Across the waters

From both sides of the bay, we came together as the community of Western Port/Warn Marin.

​By Laura Brearley

AGAINST the backdrop of the week’s political turmoil in the USA and environmental challenges everywhere, we came together last Saturday as the community of Western Port/Warn Marin.

We were drawn together by our love of the Bay and our shared experience of this precious, powerful and vulnerable place, with a recognition that it is part of us and we are part of it.

The ‘Across the Waters’ Deep Listening Circle at Berninneit, Millowl, was a day of celebration and a day of tears, a lived experience of Eco Arts, weaving together Art, Music, Science and Culture, a secular and sacred community ceremony.

‘Across the Waters’: the photostory

We witnessed once again the generosity of our First Nation friends, Aunty Sonia Weston and Uncle Ron Murray, who shared their stories and music and their deep resonance with the Earth.

We were surrounded by the eloquence of artists … birds in flight, stones that listen, stories embedded in canvas. Kate Gorringe-Smith, Carmel Wallace, Jo Lane, Camille Monet, Susan Hall, Hannah Lewis, Cynthia Johnson, Annette Thompson and many more opened our eyes, translating and transforming the world.

We felt the generosity behind Uncle Steve Ulula Parker’s progressive painting of Western Port/Warn Marin, that he gifted the ‘Across the Waters’ project in our first Deep Listening Circle at Coronet Bay. His artwork has been travelling around the Bay, revealing ever more of the Country and the community as it goes.​

Mornington Peninsula artist Jo Lane with Uncle Steve
Ulula Parker's painting of Western Port/Warn Marin.

Handprints and fingerprints, Jo Lane’s samphire beads, Hannah Lewis’s kangaroo grass, Marg Lee’s sun orchid and most recently, Cynthia Johnson’s coccolithophores.
 
Coccolithophores! It’s a new word for many of us. Sounds like music in our mouths:
​Cocco … litho … phores. A kind of plankton which exists in huge numbers which is playing an increasingly significant role in the marine pump and carbon cycle, as the oceans warm and acidify.
 
So much to be thankful for and moved by. We saw the courage and leadership of the children in our community expressing themselves creatively and supporting each other.
 
I heard 17-year-old environmental activist Joey Thompson say to 11-year-old Nicholas Talevski, who had confidently stepped up to read the poetry of his fellow choir members from Cowes Primary School, “Let me know if you ever need help with anything”. He recognised the leadership potential there.

​The Cowes Primary School Choir sang sweet and strong as they sign-danced the ‘Across the Waters’ theme song. It was one of those teary moments.

---

Thanks also to the children from St Mary’s, St Josephs, Crib Point, Bittern and Wallaroo Primary Schools for their creative writing and artworks and for generously sharing them with us.
 
Mal and Kylie transformed our six-word sentences about Westernport/Warn Marin into music. They improvised to the poetic text of children, artists and refugees, all laid over a sound-bed of bird calls, lapping waves and a gentle wind blowing through casuarina leaves.
 
The uniquely gifted Daryl Pellizzer giving us an interpretive dance to the poetry of his English as an Additional Language (EAL) students at Bass Coast Adult Learning. Expressive and illuminating, sometimes funny and ultimately with a beautiful effortless flow, Daryl danced while Annie Chisholm read out their poetic text.

John Eddy performs his poem with backing from Kylie and Mal.

Much-loved and respected conservationist John Eddy, responded to the call-out for six-word sentences, with a beautifully crafted poem. Mal and Kylie transformed it into a melody and a musical arrangement which John then sang at our gathering. Yet another teary moment.
 
Also presenting were the knowledgeable biochemist and photographer Prof Dick Wettenhall and riparian expert and President of South Gippsland Conservation Society, Ed Thexton.
 
Messages from Mel Barker, CEO of Western Port Biosphere Foundation and Jane Carnegie, President of Save Westernport, revealed the stamina and depth of community commitment to the ongoing campaigns to protect the Bay.

---

"The way of knowing and becoming deeply connected to places like Western Port through the power of art and music is important to bring to the community, especially people like me who are very active but Science-based in their approach to conservation and the natural world."                       
                                                           - Across the Waters participant

Jo Lane accepted a beautiful message stick made by local artist and musician Diane McAskill as a symbol of the ‘Across the Waters’ project moving over to the Mornington Peninsula in 2025, to be featured at the Frankston Fringe Festival in February 2025.
 
I heard Jo say on Saturday, “My heart is full”. I feel the same way. As my Aboriginal friends have taught me to say … I love youse all.