A 300-person boogie proved the perfect way to celebrate Berninneit, our new gathering place.
By Laura Brearley
‘IT’S much worse than we think, and sooner’ writes poet Ross Gay in his poem ‘Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude’. He fully celebrates the delights of life and recognises the importance of gratitude, acknowledging all the while that our joys are inseparable from our sorrows.
In the aftermath of the community concert and parade which celebrated the opening of Berninneit, our new cultural centre, I too have some big thanks to say. Here they are …
‘IT’S much worse than we think, and sooner’ writes poet Ross Gay in his poem ‘Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude’. He fully celebrates the delights of life and recognises the importance of gratitude, acknowledging all the while that our joys are inseparable from our sorrows.
In the aftermath of the community concert and parade which celebrated the opening of Berninneit, our new cultural centre, I too have some big thanks to say. Here they are …
Thank you to our Elders who dreamed of a place like Berninneit over thirty years ago
It has a cost a bomb
It has taken nerve to pull it off
And yet here it is
Part of our community landscape now
Open and inviting us in
Thank you for the vision that got this building born
Thank you for making it beautiful
And for your consideration of the environment
Thank you your sleepless nights
For weathering the storms
And getting it done
Thank you to our First Nations brothers and sisters
Still hurting from the gruelling experience of the referendum
With all that it revealed about the divisions within and amongst us
Here you are, present still
Reaching out
Welcoming us to Country
Calling in the Ancestors and the generations to come
Offering us leaves and learning
And a living model of how to stay strong together in community
With prayers of gratitude and songs of blessing
Generous, in spite of everything
Thank you to the children
With your shining faces and open hearts
Singing songs of the Earth and the Sea
And what it means to belong to the living world
And to each other
It has a cost a bomb
It has taken nerve to pull it off
And yet here it is
Part of our community landscape now
Open and inviting us in
Thank you for the vision that got this building born
Thank you for making it beautiful
And for your consideration of the environment
Thank you your sleepless nights
For weathering the storms
And getting it done
Thank you to our First Nations brothers and sisters
Still hurting from the gruelling experience of the referendum
With all that it revealed about the divisions within and amongst us
Here you are, present still
Reaching out
Welcoming us to Country
Calling in the Ancestors and the generations to come
Offering us leaves and learning
And a living model of how to stay strong together in community
With prayers of gratitude and songs of blessing
Generous, in spite of everything
Thank you to the children
With your shining faces and open hearts
Singing songs of the Earth and the Sea
And what it means to belong to the living world
And to each other
Thank you to the hosts and the helpers
Welcoming and guiding us into this new space
Keeping us safe as we spill out from the theatre
Into the Grand Hall
Weaving our way through the building
Filling it with colour and movement
With a pounding beat
And music swelling and rising in the air
Up, up to the heights of the ceiling and beyond
We pause to sing to the library
Fresh, spacious and open
A trove of treasures to come
And now out into the Eastern Courtyard
Where the trees stand tall and together
Branches swaying and leaves dancing
Still holding the memories of the big old tree we were not able to save
Broken limbs and broken hearts
The new building wrapping around the trees that remain
Respecting them
Saying sorry and thank you
And maybe we are learning a little
Thank you to the artists
And your paintings of Millowl, Inverloch and Corinella
Thank you for the colour, design and movement
Of the whales and shearwaters
Dancing with us along the way
Thank you to the poets
Creating fresh works
Weaving together words about the power of place
And why gathering matters
Words fresh off the page
Some still being tweaked that morning
Alive, vulnerable and tender
Revealing themselves for the first time
Thank you to the musicians
For holding the rhythm and the pulse
Kookaburra owl magpie owl
Tell me can you play … clavé
Whoosha shoosha Whoosha shoosha
Drums, tambourines, shakers, clapsticks
Trumpet, Trombone, Didgeridoo, violin, guitars, ukuleles
Voices high and low and in between
Every season every year
Everyone is welcome here
Elbows hanging out all over the place
Thank you for the courage of the woman in Woollies the following day who told me
‘I was handed a tambourine and I was terrified’
Thank you for being brave and saying yes to the invitation
For stepping up and playing in that zone
Where the line between performers and audience slips away
And where we find ourselves
In a new and yet strangely familiar place
With children leading the way
Reminding us how to be playful
Dancing into the future
With its perils and possibilities
Facing what is coming down the line
Together as a community
Welcoming and guiding us into this new space
Keeping us safe as we spill out from the theatre
Into the Grand Hall
Weaving our way through the building
Filling it with colour and movement
With a pounding beat
And music swelling and rising in the air
Up, up to the heights of the ceiling and beyond
We pause to sing to the library
Fresh, spacious and open
A trove of treasures to come
And now out into the Eastern Courtyard
Where the trees stand tall and together
Branches swaying and leaves dancing
Still holding the memories of the big old tree we were not able to save
Broken limbs and broken hearts
The new building wrapping around the trees that remain
Respecting them
Saying sorry and thank you
And maybe we are learning a little
Thank you to the artists
And your paintings of Millowl, Inverloch and Corinella
Thank you for the colour, design and movement
Of the whales and shearwaters
Dancing with us along the way
Thank you to the poets
Creating fresh works
Weaving together words about the power of place
And why gathering matters
Words fresh off the page
Some still being tweaked that morning
Alive, vulnerable and tender
Revealing themselves for the first time
Thank you to the musicians
For holding the rhythm and the pulse
Kookaburra owl magpie owl
Tell me can you play … clavé
Whoosha shoosha Whoosha shoosha
Drums, tambourines, shakers, clapsticks
Trumpet, Trombone, Didgeridoo, violin, guitars, ukuleles
Voices high and low and in between
Every season every year
Everyone is welcome here
Elbows hanging out all over the place
Thank you for the courage of the woman in Woollies the following day who told me
‘I was handed a tambourine and I was terrified’
Thank you for being brave and saying yes to the invitation
For stepping up and playing in that zone
Where the line between performers and audience slips away
And where we find ourselves
In a new and yet strangely familiar place
With children leading the way
Reminding us how to be playful
Dancing into the future
With its perils and possibilities
Facing what is coming down the line
Together as a community
More films are on their way. For now, here is a film of The Berninneit Boogie.
My list of thankyous goes on and on. Heartfelt thanks also to:
- Our wonderful MC Catherine Watson
- Performers, poets and artists including Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir OAM,
- Uncle Steve Ulula Parker, Aunty Sonia Weston, Uncle Ron Murray, Matua Arnold Tihema, Charmaine Schmidt, Aurelio Denasha, Jose Carias, Sebastian, Jovanny Villegas, Brodie Murray, Anne Davie OAM, Mal Webb, Kylie Morrigan, Camille Monet, Ben Cavender, Mayor Cr Michael Whelan, Cr Geoff Ellis, Graeme Riddell, Alison Chapman, Mandy Farr, Susie Neal, Mark Finsterer, Josephine Allen-Kent, John Adam, Susan Hall, Yudha Scholes, David Matthews, Shar Ford, Nick Peck, Ed Thexton, Nicki Johnson, Craig Barrie, Ruth McKittrick Chambers, Ella Kallstrom and Cordelia Johnston
- Mal Webb, Leader of House Band and The Berninneit Boogie
- Tim Anders and the Newhaven Primary School Choir
- Alice Hurst and the Cowes Primary School Choir
- Christy Spottiswood and the Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School Choir
- Grade 3/4 Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School, authors of ‘Millowl’
- Daryl Pellizzer and the Migrant English class from Bass Coast Adult Learning
- Ben Cavender, Musical Director
- Nick Peck, Assistant Stage Manager
- Hosts from PICS and PICAL: Sharyn Cornthwaite, Michelle Maes, Meg Anderson, Penny Manning, Geraldine McMahon, Mel Marks and Lindy Flatz
- Terry Melvin and his videography team - Sam Thexton, Fletcher Foon and Peeraphan Panyo from Bass Coast College, Wonthaggi
- Kate Harmon, photographer
- Jessicia Berry and colleagues, Myli Community Libraries
- David Rooks, Phillip Island Community Adult Learning (PICAL)
- Mark Grunden, Percussionist and Boogie Master
- Karin Ellis Catering
- Community Music Victoria
- Bass Coast Shire Council, just to name a few - David Burrows, Malcolm Russell, Greg Box, Margaret De Wolff, Tara Maree Lynch, Brendan Stanfield, Matt Prezens, Deb Hatton and Mark Drury and Mayor Cr Michael Whelan
Ross Gay finishes his ‘Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude’ like this …
‘what do you think
this singing and shuddering is,
what this screaming and reaching and dancing
and crying is, other than loving
what every second goes away?
Goodbye, I mean to say.
And thank you. Every day.’
‘what do you think
this singing and shuddering is,
what this screaming and reaching and dancing
and crying is, other than loving
what every second goes away?
Goodbye, I mean to say.
And thank you. Every day.’