Deep Listening in Action An Ancient Community Development Model for the 21 st Century Photography Terry Melvin Dr Laura Brearley and Friends

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The tepee was erected during a cross-cultural exchange between Australian and Canadian Indigenous people as part of the Deep Listening Project

Tepee at the Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada belonging to the Centre for Aboriginal Leadership and Management

Elder Tom Crane Bear, a Siksika Elder, conducts a smoking ceremony in the tepee during the cross-cultural exchange

Prayer

What is Deep Listening?

Vicki Couzens Keerray Woorroong / Gunditjmara Woman

Vicki Couzens

For Aboriginal people Deep Listening comes naturally It’s about walking on the land Softly quietly And listening to the stories around the campfire We’ve got to listen to the wind in the trees Listen to the birds It’s the feeling of a gift A gift always comes back Ron Murray Wamba

Elder Tom Crane Bear Blackfoot Siksika

Everything is connected and doing its work

If the system breaks we all get sick

The trees purify the air that we breathe

The rocks purify the water that we drink

The trees drink that water

And give us branches and leaves

We know about the Creator who made everything

The planets and the sun

Deep Listening is an Aboriginal concept which translates as … Deep and respectful listening which builds community What is Deep Listening? Everything is holy

Deep Listening Circles

The ritual was underpinned by Deep Listening, an Aboriginal concept which means deep and respectful listening which builds community

We are all connected

敬 聽 Respect Listen Jing Ting

The characters for Deep Listening incorporate Heaven People Earth Ear Eye Heart Respect Authority Ten One And the relationships between all of these

Traditional Chinese characters have been passed down through the ages

Each character has a story with multiple layers of meaning

Listening respectfully The layers of meaning in this combination of characters involve …

Knowing our position in relation to Heaven and Earth

Listening in the context of surroundings – Land, People, Heaven and Earth

Oneness of mind and heart

Being connected to all things

Relationality to the Land

Understanding relationality

Giving your undivided attention

Giving yourself wholeheartedly

Involving total dedication

Treahna Hamm Yorta

Dunghala Dilly Bag Treahna Hamm

There’s a strengthening of the bond we have when we get together There’s a sharing of stories In our stories we come to know ourselves

We look up at the sky and we see the clouds We see the blue gaps in between The gaps matter They link the clouds together The shapes we see in the clouds may differ But the sky and the clouds connect us all

The world is not as we would like it … Ben Okri

Ojibway of Tamiskaming First Nation Don McIntyre

Things need to change They must

And transform along the way We start as blank canvases

If we’re stuck We need to move forward

Moth is the transformer The dark transformer The Moth Medicine is helping us all to move through We are at our most present in crisis

In the Shadowlands There are no secrets

Time and space don’t work in the same way Everything plays back into the spiral

There is a point where it stops being about us Our work here is connected to a much larger project

Our community includes the Creator We are in the protective arms of the Creator

France Trepanier in conversation with Laura Brearley

The Shearwater Project: Celebrating Biyadin Building partnerships, cross-cultural understanding and environmental awareness

Billie’s message … Please look after the shearwaters and look after our oceans for the shearwaters Take good care of them and give them love Make sure they come home safely

Cowes Primary School Grade 4

VERSE 1 Guyup guyup Birds Wuwan gabuthduiFly over the Warrin warrinSea Nunnin all togetherAll together

VERSE 2 Guyup guyup Birds Wuwan gabuthduiFly over the Wurru wurruSky Nunnin all togetherAll together

CHORUS Boonwurrung Biyadin … Whistling in the wind Boonwurrung Biyadin … Calling in the Spring Boonwurrung Biyadin … Dancing on the wing Boonwurrung Biyadin … Connecting everything

VERSE 3 Guyup guyupBirds Wuwan gabuthduiFly on the Mummut mummutWind Nunnin all togetherAll together

VERSE 4 Guyup guyupBirds Wuwan gabuthduiFly on the Wilam wilamHome Nunnin all togetherAll together

Chorus Boonwurrung Biyadin … Whistling in the wind Boonwurrung Biyadin … Calling in the Spring Boonwurrung Biyadin … Dancing on the wing Boonwurrung Biyadin … Connecting everything

Chorus Boonwurrung Biyadin … Whistling in the wind Boonwurrung Biyadin … Calling in the Spring Boonwurrung Biyadin … Dancing in the sun Boonwurrung Biyadin … Connecting everyone

further information Dr Laura Brearley Coordinator, Deep Listening Project