River stars in documentary
BY CHRISTINE DE KOCK
LOCAL film-makers Aneeta Krishna and Alarna Gray have produced a documentary on the history of the Maribyrnong River which will be launched on 11 October at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville.
Ms Gray said the documentary, ‘Saltwater Reflections’, was more lyrical than driven by facts and figures.
“It’s a chronological history starting with the indigenous presence in the area, then the arrival of the farmers from Tasmania and the industry that followed,” she said.
“There was an influx of migrant workers who worked at factories like Pipe Makers, which is now a park and part of the documentary.” Ms Krishna added that a highlight of the film was the story told by indigenous leader Larry Walsh.
“In the last five minutes of the film Larry Walsh speaks to camera and tells an indigenous story about the area.
“He closes the film saying there is a connection between all of us that are born here, basically saying if you are born here then you have a spirituality or connection to the land and it is about owning that,” Ms Krishna said.
She said the contemporary images in the film are woven together with poetry, mosaic art and music to evoke a sense of place and movement through time.
Ms Krishna and Ms Gray have an artistic writer and director partnership and form Gaga Productions.
They produced the film with the support of the Living Museum of the West-and Maribyrnong City Council.
They received Maribyrnong City Council’s 2006 Cultural and Community Grants.
The 28-miriute film will be screened at the Sun Theatre on Sunday 15 October, Sunday 22 October, Sunday 29 October and Sunday 5 November.
Star Footscray, 3/10/06
Film depicts river’s history and people
BY KATHRYN DUFFY
Two Seddon filmmakers have put an artistic spin on the traditional documentary form for a short film depicting the story of the Maribyrnong River and people who live near it.
Saltwater Reflections is the first film by Aneeta Krishna and Alarna Gray’s company Gaga Productions.
It was produced with the support of Maribyrnong Council and the Living Museum ofthe West.
“We wanted to do something about the history ofthis place and the people living here,” Ms Krishna says.
“I went for a walk down the river and was inspired by what 1 saw. I went to the library and looked up the history of Footscray – it has a fascinating history.”
She says they wanted to relay the area’s history, from indigenous through colonial times to the present day.
The idea was to use contemporary images… what you see as you walk along the Maribyrnong.
There’s a lot of public art along the river, a lot of mosaic art.
“I’ve taken those contemporary images people recognise, like the mosaic of the settler, and gone: ‘This is what it actually means’.
The 28-minute creative documentary features storytelling by indigenous elder Larry Walsh and traditional music from the album Singing and Dancing for Country by indigenous songwriter Jida MurrayGulpilil. “In Saltwater Reflections we wanted to achieve a sense of history of the Maribyrnong being like a journey of merging intersections that collaboratively build cultural identity – hopefully the community will agree this is achieved.”
Footscray Mail, 11/10/06
West Celebrates Waterways with Springtime Festival
CELEBRATING National Water Week on 24 October, the community of the West comes together for a springtime water festival at Pipemakers Park, Maribyrnong. Highlighting the occasion is the public launch of Billi Tea Tales – an interactive map installation at Living Museum West featuring waterway stories created by students and adults across the region.
The Waterwatch Family Festival, hosted by project partner Melbourne Water, offers a range of free workshops and activities including waterbug discovery sessions, live animal displays, indigenous storytelling and much more.
Visitors to Living Museum West can also explore the Billi Tea Tales touchscreen, with character-based animations by students, or digital stories by environment volunteers.
The culmination of a series of digital media workshops held over the past 18 months, the installation cuts across regional and age barriers, with stories from Melton and Wyndham, through Brimbank, Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong.
“Water conservation is one of the big challenges of our time, and something that affects us all,” says Project Manager Alarna Gray. “This project demonstrates the positive impact communities can have on our shared resources.” Billi Tea Tales was funded through the EPA (Victoria) Alternative Penalties Scheme, and evokes memories of campfire storytelling in a digital environment, while addressing topics such as revegetation, responsible waste disposal and wildlife diversity.
In partnership with Melbourne Water and Gozer Studio, students had a chance to learn new skills in digital storytelling and animation, while sharing knowledge about their local environment.
Auzone, 10/10
Kids’ headstart in animation School holidays
BY LINH LY
THESE moviemakers are starting young.
The participants enrolled in the Footscray City Primary School holiday program were given a glimpse into the world of animation last week, getting involved in the Billi Tea Tales workshops.
The students aged eight to 12 produced their own animations, developing dreamtime creation stories of native animals.
Project manager Alarna Gray said many of the participants were “super keen” and had a great time drawing inspiration from indigenous storyteller Uncle Larry Walsh at the start of the week.
They spent the rest of the week putting together their films, completing all the stages of animation, such as script writing, modelling, recording and editing.
Ms Gray said it was a good activity to raise environmental awareness in younger generations.
The films will be featured at the Living Museum West in March.
Maribyrnong Leader, 19/1/10
Living Museum really goes live
THE story of the Living Museum of the West will come alive thanks to a new installation.
School students and volunteers from across Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham created films about their local conservation efforts which have been compiled in a touch screen installation as part of the Billi Tea Tales project.
With help from Melbourne Water, Gozer Studios and EPA funding, participants learnt new skills in digital storytelling and animation while sharing their experiences and learning from other groups.
At a recent sneak peak for participants, project manager Alarna Gray said the 13 stories on nine different waterways in the West highlighted the positive impact communities could have.
“Water conservation is one of the big challenges of our time, and something that affects us all,” she said.
The installation will be launched at the Living Museum of the West, Pipemakers Park, Van Ness Ave Maribyrnong at the Waterwatch Family Festival on October 24.
Maribyrnong Leader, 28/9/10
Animations inspire children
BELLBRIDGE Primary School pupils are using animation to promote the importance of caring for our waterways.
Last Friday, they took part in a workshop with Gazer Studio after winning a competition run by Living Museum West and Melbourne Water.
Other successful schools were Galvin Park Secondary College in Werribee and Caroline Springs College.
Their film scripts were inspired by the wide variety of animal and plant life the students discovered in local waterways including native fish, frogs and platypus.
The ‘Billi Tea Tales’ project was funded through the Environment Protection Authority, with Living Museum West awarded $75,000 to run the series of digital storytelling and animation workshops and to help produce the stories promoting stewardship of waterways across the west.
Further workshops will be held with children at all three schools during the January holidays.
All three animations will feature on a digital touch screen map of western region waterways at Living Museum West in Maribyrnong.
Project manager Alarna Gray said the films were an ideal way for students to take a hands-on approach to the situation.
“Many cultures use stories as a means of guiding action,” she said.
“We wanted to use stories to inspire people to get involved.”
Melbourne Water’s general manager of waterways Chris Chesterfield said everyone could help improve rivers and creeks by reducing stormwater pollution such as picking up after your dog, collecting rubbish and fixing oil leaks in your car.
The Werribee Banner, 21/10/09
Bored kids hard to find as city turns on the fun
FOOTSCRAY children are being spoilt for choice when it comes to fun over the school holidays.
In a holiday program at Footscray City Primary School last week, children listened to Aboriginal elder Uncle Larry Walsh’s indigenous stories about waterways then used the stories as inspiration for clay animation.
At Braybrook Community Centre, children were treated to a range of activities including learning about cooking and eating the results.
Footscray Community Arts Centre’s school holiday program runs from January 18–21 and is the place for children who want to get creative.
They can try music, puppetry, comics, animation, hip-hop dance and visual arts.
Details: www.footscrayarts.com.
www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au or www.visitmelbourne.com
Footscray Mail, 13/1/10
Hi-tech green thumbs
WEMBLEY Primary School’s Jasmine, left, and Kingsville Primary School’s Joel were among pupifs from two Yarra ville primary schools to take part in the launch of a DVD they helped make about Stony Creek. More than 50 Kingsville Primary School and Wembley Primary School pupils created animations for the educational short film Puddlehush, which also featured the regeneration efforts of the volunteer group Friends of Stony Creek.
The project’s co-ordinator Alarna Gray said the DVD aimed to creatively engage students in learning about the creek and show the impact everyday actions could have on the environment. The Living Museum West and Melbourne Water supported the project, which was funded through the EPA, the Stan Willis Trust and the Maribyrnong City Council. A class of pre-service teachers from Victoria University contributed a curriculum guide to accompany the DVD. Puddlehush was launched at the Uving Museum West in Maribyrnong.
Star Footscray, 16/3/10
Pupils undoing creek damage
A SCHOOL project about Stony Creek has inspired children in the west to look after their environment.
The project, dubbed Puddlehush, was supported by Living Museum West. Victoria University students designed the creek plan for grade 3–8 pupils and Melbourne Water hosted a number of waterwatch activities.
Educational signs will be put along the creek. A DVD and trail guide prepared by students will be available at the Living Museum.
“It’s really fun being able to come out to Stony Creek and learn so many different things about the enviroment and find different species of frogs,” said Luke Bone, of grade 6 at Kingsville Primary School.
Wembley Primary School grade 5’s Brigita Valadica said: “Our class came down here to Stony Creek. We did water testing and found some frogs and tadpoles, which inspired us to look after our environment more.”
Project co-ordinator Alarna Gray said it was designed to teach students ways of improving creek health so they could then teach others.
“Decades of urban development and stormwater pollution have taken their toll on Stony Creek. We’re working to significantly improve its health by 2015.”
Footscray Mail, 10/3/10
Maribyrnong River inspires local film makers
The Maribyrnong River is one of the gems of theWest and has been a source of enjoyment for generations of local people.
“The river is special to our community. I like coming down here with my family and just relaxing in the parks and watching the – plants and wildlife,” said River Ward Councillor, Dina Lynch.
Local film makers, Aneeta Krishna and Alarna Gray, of Gaga Productions, were so inspired by the Maribyrnong River, they made a short film about its history.
“The 28 minute film, Saltwater Reflections, is a creative historical documentary of the Maribyrnong River. It tells the river’s story with contemporary images woven together with poetry, mosaic art and music,” said Cr Lynch.
Indigenous culture is an important part of the river’s history. The film features storytelling by Indigenous elder, Larry Walsh, and traditional music from Indigenous songwriter, Jida MurrayGulpilil.
The film was launched at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville on 11 October and additional screenings were held on the following four Sundays. The film is available on DVD for borrowing at Footscray Library and Highpoint Library. Saltwater Reflections can also be purchased for $9.90 at the Living Museum of the West.
The film was made with support from the Living Museum of the West and Maribyrnong Council through the 2006 Cultural and Community Grants program.
Maribyrnong News, 12/06
River alive on screen
BY BRIAR SINCLAIR
SEDDON’S Aneeta Krishna and Alama Gray could walk along the Maribymong River in their sleep without falling in because they’ve studied it so much.
The women said they walked along the river many times to film their documentary Saltwater Reflections, about the river’s history.
Ms Krishna, 40, was the producer while Ms Gray, 29, wrote the script and did the filming.
The 28-minute documentary tells the river’s story since Aborigines inhabited it thousands of years ago, using modern-day footage along with poems and songs to set the scene.
Ms Krishna said they wanted to make people aware of their own history.
“A lot of the time when people of any age think about history they think of it as a dull and boring thing,” she said.
“What we want to say is history is all around us.
‘’The message is take pride of who you are and where you came from.”
Both women were born far away from the river but have come to feel part of the area.
Ms Krishna is an Indian – Malaysian and Ms Gray was born in Tasmania. She has lived in Footscray for four years.
“There’s just something about this place that’s definitely good, there’s something I feel a lot of Melbourne places don’t have,” Ms Gray said.
Ms Krishna, who has lived in Footscray since 1996, agreed.
“I used to walk along the river and feel a sense of something I couldn’t quite capture.” Saltwater Reflections was made with a Maribyrnong Council Cultural and Community Grant.
Mayor Janet Rice is looking forward to the community reaction when it is screened.
“I think this film will strike a chord with people in our community who live, work or spend time around the Maribymong River,” Cr Rice said.
“It will hopefully also draw people to the area who haven’t experienced the lovely surrounds of the Maribymong.” Saltwater Reflections will screen at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville on Sundays throughout October and November.
For more information call the Sun on 9362 0999 or visit the website www.suntheatre.com.au
Western Times, 3/10/06