Same Like Yesterday: Virlkuthalypila and Other Stories from Our Country

Copley

Story and DirectionGladys Wilton Linda Coulthard Judy Johnson Yvonne Brady Sophia Wilton Lesley Coulthard Donna Coulthard Veronica Coulthard Glenn Maw Fleur Elise Noble Lead AnimatorIsobel Knowles AnimatorsFleur Elise Noble Van Sowerwine Jahrome Weetra Tommy Fells Drone Pilot & CoordinationJason Wuttke Cliff Coulthard

Artists & StorytellersGladys Wilton Linda Coulthard Judy Johnson Yvonne Brady Sophia Wilton Lesley Coulthard Donna Coulthard Veronica Coulthard Teresa Brady Shaunaya Smith Cliff Coulthard Rhonda Gepp Animal Drawings2018 Primary Students from Leigh Creek Area School

Shadow PerformersDonna Coulthard Sophia Wilton Shaunaya Smith Sohara Brady Tyrique Brady Kaylana Coulthard Cherilee Coulthard SingersGladys Wilton Linda Coulthard Concept & Production DesignFleur Elise Noble Project CoordinatorsFleur Elise Noble Liz Thompson Lesley Coulthard Yvonne Brady

Many thanks to the following organisations for their generous support: Drapac Capital PartnersArkaroola Wilderness SanctuaryOffice for the Outback Communities Authority

Lead Sound DesignerMissi Mel Pesa Sound Designers Lesley Coulthard Donna Coulthard Veronica Coulthard Sound RecordistGlen Maw Online PanelVan Sowerwine Isobel Knowles Special ThanksArthur Coulthard Mick Coulthard Peter Litchfield Daniel Fels Carrie-Anne Smith Stephen Dixon

This online interactive experience of Same Like Yesterday is an adaptation of the large-scale animated installation that was originally shown at the Art Gallery of South Australia, created by the Adnyamathanha community in collaboration with SharingStories Foundation. In this online adaptation, you can follow the journey of six senior Adnyamathanha women and two teenage girls as they travel across Adnyamathanha Country. Community leaders proudly and continuously work with the younger generations in the preservation and revival of language, stories and cultural customs. This creative interpretation of important stories helps to hold and share culture across the Adnyamathanha Lands and beyond. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.

3. Women’s Story

15. Bunyip Chasm

4. Bung Cart

5. Welcome to Dieri Country

16. Italowie Gorge

6. Mundowdna Station

17. Big Moro Gorge

7. Murnpeowie Sandhills

18. Warkala Udna Gap and Pinda Springs

8. Crow Story

9. Beverley Uranium Mine

19. Mulki Gap

10. Paralana Hot Spring

20. Damper Hill

11. Nguri tree

Six Senior Adnyamathanha women and two young girls travelled across Country following in the footsteps of the Virlkuthalypila, the Two Women from the Yura Muda (Dreamtime) who walked from Mundowdna to Damper Hill in search of their husbands. Listen to the traditional and contemporary stories shared as the women travel through Country on a journey of of memory and discovery. Select each image on the map to follow the story and the women's journey.

21. Wayanha

22. Lake Lettie

1. Copley

12. Munyallina

2. Uncle Cliff

13. Nepouie Gorge

14. Nepuoie Spring

Supported by Senior Custodians and the SharingStories Foundation, teenagers Shaunaya Smith and Sohara Brady and a group of young people from the Leigh Creek Area School program recorded and interpreted the Virlkuthalypila and Other Stories from Our Country through a range of new media. Yvonne Brady, a senior Adnyamathanha custodian said she felt the focus on a women’s story was important in relation to the keeping of traditional knowledge and transmission of stories to young girls. 'We wanted to teach girls about some of the women’s stories. There are a lot of stories about our Country. ‘ Over twelve months community members guided by Senior Custodians worked together on the project, facilitated by the SharingStories Foundation. The twenty metre animated installation is now touring throughout Australia in 2025 supported by Visions of Australia.

Uncle Cliff Coulthard

Women’s Story

Bung Cart

Welcome to Dieri Country

Mundowdna Station

Murnpeowie Sandhills

Crow Story

Beverley Uranium Mine

Paralana Hot Springs

Nguri Tree

Munyallina

Nepouie Gorge

Nepouie Spring

Bunyip Chasm

Big Moro Gorge

Warkala Udna Gap and Pinda Springs

Mulki Gap

Damper Hill

Lake Lettie

Wahanya

Italowie Gorge

Linda Coulthard ‘My name is Linda Coulthard and I’m an Ararru woman, a North Wind, and I come from Adnyamathanha Kuyani family from the Flinders Ranges. I was looking forward to the journey on Country. I’ve never been to some of those places, it’s the first time I saw some of those places my mum used to always talk about. A few times I spoke to Mum (Mum’s spirit) on our journey in our language and I said. “Be with us all the time, make us feel strong to help us finish this work.” When we were walking in the hills, I called the old people to watch over us, to bring the stories back in. I felt them. They’re still with us, I can hear them talking, they guide you. They make us strong. I had no problem because everthing was there, the story is there on Country. That’s where it all happened out in the Country. When I’m on Country the land will speak to me, “Come back, bring your yakadis (children) back, make them strong.” That’s what the land is telling us, that’s what Mum always said, “The land will look after you, you look after the land and the land will look after you.” Stories are getting damaged, spring water is missing, drying out. Mines are taking over, all those things. Where Leigh Creek mining town is now, that’s where my three siblings were born, all six of my children were born there. We’ll do whatever we can to make people sit up and take notice, enough is enough, leave the land alone. You can feel the Ancestors watching over you, taking good care of you and teaching us.’

Gladys Wilton ‘I reckon we should be holding our culture, the young ones got to take it on. This project was the time we all got together and went out to look at the story. We don’t do that, women should be getting together and sitting down and talking about things, but it doesn’t happen. We live far apart. I’d never been to Lake Lettie before, this was the only time when we made a track up there for this project. We went up to Lake Lettie and saw the place where the girl ended up, we knew where the boy ended at Mount McKinlay (Wayanha) but I’d never seen Lake Lettie before. On the opening night. putting that work we made for other people to see, that turned out really good. I was really happy I cried, I don’t know why, just that we done that, we done it. We were so proud.’

Yvonne Brady ‘Hi everybody, My name is Yvonne Brady, I’m an Adnyamathanha woman, I’ve had six kids and I’ve got 16 grandkids and five great grandchildren and it’s really important to me that they know their culture. I worked on this story with my granddaughter Shaunaya and all these ladies. I’ve never really thought much about this story and I didn’t know the details, I’ve never ever thought I’d be able to follow the story in Country. I knew it was there but I didn’t know where the women from the Yuramuda travelled, where they started from, where they ended up and the places that they went to. Now after the journeys we’ve done and creating this work I can tell the story in a lot more detail and I feel good about that. I learnt a lot from the old girls. I love travelling with these old girls, sitting down and just listening to their stories. When we were at Arkaroola the old girls were a door down and I could hear them laughing in the morning and I loved that. I’m still learning from them, there are stories that come out that I haven’t heard before and in my case because my mother is not Adnyamathanha we didn’t have that motherly talk about Country, Adnyamathanha Yarta (ground) and language. It’s lovely to be with the old girls as I didn’t have it with mum and she didn’t know the stories. I feel when I tell the story to my grandkids or to anyone else I know they want to know more and now I feel like I can tell them more. I’m 62 and I’m still learning and I want to do more of these projects and these stories. The culture connects our children to Country, to their place of belonging, to the people that came before and the people that will come in the future. We want to share our stories with non-indigenous people, we want people to have respect for our Country and our culture, our stories and our people. Opening night was a really, really moving experience, I felt proud that everybody wanted to come in and see what we done and what I liked the most was that never-ending clapping. I was nervous, I’m glad the lights were dimmed or I’d have been like a deer in the headlights when I gave a speech.’

Lesley Coulthard ‘I’m Lesley Coulthard, I’m from the Adnyamathanha Kuyani tribe and I live in Copley, born and bred in Leigh Creek. I’ve lived in the area all my life, worked at Leigh Creek school, I’ve been a youth worker, a health worker, horticulturist, and mustered wild goats out in the mountains. This work opened my heart and made my brains work properly. I learnt a lot about my Dreamtime stories which old people never really went into details about - they just told us everything was Muntha (sacred), there’s a story for this creek and that mountain and all that. I drove past that Damper Hill millions of times and I was told there’s a big damper over there and it’s Muntha (sacred), that’s all I got told. I was told not to go there because it’s a sacred site. I guess old people just wanted it to stay like that, to protect it. That’s the only way to get it across to the young people, to keep it alive and make sure no one damages it. It’s a good thing for us to learn because we don’t learn these sorts of things, we know about computers and that but nothing like this. We mostly do office work and things like that but when you learn something different, stories, culture on Country, it’s the best thing, we love it. I learnt a lot from the Elders on this trip. Hearing it from the Elders it’s like, “wow, you fellas go back a long way”. I feel confident now to teach the story to a younger person. It’s built up my confidence more, it’s stronger, I have more information and more detail. We just done a Dreamtime story, we brought it back into reality and then it’s in your heart. I reckon it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, it’s creating something, it’s like giving birth. I’ve learnt a lot not only because of the Dreamtime story but also how to use the equipment, make animations and sound recordings, and one day you never know, we could start up our own little business. Through Same Like Yesterday we want visitors to have it in their heart that this is our Country and we have got stories, and our stories just go on and on and don’t stop. They are actually real events that happened thousands of years ago. We are losing our loved ones, our Elders, so it’s up to the next generation to keep it going. It’s good to get all the details while they are still around and we can hand them over to the next generation. Just like a fairytale you know, how I wished I was a princess or Cinderella or something, well this one here is like a fairytale. I wish I was walking with those ladies, I’d help them look for their men too, poor things. I couldn’t get over last night at the opening, I was crying, tears in my eyes, and I was thinking, ”Wow, we done that”, and the claps just wouldn’t stop and I thought, ”oh good on you girls, good on you girls”. I feel like a proud blackfella, proud Australian blackfella with a background, that’s how I feel, and I got a storyline. We need to keep it strong, our history. Australia does belong to us and we have got the strongest connections to Country and we just want to protect it and keep it alive. We want to keep our land safe and clean, and protect our Dreamtime stories and our Muda (knowledge), our yarta (earth) and stop mining, stop digging them up, that’s our culture. We don’t want money, we just want to keep our storyline going and Country, we want a land to live on. Everyone who goes back to Flinders after being away, their body just changes and they feel the best in the world. It’s where all the Ancestors are and all the spirits, that’s why we all feel good back here. Everyone made us here, it’s our heartland.’

Sophia Wilton ‘I’ve just been in plays at primary school at Nepabunna, and I’m 45 now, I’ve not done anything like this before. It feels really good because we have created something for future generations while the old girls have still got the energy, they are all getting old and they got us to help them. It was the best time.’

Judy Johnson ‘The journey on Country was wonderful, everybody was happy, chucking in bits and pieces of the story they knew. It was lovely, one of the best weeks, I enjoyed that. We all enjoyed ourselves. One of the best weeks ever! Instead of being home doing cleaning, washing and cooking we were out on Country learning something to give back to the children. I used to tell the story to people but when they asked me, “Where is Lake Lettie?” I said, “I don’t know, it’s somewhere up north but I don’t know actually where it is.” Now I can say it’s 20kms out of Marree. I used to feel embarassed that I didn’t know where it was, we knew the story but we didn’t know where it ended up and where it come from. Now we know exactly what we’re talking about because we worked together to share the parts of the story we had, to put it back together. I feel more confident to teach people now. When we go and take our kids out for a drive, we can show them exact places now. It was good, it is good. The story teaches how children got to respect their Elders, not leave their Elders, not to leave their parents’ side, anything could happen to them. Through culture, we want people to learn how to respect the Elders. Us too, we gotta respect our Elders, we haven’t got many old people now. We got our grannies (grandkids) and one day they will have kids, we’re not going to be around to tell them. They can read it themselves, and watch the film and say, “that’s my granny or great grandmother”. It’s always about men, they’re forgetting that women have a part in that too, their stories. Good to bring the women and kids in. In the future I’d like to do more of these projects, to keep our children on track because there’s a lot of new things coming into the Country now you know. So they don’t wander away too much from their parents.’

Shaunaya Smith ‘I got to spend some time with these ladies, I don’t usually get to see them much. I feel better because I actually know where the story and everything is now, its hard to forget. With sound recording I learnt to use the equipment in good ways. We are the next generation and we have to tell our young siblings and nieces and nephews because it’s our culture.’

Donna Coulthard ‘I’m Donna Coulthard, I’m an Adnyamathanha Kuyani lady from the Flinders Ranges, I was born and raised up there. My father taught me a lot back in the day, how to live on and off the land. I’m proud of what he taught me and Mum as well. They were very strong. He always said, ”You’ve got a lot to learn”, no matter how old we got. That was his favourite saying. I want young people to respect the Elders, listen to your old people. That’s how I’ve been brought up, to respect your Elders. Everyone should respect the Elders both white and black, that’s how I see it anyway. Respect the Country as well, otherwise it won’t respect you. That’s why we’re having all the disasters now, mining and that is upsetting old Mother Earth. We are living here surrounded by four mines and there is a big Yura Muda (Dreaming knowledge) of Yurlu the Kingfisher Man all the way from Leigh Creek to Wilpena Pound - but the government don’t listen to us. It’s the mining that is ruining our Country. It’s sad for our future generations - what can we tell them, there’s a dirty big hole over there [Leigh Creek Coal Mine] where Yurlu the Kingfisher Man started a fire in the Dreaming, but it’s all mined now, it’s sad. It would be good to do more, so non-Aboriginal kids and everyone can see, don’t go destroying our Country, learn more about Yura Muda. We see a lotta European stuff, we gotta protect all that so why can’t they protect our storylines? We want people to know how important Country is for us, it’s very important. It gives me a strong feeling, recording our culture like we did for this project. I can draw a mountain and Mum will say, ”No it doesn’t look like that, you draw it properly”, and I have to do it again, get it right, keep it strong, keep it going. When we worked on this project Mum would tell me the shape of the hills, where the trees are, where the springs are. She was teaching me as we made the art work. I liked working on a women’s story. I’m a woman, it’s one of the only women’s stories we have. I found it really good and strong and powerful that little story line. Bringing all the women together to work together, to work with the kids, it was really good having a laugh with the oldies. They feel so cleansed out when they are out in the sandhills, even I do, I just don’t want to go back into town. Very much emotionally and spiritually healthy out there, I can feel it. I’m very passionate about it. I love my Country, that’s my medicine. I feel like I’m free as a bird when I’m on Country, not even walking on the ground, like I’m lifting, I could just walk all day. I love it. I’d love to keep that projection going, let everyone see it, and take it overseas. I reckon that’s a really good animation we done, I’m proud anyway.’

Veronica Coulthard ‘It was hard trying to draw birds without looking at them, thinking of what they look like, so we had to get books from the library and in no time we drew pictures. Putting Same Like Yesterday on felt good because Mum was in it, because she is the one who taught us these things, now we’re travelling around together, makes it even better. It made us stronger, we learnt a lot as we were going along, we’re still learning from Mum. I’ve learnt more from her through this work. We don’t speak the language that often, Adnyamathanha language, but on this trip we heard her speaking, and the lullabies, I just love the lullabies when the oldies sing.’

Linda Coulthard

‘My name is Linda Coulthard and I’m an Ararru woman, a North Wind, and I come from Adnyamathanha Kuyani family from the Flinders Ranges. I was looking forward to the journey on Country. I’ve never been to some of those places, it’s the first time I saw some of those places my mum used to always talk about. A few times I spoke to Mum (Mum’s spirit) on our journey in our language and I said. “Be with us all the time, make us feel strong to help us finish this work.” When we were walking in the hills, I called the old people to watch over us, to bring the stories back in. I felt them. They’re still with us, I can hear them talking, they guide you. They make us strong. I had no problem because everthing was there, the story is there on Country. That’s where it all happened out in the Country. When I’m on Country the land will speak to me, “Come back, bring your yakadis (children) back, make them strong.” That’s what the land is telling us, that’s what Mum always said, “The land will look after you, you look after the land and the land will look after you.” Stories are getting damaged, spring water is missing, drying out. Mines are taking over, all those things. Where Leigh Creek mining town is now, that’s where my three siblings were born, all six of my children were born there. We’ll do whatever we can to make people sit up and take notice, enough is enough, leave the land alone. You can feel the Ancestors watching over you, taking good care of you and teaching us.’

We would like to acknowledge the Adnyamathanha community and their work on the Same Like Yesterday project.  In 2014, the Adnyamathanha community sought support from the SharingStories Foundation to record and creatively interpret a traditional story relating to female ancestors and the creation of Adnyamathanha Country. In 2019, the resulting work Same Like Yesterday premiered at the Art Gallery of South Australia with support from the DreamBIG Children’s Festival. The Same Like Yesterday installation tells a story about six senior Adnyamathanha women and two teenage girls travelling through the Flinders Ranges in the footsteps of Virlkuthalypila the two women from the Yuramuda (Dreamtime).  Senior custodians Yvonne Brady, Lesley and Linda Coulthard, Gladys and Sophia Wilton and Judy Patterson contributed to the telling and artistic expression of the story on Country. Donna and Veronica Coulthard also joined the creative team during the production period. Supported by Senior Custodians and the SharingStories Foundation, teenagers Shaunaya Smith and Sohara Brady and a group of young people from the Leigh Creek Area School program recorded and interpreted the Virlkuthalypila and Other Stories from Our Country through a range of new media. Yvonne Brady, a senior Adnyamathanha custodian said she felt the focus on a women’s story was important in relation to the keeping of traditional knowledge and transmission of stories to young girls. 'We wanted to teach girls about some of the women’s stories. There are a lot of stories about our Country. ‘ Over twelve months community members guided by Senior Custodians worked together on the project, facilitated by the SharingStories Foundation. The twenty metre animated installation is now touring throughout Australia in 2025 supported by Visions of Australia.

‘It was hard trying to draw birds without looking at them, thinking of what they look like, so we had to get books from the library and in no time we drew pictures. Putting Same Like Yesterday on felt good because Mum was in it, because she is the one who taught us these things, now we’re travelling around together, makes it even better. It made us stronger, we learnt a lot as we were going along, we’re still learning from Mum. I’ve learnt more from her through this work. We don’t speak the language that often, Adnyamathanha language, but on this trip we heard her speaking, and the lullabies, I just love the lullabies when the oldies sing.’

Veronica Coulthard

‘I reckon we should be holding our culture, the young ones got to take it on. This project was the time we all got together and went out to look at the story. We don’t do that, women should be getting together and sitting down and talking about things, but it doesn’t happen. We live far apart. I’d never been to Lake Lettie before, this was the only time when we made a track up there for this project. We went up to Lake Lettie and saw the place where the girl ended up, we knew where the boy ended at Mount McKinlay (Wayanha) but I’d never seen Lake Lettie before. On the opening night. putting that work we made for other people to see, that turned out really good. I was really happy I cried, I don’t know why, just that we done that, we done it. We were so proud.’

Gladys Wilton

Sophia Wilton

‘I’ve just been in plays at primary school at Nepabunna, and I’m 45 now, I’ve not done anything like this before. It feels really good because we have created something for future generations while the old girls have still got the energy, they are all getting old and they got us to help them. It was the best time.’

Shaunaya Smith

‘I got to spend some time with these ladies, I don’t usually get to see them much. I feel better because I actually know where the story and everything is now, its hard to forget. With sound recording I learnt to use the equipment in good ways. We are the next generation and we have to tell our young siblings and nieces and nephews because it’s our culture.’

‘Hi everybody, My name is Yvonne Brady, I’m an Adnyamathanha woman, I’ve had six kids and I’ve got 16 grandkids and five great grandchildren and it’s really important to me that they know their culture. I worked on this story with my granddaughter Shaunaya and all these ladies. I’ve never really thought much about this story and I didn’t know the details, I’ve never ever thought I’d be able to follow the story in Country. I knew it was there but I didn’t know where the women from the Yuramuda travelled, where they started from, where they ended up and the places that they went to. Now after the journeys we’ve done and creating this work I can tell the story in a lot more detail and I feel good about that. I learnt a lot from the old girls. I love travelling with these old girls, sitting down and just listening to their stories. When we were at Arkaroola the old girls were a door down and I could hear them laughing in the morning and I loved that. I’m still learning from them, there are stories that come out that I haven’t heard before and in my case because my mother is not Adnyamathanha we didn’t have that motherly talk about Country, Adnyamathanha Yarta (ground) and language. It’s lovely to be with the old girls as I didn’t have it with mum and she didn’t know the stories. I feel when I tell the story to my grandkids or to anyone else I know they want to know more and now I feel like I can tell them more. I’m 62 and I’m still learning and I want to do more of these projects and these stories. The culture connects our children to Country, to their place of belonging, to the people that came before and the people that will come in the future. We want to share our stories with non-indigenous people, we want people to have respect for our Country and our culture, our stories and our people. Opening night was a really, really moving experience, I felt proud that everybody wanted to come in and see what we done and what I liked the most was that never-ending clapping. I was nervous, I’m glad the lights were dimmed or I’d have been like a deer in the headlights when I gave a speech.’

Yvonne Brady

Donna Coulthard

‘I’m Donna Coulthard, I’m an Adnyamathanha Kuyani lady from the Flinders Ranges, I was born and raised up there. My father taught me a lot back in the day, how to live on and off the land. I’m proud of what he taught me and Mum as well. They were very strong. He always said, ”You’ve got a lot to learn”, no matter how old we got. That was his favourite saying. I want young people to respect the Elders, listen to your old people. That’s how I’ve been brought up, to respect your Elders. Everyone should respect the Elders both white and black, that’s how I see it anyway. Respect the Country as well, otherwise it won’t respect you. That’s why we’re having all the disasters now, mining and that is upsetting old Mother Earth. We are living here surrounded by four mines and there is a big Yura Muda (Dreaming knowledge) of Yurlu the Kingfisher Man all the way from Leigh Creek to Wilpena Pound - but the government don’t listen to us. It’s the mining that is ruining our Country. It’s sad for our future generations - what can we tell them, there’s a dirty big hole over there [Leigh Creek Coal Mine] where Yurlu the Kingfisher Man started a fire in the Dreaming, but it’s all mined now, it’s sad. It would be good to do more, so non-Aboriginal kids and everyone can see, don’t go destroying our Country, learn more about Yura Muda. We see a lotta European stuff, we gotta protect all that so why can’t they protect our storylines? We want people to know how important Country is for us, it’s very important. It gives me a strong feeling, recording our culture like we did for this project. I can draw a mountain and Mum will say, ”No it doesn’t look like that, you draw it properly”, and I have to do it again, get it right, keep it strong, keep it going. When we worked on this project Mum would tell me the shape of the hills, where the trees are, where the springs are. She was teaching me as we made the art work. I liked working on a women’s story. I’m a woman, it’s one of the only women’s stories we have. I found it really good and strong and powerful that little story line. Bringing all the women together to work together, to work with the kids, it was really good having a laugh with the oldies. They feel so cleansed out when they are out in the sandhills, even I do, I just don’t want to go back into town. Very much emotionally and spiritually healthy out there, I can feel it. I’m very passionate about it. I love my Country, that’s my medicine. I feel like I’m free as a bird when I’m on Country, not even walking on the ground, like I’m lifting, I could just walk all day. I love it. I’d love to keep that projection going, let everyone see it, and take it overseas. I reckon that’s a really good animation we done, I’m proud anyway.’

‘The journey on Country was wonderful, everybody was happy, chucking in bits and pieces of the story they knew. It was lovely, one of the best weeks, I enjoyed that. We all enjoyed ourselves. One of the best weeks ever! Instead of being home doing cleaning, washing and cooking we were out on Country learning something to give back to the children. I used to tell the story to people but when they asked me, “Where is Lake Lettie?” I said, “I don’t know, it’s somewhere up north but I don’t know actually where it is.” Now I can say it’s 20kms out of Marree. I used to feel embarassed that I didn’t know where it was, we knew the story but we didn’t know where it ended up and where it come from. Now we know exactly what we’re talking about because we worked together to share the parts of the story we had, to put it back together. I feel more confident to teach people now. When we go and take our kids out for a drive, we can show them exact places now. It was good, it is good. The story teaches how children got to respect their Elders, not leave their Elders, not to leave their parents’ side, anything could happen to them. Through culture, we want people to learn how to respect the Elders. Us too, we gotta respect our Elders, we haven’t got many old people now. We got our grannies (grandkids) and one day they will have kids, we’re not going to be around to tell them. They can read it themselves, and watch the film and say, “that’s my granny or great grandmother”. It’s always about men, they’re forgetting that women have a part in that too, their stories. Good to bring the women and kids in. In the future I’d like to do more of these projects, to keep our children on track because there’s a lot of new things coming into the Country now you know. So they don’t wander away too much from their parents.’

Judy Johnson

Lesley Coulthard

‘I’m Lesley Coulthard, I’m from the Adnyamathanha Kuyani tribe and I live in Copley, born and bred in Leigh Creek. I’ve lived in the area all my life, worked at Leigh Creek school, I’ve been a youth worker, a health worker, horticulturist, and mustered wild goats out in the mountains. This work opened my heart and made my brains work properly. I learnt a lot about my Dreamtime stories which old people never really went into details about - they just told us everything was Muntha (sacred), there’s a story for this creek and that mountain and all that. I drove past that Damper Hill millions of times and I was told there’s a big damper over there and it’s Muntha (sacred), that’s all I got told. I was told not to go there because it’s a sacred site. I guess old people just wanted it to stay like that, to protect it. That’s the only way to get it across to the young people, to keep it alive and make sure no one damages it. It’s a good thing for us to learn because we don’t learn these sorts of things, we know about computers and that but nothing like this. We mostly do office work and things like that but when you learn something different, stories, culture on Country, it’s the best thing, we love it. I learnt a lot from the Elders on this trip. Hearing it from the Elders it’s like, “wow, you fellas go back a long way”. I feel confident now to teach the story to a younger person. It’s built up my confidence more, it’s stronger, I have more information and more detail. We just done a Dreamtime story, we brought it back into reality and then it’s in your heart. I reckon it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, it’s creating something, it’s like giving birth. I’ve learnt a lot not only because of the Dreamtime story but also how to use the equipment, make animations and sound recordings, and one day you never know, we could start up our own little business. Through Same Like Yesterday we want visitors to have it in their heart that this is our Country and we have got stories, and our stories just go on and on and don’t stop. They are actually real events that happened thousands of years ago. We are losing our loved ones, our Elders, so it’s up to the next generation to keep it going. It’s good to get all the details while they are still around and we can hand them over to the next generation. Just like a fairytale you know, how I wished I was a princess or Cinderella or something, well this one here is like a fairytale. I wish I was walking with those ladies, I’d help them look for their men too, poor things. I couldn’t get over last night at the opening, I was crying, tears in my eyes, and I was thinking, ”Wow, we done that”, and the claps just wouldn’t stop and I thought, ”oh good on you girls, good on you girls”. I feel like a proud blackfella, proud Australian blackfella with a background, that’s how I feel, and I got a storyline. We need to keep it strong, our history. Australia does belong to us and we have got the strongest connections to Country and we just want to protect it and keep it alive. We want to keep our land safe and clean, and protect our Dreamtime stories and our Muda (knowledge), our yarta (earth) and stop mining, stop digging them up, that’s our culture. We don’t want money, we just want to keep our storyline going and Country, we want a land to live on. Everyone who goes back to Flinders after being away, their body just changes and they feel the best in the world. It’s where all the Ancestors are and all the spirits, that’s why we all feel good back here. Everyone made us here, it’s our heartland.’