| Na wielki koncert w sydnejskim Town Hallu - z okazji 100-lecia odzyskania przez Polskę niepodległości - ma przybyć dość liczna delegacja Aborygenów Ngarigo, tradycyjnych kustoszy Góry Kościuszko. Zabraknie tylko jednej zaproszonej osoby, a mianowicie wybitnej malarki Cheryl Davison, która w październiku 2017 r. odbyła z nami historyczną podróż do Krakowa na obchody dwustulecia śmierci Tadeusza Kościuszki. Tak się składa, że Cheryl tego dnia, czyli 1 czerwca będzie gościem honorowym na meczu Sydney Swans vs Carlton na sydnejskim SCG: piłkarze Sydney Swans wystąpią w koszulkach zaprojektowanych właśnie przez Cheryl. Koszulka przedstawia legendarnego czarnego łabędzia, którego niezwykłą historę prezentujemy poniżej.
This new Marn Grook Guernsey tells the story of the black swan, as inspired by the work of NSW artist Cheryl Davidson. The Sydney Swans will wear this guernsey for the first time when we take on Carlton Friday 1 June.
The artist behind the Sydney Swans 2018 Indigenous Guernsey is NSW artist Cheryl Davison. Her mother's family are Walbanga people from Eurobodalla and the Ngarigo people in the Snowy Mountains region. Her family is also connected to the Wallaga Lake Aboriginal community.
Davison’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Much of her knowledge comes from the elders in her community and her interpretation of these stories.
NSW Art Gallery presents Cheryl Davison. Watch it on You Tube
The Sydney Swans engaged Davison following a connection made through the club’s Reconciliation Action Plan committee and Blak Markets – a hub for Indigenous businesses that exhibits locally at Bare Island, NCIE in Refern and the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks. Blak Markets provides development and training opportunities for young Aboriginal people.
Lyndsay Urquhart, Curator with Blak Markets, took the Sydney Swans on a private tour of her exhibition that was held on Bare Island at La Perouse in November 2017. The exhibition showcased artworks from La Perouse and Warlukurlangu Art Centre in Yuendumu with the theme Fire (Warlukurlangu) and Ocean (Gadu).
“After spending some quality time with the works, Cheryl Davison and her dazzling, unique and culturally rich artworks won their hearts, and that began the process of engaging Cheryl to become the next designer of the iconic Sydney Swans Marn Grook guernsey,” Urquhart said.
Cheryl (in the middle) at the Wawel Cathedral, Poland, attending Kosciuszko's Death Bicentenary celebrations |
“As my first job as an independent curator, I am so thrilled that the Sydney Swans have given this opportunity to such a deserving artist, based on a work that we hung with such joy and pride in my first exhibition.
“I wish the Sydney Swans every success on the field and off the field wearing and promoting their new guernsey and hope that the story of one of my own totems, the Guunyu swan, as told through Cheryl Davison's artistic language, is spread and celebrated far and wide.”
Davison said it was a huge privilege to be given the opportunity to design the guernsey and represent her community. “I am just very proud and honoured to be a part of something that’s so big in Australia, it means so much to be given the opportunity to design Sydney’s Indigenous guernsey,” Davison said.
“Art has always been about getting into hearts and minds; getting Aboriginal culture in all hearts and minds to show people how beautiful our culture is. These games that are played (during Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round) shows people that we are a part of this game.
“The players who will be running out in the jumper inspire young people to ultimately do better for themselves in life – to be the best sports person they can be, the best artist or to achieve the most in everything they do in life. “For me, I feel that is what I’m a part of, and that’s what it represents to have the players wear the black swan for Marn Grook.”
The Story of the Black Swan – GuunyaIn the dreamtime lived a beautiful white swan. It was graceful and elegant and had beautiful white feathers, amongst all the birds the swan was the most beautiful. We call him Guunyu. He lived in the waterways of lakes and billabongs.
Guunyu was a humble, quiet bird and mostly stuck to himself. Guunyu’s nest was a huge mound made from rush and sedge grass. All the other water birds where small and their feathers did not stand out like Guunyu beautiful white feathers. In our laws and customs, it’s not good to talk about yourself or praise yourself up and Guunyu never did, always bowing his head and going quietly about his business.
One day as Guunyu swam to a place where all the birds congregated to feed on weed and food at the bottom of the lake, he felt every bird staring at him. Some birds got in Guunyu way and tried to stop him from eating all the food at the shallow end of the lake. They said go out deeper and eat because your neck can reach the weed in the deeper end of the lake and, so he did.
When the birds saw that Guunyu was eating good weed from out the deep end they got jealous of him and all the birds had started to begrudge Guunyu for that. They began to whisper to each other their nasty thoughts. They began to talk out loudly so that Guunyu could hear, “look at Guunyu, who does he think he is. He thinks he’s better than all of us they started to say. Guunyu wasn’t worried about what they were saying and just swam past with his head bowed without saying a word.
That evening when all the birds roost in amongst the reeds they began to talk about Guunyu and plot against him. They were so nasty and jealous they wanted him out of their waterways, so they plan to kill Guunyu. The whole time the birds were talking the old black crow sat in the treetops above them listening and shaking his head in shame. He had seen and heard a lot over the years, but this was the worst.
The next day on his way to get some more of the good weed to eat two water fowls came to Guunyu and said come over closer to the long reeds Guunyu, the weed here is nice and juicy. So Guunyu happily followed thinking he was going to get a good feed but when he got there all the birds of the waterway jumped out of the long reeds and started to attack Guunyu. They scratched his beak and pulled out his beautiful white feathers, all Guunyu could do was curl up, tuck his wings in and hope for the birds to stop.
While this was happening, the old black crow sat in the tree tops, because there was so many birds attacking Guunyu all the crow could do was watch on, until they had beaten Guunyu up so much and pulled out every feather he just lay in the long reeds and die.
When the birds had finished attacking Guunyu and everything went quiet the crow swooped down to see if Guunyu was still alive. Seeing that Guunyu was still breathing the crow stared to comfort Guunyu and told him he would help him recover.
The crow started to wipe away all of the blood from Guunyu naked body. All the while telling him it was all going to be ok. When the crow tried to wipe away the blood from Guunyu beak he could not take away the red stain from the blood. The only part of the beak that remained white was a stripe across his beak where a single feather had lay when Guunyu tried to protect himself. Next the crow had seen Guunyu had no feathers and knew he would surely freeze to death if he did not have any feathers to keep him warm. So slowly the crow started to pull out some of his own feathers to share with Guunyu. When he had finished Guunyu was able to rise up out of the swamp and fly away with his beautiful new shiny black feathers that the old crow had given him. He was more beautiful than ever before.
Today when you see Guunyu flying above you can see that his wing feathers are white underneath where he had tucked his wings in when the birds attacked him. They could not pluck out those feathers because Guunyu had tucked his wings in very tightly. His beak is still red and stained, and he is still beautiful and graceful and humble as well.
Zapytacie, co to takiego Marngrook? To tradycyjna aborygeńska gra w piłkę zrobiona ze skóry posuma. Jest prawdopodobne, że ta odmiana aborygeńskiego sportu ma tysiącletnie tradycje. Pierwszym białym badaczem, który udokumentował tę grę był nasz rodak William Blandowski rodem z Gliwic (z zaboru pruskiego). W jego zbiorach znalazł się szkic z 1857 roku, przedstawiający właśnie Marngrook nad rzeką Murray.
"A researcher has uncovered evidence that Aussie Rules Football might actually have been influenced by a traditional Indigenous game called Marngrook."
A comment:
'The Marngrook football facts I found very interesting like finding out the ball is made of possum skin. And also how its possible to be over a thousand years old without not knowing until now.'
From ABC
Nad rzeką Murray postawiono w 150. rocznicę wyprawy Blandowskiego mały pomnik - kamienny obelisk. Postawiono go w miejscu, gdzie Blandowski miał obóz - bazę, z której dokonywał badania ekologiczne, historyczne i antropologiczne.
source: monumentsaustralia.org.au
Marn Grook 1857 by Blandowski |
Corroboree over Murray River by Blandowski-Krefft |
A monument commemorates the 150th Anniversary of Blandowski’s Expedition to the Murray River which documented the region’s ecology, history and anthropology in 1857.
Blandowski came to Australia in 1849 and, following his appointment as Victoria’s state zoologist, headed an expedition along the Murray River to the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers with 2,000 pounds’ funding. The exhibition returned having named a number of new species and brought back more than 8,000 specimens, many of which had never been seen by Europeans; and been a part of one of the most significant collaborative efforts between indigenous Australian and Europeans in the 1800s.
(...) This is the site where Victorian Government Zoologist, William Blandowski and assistant Gerard Krefft
established a camp from April to December 1857.
Aided by the Nyeri Nyeri people, who identified the
area as `Mondellimin`, they assembled a large and
significant collection of terrestrial and aquatic
animals from the region.
Erected By Mildura Rural City Council In
Conjunction With The Merbein District Historical
Society And Unveiled On September 21st, 2007.
Obelisk Blandowskiego odsłonięty w 2007 r. |
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