talk was inspiring and particularly relevant in light of the recent world-wide Me Too Movement.
Anne Davie
Welcome to Country
My scarf still carries the aroma of Steve Parker's smoking ceremony. Before George Bass, dozens of camp fires kept people warm across this country and Steve's Welcome to Country burnt bright against that chill darkness as we slowly walked into the venue.
Geoff Ellis
The impact of the “yes” campaign on Victoria’s LGBTI community: Ro Allen
I didn't even know there was a Victorian Commissioner for Gender & Sexuality. There is, and she is a giant of a person. She's been doing terrifically good works spreading information and answering every difficult question with humour and simple common sense. Good on you, Ro, and all strength to you. And good on Victoria for making this appointment.
Liz McDonald
Ro Allen
What a great story teller - articulate, informative, humorous and fluid. When she invited her partner to share the stage, her performance was enhanced. She is an agent for positive change, a breath of fresh air.
Jan Fleming
Tunnerminerwait & Maulboyheener: BCSG Reconciliation Group
I first read a version of this story in Robert Drewe’s The Savage Crows, a book which touched my heart and I believe led to my writing Jackson’s Track. I next came across Lyn and Joe Chambers’ book Out to the Wreck, which had a more factual version connecting the story to the Bunurong [Boon Woorung] coastal area and pinpointing exactly where the two Tasmanian men were captured near Harmer’s Haven. Since then I have written a version myself for the Wonthaggi Historical Society newsletter. It was exciting to hear yet another version being read out to a receptive audience, most of whom had never heard it before. Thank you, Island Story Gathers, for including this session in your program and thanks to the reconciliation group for your heartfelt presentation, which clearly moved the audience deeply.
Carolyn Landon
The Plight of Refugees: Julian Burnside
Julian Burnside brings a clarity to the unacceptable plight of asylum seekers detained on Manus Island and Nauru. His insights, gleaned from experience show how our government is not only breaking International and Australian Law, but practicing sustained cruelty and torture. Turning back the boats? No. Turning our backs on humanity and compassion. Thanks Julian Burnside.
Jan Fleming
Stories of the State Coal Mine: Sam Gatto
Sam Gatto’s colourful story portrayed how strongly Wonthaggi’s beginnings in 1910 were founded on co-operation and solidarity. By the 1920s the town was known far and wide as “Wonderful Wonthaggi” for its clubs, health benefit schemes, hospital, pharmacy, dental clinic and a co-operative store that paid rebates to shoppers. In the 1930s, when wages were radically cut the miners and their wives famously stuck together through a five-month long strike. The mine closed in 1968 but hearing Sam tell this story felt like a clarion call for a renewed spirit of co-operation among us today.
Linda Cuttriss
An introduction to Boon Wurrung language: Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir
How much language can you learn in an hour? It wasn’t so much the few words we tried to learn as the world that opened before our eyes. Aunty Fay, a Boon Wurrung woman and project officer with the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, explained that Boon Wurrung is one of Victoria’s 38 Aboriginal languages, most of them now dead. The local language is being revived, one speaker at a time, from old papers, protectors’ reports and other clues. The audacity of reviving a dead language was dizzying. We peppered Aunty Fay with questions. We couldn’t get enough of it!
Catherine Watson
What Colour is an Aboriginal?
How many bits of paper do you need to prove who you are? Me? None. The people up on stage have had to assemble dozens of documents to prove who they are and where they come from. This session evolved into an edgy Q&A that highlighted the maturity and patience of the panel.
Geoff Ellis
Maggie Millar reads John Clarke
Maggie Millar, known for her eloquent and masterful readings from ... well, James Joyce to John Clarke, was in good form. She captured the irony, the wit, and the endless inventiveness of Clarke, the tone of whose book was set in the introduction "Travelled extensively in the Holy Lands, then left New Zealand for Europe". We all left smiling.
John Adam
Local artist Patrice Mahoney’s interview with Adam Briggs on opening night set the tone for a program that included both confronting and positive accounts from Aboriginal speakers. Aunty Fay Muir’s audience was enthralled as she explained the process of re-assembling and recording her Boon Wurrung language and her work for the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages. In the provocatively titled panel session “What colour is an Aboriginal?” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander panel members shared their experiences with racism, identity and belonging to this country. The Q&A that followed showed we are still grappling with these important issues.
Linda Cuttriss
Tammy Anderson
Her crowded hour was populated with the spectres of the people who formed her as she made us laugh, cry and think. She radiated defiant resilience as she acted out episodes of her life and she knew exactly when to shout “Stop!” as horror was conjured on stage. Her ability to embody three different people in the one conversation was evocatively brilliant. So much loss, personally in her life and in the broader context of invasion. Lots of love in there, too, and hope for the future bounds from stage to audience.
Geoff Ellis
Intraliminal: Shasta Stevic
When I saw the catalogue photograph of Shasta Stevic looking like an Inuit dressed in an oversized, daggy costume, I decided to find out more. So glad I did. I discovered a young woman who devotes much of her time and energy to facilitate exhibitions which showcase the work of emerging artists, some as young as sixteen. Not only here but also in Iceland. Not necessarily in established galleries, but in venues in the most unlikely places. All working together. All being positive and creative. An uplifting experience.
John Adam
Destroying the Joint: Why Women Have to Change the World: Jane Caro
I’ve always been an admirer of Jane Caro. I heard her speak at a function in Sydney last year and was thrilled when she accepted an invitation to our festival. I enjoy her books and articles in the media. Her TV appearances are frequently provocative. She is a great supporter of public education and of course gender equality and opportunities for women. Her recent mid-year Walkely Women in Leadership Award was for her focus on ageing and the apparent illegitimacy of women in high office. It was richly deserved.
Jane’s talk was inspiring and particularly relevant in light of the recent world-wide Me Too Movement.
Anne Davie
Welcome to Country
My scarf still carries the aroma of Steve Parker's smoking ceremony. Before George Bass, dozens of camp fires kept people warm across this country and Steve's Welcome to Country burnt bright against that chill darkness as we slowly walked into the venue.
Geoff Ellis
The impact of the “yes” campaign on Victoria’s LGBTI community: Ro Allen
I didn't even know there was a Victorian Commissioner for Gender & Sexuality. There is, and she is a giant of a person. She's been doing terrifically good works spreading information and answering every difficult question with humour and simple common sense. Good on you, Ro, and all strength to you. And good on Victoria for making this appointment.
Liz McDonald
Ro Allen
What a great story teller - articulate, informative, humorous and fluid. When she invited her partner to share the stage, her performance was enhanced. She is an agent for positive change, a breath of fresh air.
Jan Fleming
Tunnerminerwait & Maulboyheener: BCSG Reconciliation Group
I first read a version of this story in Robert Drewe’s The Savage Crows, a book which touched my heart and I believe led to my writing Jackson’s Track. I next came across Lyn and Joe Chambers’ book Out to the Wreck, which had a more factual version connecting the story to the Bunurong [Boon Woorung] coastal area and pinpointing exactly where the two Tasmanian men were captured near Harmer’s Haven. Since then I have written a version myself for the Wonthaggi Historical Society newsletter. It was exciting to hear yet another version being read out to a receptive audience, most of whom had never heard it before. Thank you, Island Story Gathers, for including this session in your program and thanks to the reconciliation group for your heartfelt presentation, which clearly moved the audience deeply.
Carolyn Landon
The Plight of Refugees: Julian Burnside
Julian Burnside brings a clarity to the unacceptable plight of asylum seekers detained on Manus Island and Nauru. His insights, gleaned from experience show how our government is not only breaking International and Australian Law, but practicing sustained cruelty and torture. Turning back the boats? No. Turning our backs on humanity and compassion. Thanks Julian Burnside.
Jan Fleming
Stories of the State Coal Mine: Sam Gatto
Sam Gatto’s colourful story portrayed how strongly Wonthaggi’s beginnings in 1910 were founded on co-operation and solidarity. By the 1920s the town was known far and wide as “Wonderful Wonthaggi” for its clubs, health benefit schemes, hospital, pharmacy, dental clinic and a co-operative store that paid rebates to shoppers. In the 1930s, when wages were radically cut the miners and their wives famously stuck together through a five-month long strike. The mine closed in 1968 but hearing Sam tell this story felt like a clarion call for a renewed spirit of co-operation among us today.
Linda Cuttriss
An introduction to Boon Wurrung language: Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir
How much language can you learn in an hour? It wasn’t so much the few words we tried to learn as the world that opened before our eyes. Aunty Fay, a Boon Wurrung woman and project officer with the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, explained that Boon Wurrung is one of Victoria’s 38 Aboriginal languages, most of them now dead. The local language is being revived, one speaker at a time, from old papers, protectors’ reports and other clues. The audacity of reviving a dead language was dizzying. We peppered Aunty Fay with questions. We couldn’t get enough of it!
Catherine Watson
What Colour is an Aboriginal?
How many bits of paper do you need to prove who you are? Me? None. The people up on stage have had to assemble dozens of documents to prove who they are and where they come from. This session evolved into an edgy Q&A that highlighted the maturity and patience of the panel.
Geoff Ellis
Maggie Millar reads John Clarke
Maggie Millar, known for her eloquent and masterful readings from ... well, James Joyce to John Clarke, was in good form. She captured the irony, the wit, and the endless inventiveness of Clarke, the tone of whose book was set in the introduction "Travelled extensively in the Holy Lands, then left New Zealand for Europe". We all left smiling.
John Adam