The past year

I’ve done very little blogging over the past 12 months. There are a number of reasons for this, including server troubles and a lack of available time. However, hopefully I have now been able to organize myself to allow for the time required to keep my blogs up-to-date.

So, first things first, an update on what I’ve been doing lately..

1. I started a new job 12 months ago, working at Melbourne Museum’s Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre as a Senior Education & Programs Officer. What that means is that I live, sleep, eat and breathe Koorie (Aboriginal Australian) culture and history. The role entails educating school groups (kindergarten through to university level), providing educational tours of the exhibitions, art gallery and indigenous plant garden, delivering fun and educational programs for the public (children’s activities, lecture series, concerts, festivals, theatre performances, workshops etc), and basically doing all I can to help bring my culture to life for our many visitors. Probably the most enjoyable aspect is the fact that I work with so many talented people, across a number of fields who each bring their own energies to a remarkable organization.

2. I’m continuing to write my books. I’ve been working on a novel for a few years now, and I’ve dedicated the only free time that I have, on the train journey to work (1hr 15min each way) to trying to get the work completed. However, it does take effort to stay focused, as I often find myself distracted by work emails, reading the morning news websites and via ridiculous, loud and painful conversations taking place around me. I am at least making some solid progress though.

3. Cultural practices. Heavily influenced by my workplace, I’ve begun carving clubs, shields, boomerangs and making stone axes. Working at Bunjilaka has rekindled a major interest in DIY material technologies and I’m carving for the first time since I was about 6 or 7, when my dad was teaching me along with others how to carve boomerangs.

4. I’m drawing/designing again. Being an ex-illustrator and designer, one wouldn’t think I’d be far from a pen and paper, but the truth is I’ve done very little drawing in the last few years. That has changed in the last 12 months, with my job getting the creative juices flowing in a new and exciting environment. Recent works include the major advertising banners for a stage show, sculpted vacuum formed masks, rubber stamps, puppets and soon – a children’s picture book.