Reconnecting the past to the present
The Katanning place names project
The Western Australian Community Arts Network (CANWA) "Place Name" project has unearthed the provenance story of the Noongar Nation, which connects right through Noongar country.
Through partnership…
The project was undertaken as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CANWA and the Katanning Noongar Leadership Group (KNLG) to find out the true meaning of the place "Katanning".
CANWA engaged by the services of Professor Len Collard, Associate Investigator at the Australian Research Council and Chief Investigator at the University of Western Australia (UWA) School of Indigenous Studies to conduct a series of decoding workshops using Noongar language cards.
Professor Collard, Whadjuk/Balardong Noongar Elder, has a long history in investigating the meanings of place names in Noongar country, having led a team of researchers over a period of 3 years to investigate the meanings of place names in the south-west. The research was supported by the Australian Research Councils Discovery Projects, Indigenous Researchers Development Fund to redress the void in the identification, recording and writing of Australian Indigenous Histories.
Professor Leonard Michael Collard is a Noongar Elder and Australian Research Council chief investigator at the School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia.
Katanning place name interpretation is 'The head is located here' connected to the Dreaming Story of the giant man Molka. from: KATA (head) – NI (listen up) – ING (located here).
The BAC, through the Katanning Noongar Leadership Group fostered the community connections between CANWA, Professor Collard and Noongar Elders and provided sound advice about cultural protocols and the community engagement process.
…history comes to life
The place Katanning, was decoded using Professor Collard's Noongar language cards as KATA– NI– ING meaning (the head is sitting/situated here). The head refers to Mulka, the giant man's kaat (head) and is part of the bigger dreaming story of Mulka and Djinda, the first spirit people of the Nyetting (cold time). Mulka was killed and his kaat used to gain the knowledge for the real world, including the Noongar kinship system, totems and diet (six seasons). His other body parts were thrown around the region.These places were also unearthed during the project.
Pic: Children at Katanning High School building the Giant Man puppet.
Several versions of the story were written over the years, including Nondong's version before the railway was established in the region. All versions were cross referenced during the project. Dr Noel Nannup's version of the story 'Moondang-Ak Kaaradjiny - The Carers of Everything' was used as the base reference for the project because it was written in both Noongar and English languages.
The project will be launched as a puppet show, storytelling and visual arts in a celebratory event in Katanning on the 30th November 2019 and aims to bring the families from Katanning and surrounding communities together through a large-scale collaborative community arts project.
