Podcasts

  • Love of the bush
    Summary
    Clarence Slockee discusses his lifelong love of plants and the bush and his work as Aboriginal Education Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.
    About Clarence Slockee

    Clarence Slockee is an Aboriginal man from the Mindjingbal clan of the Bundjalung tribe situated on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia. As a graduate of the National Aboriginal & Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) Dance College, he has gained experience across a broad range of performance mediums. He has had extensive involvement in many contemporary Indigenous dance productions and has toured extensively promoting Aboriginal culture, music and dance. Growing up in the lush Tweed Valley with a long family history of bushmen, farmers and fishermen, Clarence has combined his love of teaching, culture, music, dance and the bush with his current role as Aboriginal Education Officer with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

  • The Candle Factory in The Rocks
    Summary
    Zoe Gray from The Candle Factory in The Rocks talks about the art of making candles.
    About Zoe Gray

    Zoe has been perfecting the craft of candle-making for the past three years using techniques passed down from generations. Located in the heart of The Rocks, The Candle Factory has been selling unique handmade candles for over 30 years. With one of the largest range of candles in Sydney, the products on offer are both highly imaginative and original.

  • ARTEXPRESS exhibition in The Rocks
    Summary
    A selection of 2010 Visual Art students from this year’s ARTEXPRESS exhibition in The Rocks speak about their creative process.
    About Artexpress artists

    ARTEXPRESS represents the high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools. In 2011, 19 venues in The Rocks, including hotels, shops, galleries and a historical dig site, will display the work of 34 students. The Rocks Discovery Museum is the ARTEXPRESS headquarters where visitors can pick up a map and cast their vote in the People’s Choice Award.

  • The exhibition 'Painting The Rocks: The loss of Old Sydney'
    Summary
    Australian Artist Paul Ashton Delprat talks about art in The Rocks. The exhibition Painting The Rocks: The loss of Old Sydney, at the Museum of Sydney, features 1902 paintings by a group of artists capturing the charm of 'old Sydney' before it disappeared. Paul will talk about The Rocks as a source of inspiration for artists, both then and now.
    About Paul Ashton Delprat

    Paul is the principal of the Julian Ashton Art School in The Rocks which was founded in 1890 by his great Grandfather Julian Ashton. His art is represented in the National Gallery, Canberra, regional galleries, the BHP collection and other public and private collections. Paul has held more than 20 one-man exhibitions in Sydney as well as exhibitions in London, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Newcastle. His work has been selected for the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne exhibitions.

  • History of the Chinese Garden of Friendship
    Summary
    Talking about the Chinese Garden of Friendship. The History of the Garden and the penjing collection.
    About Philippe Tot

    Philippe Tot is the Penjing caretaker at the Chinese Garden of Friendship and the founder of The Lingnan Penjing Academy of Australia. He has studied under Al Yee Jauco in Sydney and the late Sifu Kevin Lee Wu in Hong Kong. He is also writing several volumes on Chinese thought and various teachings and travels back and forth to China regularly.

  • Cultural trade and migration in The Rocks in the colonies
    Summary
    Dr Lisa Murray, City of Sydney historian, talks about the influence of cultural trade and migration in The Rocks. In the early years of colonial settlement, Sydney was the cosmopolitan hub of the South Pacific with French explorers, Russian whalers, & traders from China, India and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) all helping to shape our city.
    About Dr Lisa Murray

    Dr Lisa Murray has been a historian at the Council of the City of Sydney since 2001 and is currently the Acting City Historian and Chair of the Dictionary of Sydney. Her research interests include Sydney's urban, cultural and social history; and cultural landscapes, memory and heritage. Recent publications include the award-winning book The Capitol Theatre Restoration and Musical Chairs: The Quest for a City Recital Hall. Her current research project for the council is a social history of the southern-city industrial areas of Redfern, Waterloo and Alexandria. The book is due for publication in late 2010.

  • ‘Bully Beef Stew’ - a theatrical exploration of Aboriginal manhood
    Summary
    Sonny Dallas Law, Colin Kinchela and Bjorn Stewart discuss their new performance work ‘Bully Beef Stew’ presented by PACT Centre for Emerging Artists. Bully Beef Stew is a theatrical exploration of Aboriginal manhood by three young Aboriginal men working together to transcend usual notions of what it is to be an Aboriginal man today.
    About Sonny Dallas Law, Colin Kinchela and Bjorn Stewart

    Sonny Dallas Law is a graduate of the Eora Performing arts Centre 2004. He has been practicing his craft since his graduation, performing, writing and directing. Sonny Dallas has performed in small community theatre to large stage productions. He has also starred in many short/short feature films. Sonny Dallas is currently the Cultural Arts Development officer at the Redfern Community Centre. He enjoys his roles and responsibilities organising and running cultural arts events and programs for the community.

    Sonny continues to write and perform as an artist working on other projects outside of his daily work. Sonny believes by working in the arts administration and in the Performing Arts Industry practically, he will further his skills as an artist. Colin Kinchela Gamilarray (Kamilaroi) Nation, North-West New South Wales, is an independent Sydney based actor, director and writer, works across a sweep of performance mechanisms combining dominant work practices of community cultural (heritage) protocols, social justice and mental health. He regularly facilitates for a range of diverse educational and arts organisations as a guest director and mentor/ trainer.

    Colin is the Vice-Chair and an initial member of Mooghalin Co-Op, the newest Indigenous theatre company in Australia. Bjorn Stewart has professionally performed in a number of developments, short plays and major productions such as Ben Hurr, The Colourblind Project, and now a current member of Kenetic Energy Theatre Company, who focused on political injustices on the global environment and tackling indigenous issues.

    He has also performed, written and directed his own performances around Sydney and Wollongong. As an artist Bjorn relishes in treading a fine line on boundaries set for racial discrimination in a playful environment. This playful energy triggers the conceptual exploration of the human nature in controlled environments he enjoys dwelling into and brings this share experience with an audience.

  • Indigenous boatmen around Sydney
    Summary
    Dr Keith Vincent Smith speaks about his latest research into Indigenous boatmen around Sydney –sparked by his exhibition and book MARI NAWI: Aboriginal Odysseys (Rosenberg, 2010).
    About Dr Keith Vincent Smith

    Dr Keith Vincent Smith is a historian, author and curator, devoted to colonial Indigenous/European contact history. He has published major biographical studies of the Indigenous leaders Bungaree (1992) and Bennelong (2001). In 2006 Keith was co-curator, with Anthony Bourke, of Eora: mapping Aboriginal Sydney, 1770-1850, a major exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales. He was senior researcher for the first episode of the SBS television documentary First Australians (2009).

  • Traditional Aboriginal use of fire
    Summary
    Robert Evitt speaks about his work recording Traditional Ecological Knowledge regarding the Aboriginal use of fire.
    About Robert Evitt

    Robert Evitt was awarded the 2010 NSW Indigenous History Fellowship to work closely with Elders from various communities in New South Wales and in Cape York, to record Traditional Ecological Knowledge regarding the Aboriginal use of fire. This knowledge has been stored on the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways database, and remains the intellectual property of the Elders. This work supports the preservation of knowledge so that it can be passed on to future generations.

  • The Rocks Dreaming program
    Summary
    Binowee Bayles takes us into the world of The Rocks Dreaming program and how she ignites the imaginations of young people with an interpretation of the Rocks from an Aboriginal perspective.
    About Binowee Bayles

    Binowee Bayles takes us into the world of The Rocks Dreaming program and how she ignites the imaginations of young people with an interpretation of the Rocks from an Aboriginal perspective.

  • The making of our Nation
    Summary
    Binowee Bayles, a member of the Local Aboriginal Community talks about ‘The making of our Nation’ from a Youths perspective, “The making of our nation is not something from our past – but rather something that I and many young Australians are living now for ourselves, our people and our children.”
    About Binowee Bayles

    Binowee Bayles is the second youngest of eight daughters who have been raised with a proud sense of Aboriginal cultural identity. She has worked in Community Services, Education and Theatre and has performed Traditional Aboriginal Dances both nationally and internationally.

  • Creating performances in The Rocks
    Summary
    Creative producer Michael Cohen talks about creating performances in unusual spaces and places, in The Rocks and beyond.
    About Michael Cohen

    Michael Cohen is a site-based performance/event director and creative producer of events at Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. In this capacity, he directed The Rocks Fire Water (Vivid Festival 2009 and 2010). Michael was co-artistic director of Theatre Kantanka from 1996 to 2006, and programme director of Newcastle Live Sites between 2004 and 2008.

  • Tribal Warrior Association - Connection to the harbour
    Summary
    Shane Phillips speaks about Sydney Harbour from an Indigenous perspective and his ongoing connection to the harbour in his role as CEO for the Tribal Warrior Association.
    About Shane Phillips

    Shane Phillips has a long history of working to empower disadvantaged Indigenous Australians through his involvement as Chief Executive Officer of the Tribal Warrior Association and organiser of the renowned Family Culture Day on the Block at Redfern. The Tribal Warrior Association aims to spread and revitalise Aboriginal culture, and to provide economic and social stability to Aboriginal people. Shane is a cultural leader who believes the pathway to positive change is through empowerment and belief in the pride and strength of Indigenous people

  • The Discovering Country – Sydney Harbour exhibition
    Summary
    Murray and René speak about the Discovering Country – Sydney Harbour exhibition which ran at The Rocks Discovery Museum in 2011. The exhibition is a celebration in photographs of the environment, history and culture of Sydney Harbour.
    About Murray Vanderveer & Rene Vogelzang

    Murray Vanderveer is a Sydney photographer with a great love of the outdoors. Working professionally for many years as an advertising photographer, he also now teaches photography with the ACP and Sydney Community Colleges. Murray’s main passion is landscape photography of both the natural and built environment and also portraiture. His portraits have hung in the Citibank National Portrait Prize 2005 and 2006, the National Portrait Prize 2007 and the Moran Portrait Prize 2008 René Vogelzang is a Sydney-based photographer with a passion for landscape photography driven by an exploration of his sense of place and belonging. Born in Holland before emigrating to Australia as a child, René has a fascination with the spiritual and emotional impact that different landscapes have on each of us. He has lived in Holland, Belgium and France for extended periods and travelled and worked extensively in Asia gaining an insight into the influence of culture and environment on our connection to the landscape and its stories.

  • The Rocks Pop Up Project
    Summary
    The Rocks Pop Up Project - Four buildings // six months // limitless thinking: Anique Vered shares how The Rocks’ latest partnership takes form in four vacant heritage buildings.
    About Anique Vered

    The Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority in partnership with Arts NSW is running a pilot project to raise the profile of the arts in The Rocks. The Rocks Pop Up Project Space Manager, Anique Vered is a cultural worker and producer interested in creative mediums as effective platforms for societal growth. Producer of the inaugural Creative Sydney 2009, most recently Anique spent two years engaged with various communities in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Germany and Israel to gather a deeper understanding of how associations between people and place can sustain both individual and collective.

  • Strong Aboriginal women
    Summary
    Gabi Briggs shares her passion for stories about strong Aboriginal women.
    About Gabi Briggs

    Gabi Briggs is an Anaiwan & Gumbangier woman of Northern NSW working as an Aboriginal Guide with Sydney Learning Adventures. She is currently studying her first year of Bachelor of Fine Arts at the UNSW College of Fine Arts. She has a passionate interest for Indigenous culture and history.

  • NAIDOC - and what it stands for
    Summary
    Aboriginal local woman, Nikita Ridgeway will be speaking about NAIDOC and what it stands for.
    About Nikita Ridgeway

    Born to Aboriginal parents, her father a Biripi man and stolen generation from Taree and her mother a strong Bundjalung woman, Nikita was bred to be a fighter and educator for her people. She is also the grand-daughter of well-known Aboriginal author and lecturer Dr Ruby Langford Ginibi who writes and speaks about Aboriginal culture, history and politics.

    Nikita’s parents and grandmother were civil rights activists who fought for the equal rights of their people laying the foundation for the ideologies she has today.

    Having grown up in the western suburbs of Sydney she has forever battled stereotypes—being female, Aboriginal, a “Westie” and young. Although from her success, it is evident this has not stopped her yet. Nikita was the first Aboriginal school captain at Blacktown Girls High School and the first Aboriginal student in NSW to receive the Minister of Education Award for Academic Excellence and Contribution to School. She is also co-founder of The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Basketball Association, tournament director of National Indigenous Basketball Championship and co-founder and event director for Redfern Records Entertainment and the Aboriginal Hip Hop & RnB BUMP Music Awards

  • history of Police presence and notorious crime in The Rocks
    Summary
    Curator of the Rocks Discovery Museum, Dr Wayne Johnson speaks about the history of Police presence in the Rocks and some notorious cases in the 1800s.
    About Dr. Wayne Johnson

    Dr Wayne Johnson has been the Sydney Harbour Foreshore's archaeologist since 1993 and has been curator of The Rocks Discovery Museum since it opened in 2005. Over the last 25 years he has worked on archaeological projects in Bahrain, Jordan, Zanzibar and Portugal. Since 2001 Wayne has worked with the University of Sydney's Greater Angkor excavations in Cambodia. In 2008 he co-authored the book A History of Sydney's Darling Harbour with Roger Parris and in 2010 he co-authored Painting The Rocks: The Loss of Old Sydney with Paul Ashton, Anna Cossu and Caroline Butler Bowden.

  • Aboriginal performers - the next generation
    Summary
    Fred Copperwaite, a Bunuba man from southwest Kimberley, talks about inspiring the next generation of young Aboriginal performers.
    About Fred Copperwaite

    Frederick is an actor, teacher and theatre director with 30 years experience teaching in a variety of training environments throughout Australia and Europe. He graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1987 and is currently head of theatre and screen studies at The Eora College of Aboriginal Studies Centre for Visual and Performing Arts. He is also a founding member and artistic director of Moogahlin Performing Arts, where he directed Gathering Ground 2010 Timelessness Past Present and Future. Since 2007 he has worked as an artist in residence for the Bell Shakespeare Company.

  • Life in the heart of The Rocks
    Summary
    Clocktower Square town crier Stephen Clarke speaks about his working life in the heart of The Rocks
    About Stephen Clarke

    Stephen has been town crying and performing at the Clocktower Square in The Rocks since 1988. He also works as the Gosford City Council town crier and is a balloon sculptor, guitar player and voice-over man for radio commercials.

  • Convict biography - George Cribb
    Summary
    Di Carvell speaks about the colourful life and times of convict butcher George Cribb.
    About Di Carvell

    Di has been a professional tour guide since 1999. She is currently an educational facilitator for Sydney Learning Adventures, an education ranger with Centennial Parklands and a tour guide for The Rocks Pub Tours. Di attributes her passion for people and culture to her parents, who are keen historians and educators, and have dedicated their lives to sharing learning opportunities with others.

  • Photographing Sydney Harbour at night
    Summary
    Experienced photographer Peter Solness speaks about his ongoing fascination with Sydney Harbour at night as captured through his camera lens.
    About Peter Solness

    He has more than 25 years experience in editorial and corporate photography, and has worked for every major magazine and newspaper in Australia, as well as completing assignments for overseas publications such The Guardian, Conde Naste Traveller and German GEO. Peter’s corporate clients have included Qantas Airlines, N.R.M.A., Commonwealth Bank, AGL and Channel 7. He has been the principal photographer for eight books and a contributor to at least another 10. He also exhibits photographs on a regular basis. Recently Peter has been concentrating on his fine-art photography, in particular the ‘Illuminated Landscape’ essays which explore the visual wonder of the Australian bush at night. Peter’s images are held in the public collections of the National Library Canberra, Museum of Sydney, State Library of NSW and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

  • Exhibition at the State Library of NSW Carved Trees
    Summary
    Ronald Briggs talks about the rare photographs of traditional carved trees, exhibited at the State Library of NSW from 18 April – 26 June.
    About Ronald Briggs

    Ronald Briggs is a curator, author and librarian. He is the curator of the current exhibition at the State Library of NSW Carved Trees – Aboriginal Cultures of Western NSW and is a Gamilaroi man from Moree, NSW. Ronald has worked as an Indigenous Services Librarian at the State Library of New South Wales since 1991, where he assists clients interested in researching Indigenous local or cultural history, Indigenous Australians researching their family history, or public libraries developing their library services and collections for their local Indigenous community. Previously Ronald worked at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

  • The Red Room Company’s Clubs and Societies project
    Summary
    Poet Johanna Featherstone talks about the landscape of memory, and The Red Room Company’s Clubs and Societies project.
    About Johanna Featherstone

    Featherstone, who established The Red Room Company in 2003, has had her poetry featured in various literary journals including Quadrant and Best Australian Poems. She has created a series of TV shows, The Wordshed, in partnership with the University of Western Sydney, and is an honorary associate of Sydney University’s School of Letters, Arts and Media.

  • The history of the Byrne family
    Summary
    Val Garner, accomplished family historian and author, divulges captivating snippets from the history of the Byrne family, who have resided in The Rocks since Irish rebel Richard Byrne returned from a stint on Norfolk Island in 1805.
    About Val Garner
  • The work of Mary MacKillop and the Josephite nuns in The Rocks
    Summary
    Edwina Huntley, curator of Mary MacKillop Place Museum, talks about the work of Mary MacKillop and the Josephite nuns at their House of Providence in The Rocks.
    About Edwina Huntley

    Edwina Huntley has been the senior curator of Mary MacKillop Place Museum since 2008. The museum holds a major collection of documents and objects belonging to the founders of the Catholic order, the Sisters of St Joseph. She joined the museum as the curator and project manager for a series of public exhibitions for World Youth Day 2008, including In the footsteps of Mary MacKillop: Australia’s Saint. Her current research project for a forthcoming exhibition Reaching the people: Mary MacKillop in Sydney Cove is an exploration of Mary MacKillop’s vision for social reform through upholding the rights of neglected women and children living in squalid conditions in The Rocks area.

  • NAIDOC week
    Summary
    NAIDOC week and this years theme
    About Lorna Munro

    Lorna Munro descends from thousand-year-old bloodlines with deep roots in New South Wales, and family ties and connections in Northern Queensland, Victoria and beyond. Born in Sydney in the year of Australia’s bicentenary, 1988, she is a proud young Wiradjuri/ Gamilaroi woman.

  • Environmental concerns, obligations and consumer rights under the law
    Summary
    Martino Santi, ACCC, will explain some of the issues in relation to green and environmental claims and suggest ways consumers can protect themselves and what they can do if they believe they have been misled. Martino will also outline traders’ obligations and consumer rights under the law and refer to some of the cases the ACCC has investigated.
    About Martino Santi

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent statutory authority formed in 1995 to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974 and other acts. The Trade Practices Act aims to enhance the welfare of Australians through the promotion of competition and fair trading and provision for consumer protection.

  • Finding treasure and celebrating amazing women
    Summary
    Annette Butterfield speaks about finding a trunk of extraordinary artworks in her family home and about amazing women unacknowledged in the history books.
    About Annette Butterfield

    Annette holds a masters degree in art history and theory from the University of NSW. She has worked as a co-curator at various venues throughout Australia speaking about 19th century female artists. Annette runs a women’s group called ‘The Lost Ladies’ through the Older Women’s Network in Millers Point to investigate historic places in Sydney.

  • Telling the stories of The Rocks working class
    Summary
    The curator of Susannah Place Museum, speaks about her interest in the interpretation and representation of working-class people and the use of oral histories in museums.
    About Anna Cossu

    Anna Cossu is the curator of Susannah Place Museum. Anna has also worked in the Education Unit for the HHT and was a History teacher before she joined the Historic Houses Trust. Her interests lie in the interpretation and representation of working-class people and the use of oral histories in museums. As part of the Philip Kent Staff Development Award, she was awarded in 2006, Anna travelled to the UK and New York to research how the lives and material culture of the working class are represented in museums. She has developed public programs and displays exploring the history of The Rocks and co-curatored the Painting the Rocks: the loss of Old Sydney exhibition in 2010. Anna is the author of a book called A place in The Rocks about Susannah Place Museum (2008) and co-author of Painting the Rocks (2010).

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Address
2-8 Kendall Ln, The Rocks NSW 2000

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