Like most good Australian Indigenous stories, they get retold over and again and so it is with a book titled The Way Bunjil Flies. First published in 2010 the book has been reimagined and relaunched in 2018.
The Way Bunjil Flies is the brainchild of MLMC’s School Wellbeing Coordinator Ms Tina Tasiopoulos. It was created in 2010 as collaboration between students from MLMC and Worawa Aboriginal College in Healesville. A story told by elder Aunty Dot Peters to the students in 2010 for their book has now been reimagined, this time with the language simplified and the story aimed at much younger children (aged five and under). The new book was launched last week by the Shire of Yarra Ranges, with now 88-year-old Aunty Dot Peters at the launch along with Ms Tasiopoulos.
“I’m impressed it wasn’t just a one-off — that it wasn’t just a project done and then forgotten about. An Indigenous story needs to be told again and again. It (the book) has life,” Ms Tasiopoulos said.
She said the first book was the result of an idea she had for a project that would help engage students back into learning and do something fun together. “I love indigenous stories and I have a passion for capturing oral stories and putting them into print.”
In 2010, students from MLMC and Worawa College did the artworks, listened to the stories told by Aunty Dot, helped with the editing and were involved in learning about culture. “This is the same story, but it has more simplistic language and professional Indigenous artists have done the illustrations this time,” Ms Tasiopoulos said. Again local author Spiri Tsintziras is the editor, with artists Rex Campbell and Miranda Madgwick providing the colourful artworks that illustrate the story of Bunjil, the spiritual totem of the Wurunjeri people, set in Healesville.
