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Anne E Stewart

A tribute to Patricia Scott

4/6/2021

2 Comments

 

A storytelling adventure

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Patricia Scott
I remember the first time I saw Patricia Scott. The library where I worked as assistant children’s librarian had sent me off to watch and learn from a master storyteller. Short, white bob hair cut, standing there, quietly composed she began, “We do not really mean, we do not really mean what we are about to say is true. A story a story, let it come and let it go”
No wild theatrices just an engaging story of Nyami and his golden box full of stories told in a strong, gentle voice.

I was immediately hooked and thought I could have a go at this, telling stories with out the book. Looking at the audience, eye to eye, engaging them with my voice and the story. I was not the only one to fall under her spell, I know many that were motivated by Patricia Scott
“..she probably had more influence on the development of storytelling in Australia than most other individuals.  It was her work and dedication to promoting storytelling that inspired many current and former tellers and raised the profile of storytelling in Australia in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Her involvement with the Children’s Libraries Section of the Library Association of Australia and, more particularly, her participation in the IBBY conferences of this period made her well known to those interested in children’s literature and storytelling.  Throughout the  ‘70’s and ‘80’s she ran many workshops and in-service courses, and gave talks, lectures and demonstrations in many schools, tertiary institutions and community centres throughout eastern Australia and elsewhere”.
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Prue McCausland.


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Oatlands Historical Society: Patricia Scott???


​Over the years I have often thought of Pat and the influence she had on my life and my long career as a storyteller. So when a friend invited me to travel to Tasmania with her, cars were free, and she intended to spend ten days on the Island  exploring, I jumped at the chance. 

I told my friend of Pat and her hometown and wondered if we might travel through Oatlands so I could pay homage. It worked out that we had a night to spend there and as I drove into town, (my turn to drive), I squealed with glee, “Look, the historical society is open.” I dropped my friend off it was about 3.30pm and raced back, as I didn’t expect it would stay open much longer.  

The town is one of Tasmania’s oldest settlements with over 150 sandstones buildings, mostly built by convict labour and the historical society had amassed a large collection of all sorts of things cluttered out on display.

The two volunteers were keen to help and being senior citiizens I wondered if they might have heard of or even known of Patricia Scott. For a moment, as they faltered, I thought it might have been just my obsession. While I signed in and found the few coins for entrance the older man, a little hard of hearing wandered off.

When he returned, to my surprise he had an entire folder of information devoted to Pat.
I began to sift through it, her photo, a copy of her Order of Australia Certificate, the citation given to her when she was awarded the Dromkeen medal.  I was so happy. Then I found her eulogy written with love by someone who knew her well. By this stage tears were coming to my eyes
‘a woman who approached life with gratitude and wonder… the life of Patricia really was a gift, that each one of us received.’

I’d often wondered but there it was written…’she travelled across Australia, including as much time as she could in Aboriginal communities’ A photo of her with Jack Davies aboriginal storyteller and poet indicated that first nations stories had been of interest to her as well. The eulogy was delivered by her godchild and he spoke of her as an “adventurous, gutsy women who inspired and gave to so many’ and called her Auntie Pat

The name James Boyce and an email address were noted on the back and I got in touch to say how moved I was by his eulogy. Further research revealed that he is an award winning author and highly regarded historian living in Tasmania. I’ve reserved his books and look forward to them arriving at my library.      
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Patricia Scott with Jack Davis, Noongar man, storyteller, playwright, poet and activist
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James Boyce, acclaimed author, historian and Pat's god son

Onto Hobart to meet Tamas

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Tamas and Anne E promote World Storytelling Day
But in Tasmania everything seemed connected and the next day I was booked to do an interview on ABC Hobart radio with one of the Tasmania storytelling crew, Tamas Oszvald. As well as a storytelIer he is also Project Manager, Community Engagement Officer for Art projects at Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) Hobart.

I had got in touch and said I would be in Hobart for world storytelling day and if there was anything happening put me down for a story.

He is a passionate man with a deep enthusiasm for community and storytelling, and as they days went by he kept adding to the story as he organised the event. I meet him for the first time at ABC Hobart. 

Yes we have a gig, we’ll be performing with Young Dawkins and musicians.


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"I am so fortunate to know and work with this five amazing humans. Tonight we had our storytelling event for the World Storytelling Day, three tellers, three musicians. Thanks for being so generous,  so professional Anne E Stewart storyteller, Young Dawkins poet, Emily Sheppard,  Moran Moss and Warren Mason musicians. I am sure we were able to take the audience to a journey through space and time... " Tamas Oszvald

The Worlds first Storytelling Hotel

Then four days in Sandy Bay to explore Hobart and another storytelling venue I was keen to explore. I have known of it for years and was bursting to visit, hailed as the world’s first Storytelling Hotel, located on the waterfront the MACq01 is a storytellers dream.

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Master storyteller Justin Johnstone brims with enthusiasm and stories and surely a way to my heart was an offer of champagne to accompany me on the 114 doors tour. This is reference to the 114 different bedrooms and people whose stories are told on each door as you enter your room. Justin was a wealth of knowledge and the tour starts by acknowledging The Mouheneenner people with references kelp like ceiling, fireplaces, and arts and artefacts.
I look forward to returning and taking part in other tours.

Story reminiscing with Prue McCausland

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Anne E Stewart and Prue McCausland go way back. "Toasting Pat"
Prue is another Tasmanian Storyteller and was a good friend to Patricia Scott, she invited me to her home and we enjoyed talking story for hours. She has just taken a wealth of archives about Patricia and the Tasmanian Storytelling Guild to the State Library.
She agrees with me, an oration in Pats honour sounds like a great idea. I'l keep working on that.

​Prue travelled from her hometown in Launceston for our World Storytelling Concert, I include her review here intended for an IBBY newsletter

‘New Beginnings’ Storytelling Event in Tasmania

World Storytelling Day celebrates the art of oral storytelling. This year in Tasmania it was marked by a concert on 20 March that was part of Moonah’s ‘Taste of the World Festival’ held in Harmony Week.  Moonah is Hobart’s most multicultural suburb.
 The concert featured local storyteller Tamas Osvald (Roaming Trees), Anne E Stewart from Victoria (Anne E Stewart - Home) and poet Young Dawkins, plus musicians Emily Shepherd, Moran Wiesel and Warren Mason.
Interest in oral storytelling has fluctuated in Tasmania over many years, from the 1980s when well-known storyteller Patricia Scott started the Tasmanian Storytellers Guild and organized workshops and events statewide. Hobart-based Tamas Osvald is doing his best to revive the scene at the moment with his Roaming Trees storytelling initiative. 
In the concert ‘New Beginnings’ he framed the event with his blending of stories about an entitled prince who comes to learn the value of poverty, hard work and self-denial as he seeks to woo a silent princess. Anne E Stewart told a selkie story and also a version of The Loathly Lady in which Sir Gawain comes to realise the ugly/beautiful woman he has been prevailed upon to marry has the right to choose for herself. Her stories were notable for the agency of women – choosing what to do with their lives. Young Dawkins’ poem told of his own experience in the Tasmanian landscape.

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It seems so appropriate that Tasmania has the World's first Storytelling Hotel, Patricia Scott I raise my glass in your honour. Thanks for the encouragement
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Race Bridges: exploring diversity and race relations .

11/17/2019

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Huge shout  out to Susan O'Halloran and the team at Race Bridges studio, what a wonderful learning tool. "Continuing the vital conversation about race relations through respectful discussions, reflection and action". Check out their website for 100's of resources https://racebridgesstudio.com/. Stories recorded at National Storytelling Summit, Fremonte California, July 2019
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White girl learns about the black history of Australia

Head over to the Race Bridges website for transcript and discussion questions 
​https://racebridgesstudio.com/video/a-white-girl-learns-about-the-black-history-of-australia/

Barak Aboriginal Artist and Storyteller

Head over to Race Bridges website for transcript and discussion questions
​https://racebridgesstudio.com/video/barak-aboriginal-artist-and-storyteller/
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Chillout, Rainbows and first gay in the Village

10/29/2019

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WE CAN LIVE A RAINBOW
Storyteller Anne E Stewart has lived in Daylesford for 27 years and has watched her small country town turn into one of regional Australia’s most gay friendly towns. This prompted the question some years back, “why was it so gay friendly.’ What followed was an interesting social history explained in her show, “So who was the first gay in the Village.
With the passing of the marriage equality act she attended celebrations at the local Daylesford hotel and started pondering on a different set of questions.

The recent birth of her granddaughter had Anne thinking on rainbow families and the stories they tell their children.
“My granddaughter looked so like her dad I wondered how gay families told their children about their genetic makeup
Who was their dad, their mum
Were their any restrictions on IVF treatment
From a literary family Anne wondered how rainbow families were depicted in literature. What were the stories that spurred and encouraged their children.
This all had Anne wondering on conversations with gay families. Were you able to ask about donors, or was that off limits.
How were their families planned and conceived. What was the journey.
A straight women, Anne’s passion for storytelling and love for her home town have her working through some of these questions
There’s many Rainbow families in Daylesford and I was just keen to  celebrate this with respectful discussions
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Anne leads a "Gay" history of Daylesfor


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PictureSt Dorothy of Daylesford aka Millie Minogue, and PFLAG

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Mexico City, Storytelling 2007

9/4/2017

1 Comment

 
Pauline Doran, looking forward to the Mexican Exhibition on its way to the Gallery
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Scheherazade's Inspiration

9/3/2017

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Recollections of a Storytelling adventure

In 2012 a request circulated through Australia, inviting storytellers to Iran for the 16th International Storytelling Festival: ‘these tell-tale days of storytelling.... will be cherished like the rainbows glittering in the sky.’
I wrote to say I’d be honoured to travel to the land of my hero, legendary queen of storytellers, Scheherazade. Prior to 1935 Iran was known as Persia and in younger days I decked myself in harem outfits and hung saris from the ceiling, fancying myself as this most famous of narrators.
Before I could say 1001 nights, I was jetting off to Tehran to embark on an extraordinary experience that included a visit to Golstan Palace, comprising seventeen palaces and museums. I learnt of the numerous, varied traditions and cultures that had infused modern day Islamic Iran. 
The festival was in Tabriz, capital of East Azerbaijan Province, once a major trading market on the Silk Road. A stop off at the old Abbasi Caravanseri (near Jolfa) and I imagined how stories from east and west converged on this very site.
I marveled at the strength and generosity of the women but was overwhelmed at how their educational opportunities were constrained. In September 2012 more than 20 universities introduced new rules banning female students from almost 80 degree courses. Nonetheless the first Iranian to win the Nobel Peace Prize was a woman, Shirin Ebadi, in 2003 for her efforts for women and children’s democracy and human rights. 
One thing that’s stayed with me was a visit to a school to tell stories. Young girls nearing puberty were decked out in pastel coloured veils and cloaks, adorned with ribbons and flowers: next stage, the hijab. I reflected on my Catholic education: being adorned in a veil and white dress, a little bride of Christ. It had me pondering on our similarities rather than our differences.

It changed my flippant view on Scheherazade lounging in harems, to ponder on another Nobel Prize winner, young Malala Yousafzai, who fights for the right for women to be educated.


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New Years Eve Gala and Parade 2016

12/31/2016

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So who was the first gay in the Village 2017

12/10/2016

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 So who was the first Gay in The Village 
@ The Story House and Garden:
52 Millar Street Daylesford
Saturday 11th March 3pm and 6pm 

 Sunday 12th March at 3pm

Bookings and details at
http://www.chilloutfestival.com.au/

Once upon a time there was a small Village in the Central Highlands of Victoria. Like many
other regional towns in the late 70ʼs early 80ʼs it was dying. On weekends the shops
would shut and it became a ghost town.
But in 1997 things began to change in the small village of Daylesford where storyteller
Anne E Stewart had based herself and her two children. She observed the transformation
to bustling tourist town over the years and became interested in why ʻthe villageʼ had
become so gay friendly?
“When my children attended the local primary school many of their friends had same sex
parents so it often came up in conversations. It was the subject of jokes and teasing, even
songs.... thereʼs a bear in there itʼs gay school.”
Anne E Stewart with Millie Minogue dressed as St Dorothy of Daylesford
I started to investigate our gay town so I could tell my children the story, from there the
show was created “So who was the first Gay in Village”.
Of course the title was a take on Little Britain and I didnʼt think Iʼd really come up with a
definitive answer but I was keen to know why we had evolved like this
“Nothing much was written so I started to interview my GLBTIQ friends. Then I heard
about the Gay and Lesbian archives in Melbourne and I watched the documentary The
Hidden History of Homosexual Australia.
What I was to discover was interesting, poignant, moving and in places - funny.
Delving back in history I uncovered the story of Captain Moonlite. When I first arrived in
the district there used to be a festival to honour him in Ballan but then it was decided he
was thug and this celebration became the Autumn Festival. But the National archives
holds copies of a love letters that Moonlite sent to fellow Pentridge prisoner James Nesbitt
“Nesbitt and I were united by every tie which could bind human friendship,” wrote Scott
(underlining and all) during his final incarceration. “We were one inhopes, one in heart and
soul and this unity lasted until he died in my arms.”
Awaiting execution, Scott wore a ring made from Nesbittʼs hair, and pleaded with his
gaolers to bury him with the younger man in the graveyard at Gundagai.
“I long to join him where there shall be no more parting,” he wrote.
Then there was Dr Gweneth Wiswould who lived with her ʻcompanionʼ Isabella Bell in
Trentham. It was often said this remarkable woman was born well ahead of her time,
studying to become a doctor when the professional world was dominated by men. Known
as an eccentric character, she wore trousers under an army greatcoat and drove to house
calls through the remote bush in a battered ute.
As well as historic research I remember stunning headlines I tracked down in the State
Library of Victoria newspaper collection, the Melbourne Truth pronounced “Dykes go Bush:
They came in their utes with their dogs and their dungarees to build houses and help each
other.”
I recognised and remembered posters that Iʼd seen around town, in the archives down in
Melbourne advertising the all girl balls that happened here in the 90ʼs
Little by little I uncovered other stories, Friday nights at Alpha Gallery was always closed
for “Private Functions.” This was for a group of men from Melbourne to enjoy time together
in this backstairs location.
I also learned about the local response to the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic during
the 1980s. Every time I talked to men of a particular age, they had all lost friends and it
was so sad and poignant to talk about this time. I learned they had a peace mile around
the lake and three years in a row they walked the lake and had ceremonies down there.”
The show reveals lots more fabulous stories but probably the most important one as we
celebrate Chilloutʼs 20th anniversary is the formation of its precursor Daylesford and
Hepburns, Springs Connection, formed by the local lesbian and gay business people.
To hear how it all pieces together come and hear award winning storyteller Anne E Stewart
at a brand new Daylesford Venue the Story House and Garden

Bookings and details at
http://www.chilloutfestival.com.au/
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Vale - Nell Bell

11/4/2016

22 Comments

 
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of legendary storyteller Nell Bell. Mentor to many and a leader and creator of the Storytelling Guild of Australia Nell slipped away peacefully on Thursday 3rd November

​A service to celebrate her life will be held on Wednesday the 16th November Between 2 and 4pm at the Northcote Town Hall. RIP dear friend
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Ira Glass on How to tell a good story

10/6/2016

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Vale Kevin Burgemeestre

8/15/2016

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The Messenger

I was so thrilled that I put in the highest bid in the "Unmasking the Wild charity Auction", (convened by Isobelle Carmody in her fundraising efforts for Animals Asia's Asia Bear Sanctuary and the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund) for the mask made by Kevin Burgemeestre. He called the mask "The Messenger" and it is the most wonderful piece of art. I was so keen to have my own piece of Kevin's work and this mask had spiritual significance because of it's depiction of Waa the Crow. Where I live on Dja Dja Wurrung Country the Crow is one of the moieties and is know to have dominion over the hills and plains.
I've been lucky enough to do several literary gigs with Kevin and know him to be a fun fellow traveller and very generous of his time. Over the last year or so he and his wife have contributed to Timor Leste by creating the first series of Literacy books for the small country. I was devasted to hear of his passing,
I'm sad I  never got to tell him that I had bought his mask but so grateful that I have this reminder of a gifted and talented artist. Much love to Lee. 
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