Elder Doolann Leisha Eatts talks about her earliest memories of being Nyungah

Audio Recording

Audio Transcript

My first memory’s that I am a Nyungah and I am an Aboriginal and there are white people out there and some of them don’t want us, some don’t like us. And sittin’ round the campfire with my grandmother, my aunties, my uncles, my mum, my dad, they tellin’ us dreamtime stories. At night again and again they used to tell us ghostly stories, they used to show us the stars, and talk about the stars, ’bout the season; they tell us about the birds, the ants, the behaviour of ’em and how the season change, you know, and the change in the ants of what’s coming in a week or two. They could see the ants, how their behaviour was and the birds, and they used to talk about the wind, how the wind changes and these things to watch out for. Because it was a change in the weather. And the mist in the sky, and they showed us a lot of things, like if we saw — like we had a lot of things like — Actually I used to say well, I s’pose I grew up in two worlds. You know I was glad I was goin’ to school, learning to read and write, but at home I lived my Nyungah ways and in my Nyungah style.

From: Doolann Leisha Eatts interview for South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, 17 January 2007

Disclaimer
SWALSC followed cultural protocols to obtain permission to use this oral history on the Kaartdijin Noongar website.
It is also protected by copyright law and may only be used for private study, research, criticism or review. If you would like to use it for any other purpose, including publication, making copies or modifying it, please contact SWALSC at reception@noongar.org.au or Level 2, 100 Royal Street East Perth WA 6004.
Note: In some cases the written transcript has been edited with permission from the person interviewed and may differ slightly from the audio recording.

Permission to use this audio recording kindly granted by Elder Doolann Leisha Eatts