As well as these stories, Petaurus has developed a range of videos about traditional culture from the mountains in Tumbarumba to outback NSW and Lake Victoria in southwest NSW.
Recently, they have combined these two methods of storytelling to share the stories of:
- Aunty Fay Clayton Moseley, a Wiradjuri Elder
- Cecil Clayton, the story of Aunty Fay’s father
- Uncle Roy Kennedy, a Ngiyampaa Elder
Featured artwork (above) by David Dunn
Aunty Fay: An Inspirational Journey
Four students from Ashmont Public School in Wagga Wagga, NSW, met and had a yarn to Aunty Fay Clayton Moseley, Wiradjuri Elder. Aunty Fay is the inspiration for their school’s celebration of NAIDOC Week in 2018, as the theme was ‘Because of Her, We Can’. You can download a PDF copy of the book to read about Aunty Fay and the student’s reflections of interviewing such an inspirational woman.
In addition to the book, Petaurus Education Group prepared two videos of Aunty Fay sharing her personal story. The short version (approx. 8 mins) highlights the key moments in Aunty Fay’s life, while the extended version (approx. 19 mins) provides further footage about growing up as a child of the Stolen Generations.
This project was generously funded by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and the Department of Education.
The lost story of Cecil: From the frontlines of WW2 to a hostile home front
We chose Aunty Fay’s father, Cecil Clayton, to feature in this ANZAC story. The process involved students from St. Joseph’s Primary School in Leeton interviewing Aunty Fay so we could build a case study that was skillfully compiled by a freelance journalist, Ms. Megan Graham.
Private Cecil Robert Clayton was a soldier in World War Two, a member of ‘The Fighting Thirteenth’ who fought in the Middle East and were known as the ‘Rats of Tobruk’. He also fought on the frontlines in Egypt during the major battles of El Alamein in 1942.
“When he came back from the war, he was judged by the Welfare board to be a good man, and he was given an exemption certificate so he could go into the shops, unlike a lot of Aboriginal people at the time,” recalls Aunty Fay. He was a good man and went to war to protect Australians “yet he couldn’t protect his own kids — they just took his children away”.
The Life and Lessons of Uncle Roy Kennedy
Uncle Roy Kennedy is a proud Elder of the Ngiyampaa people. The Ngiyampaa people are known as ‘Dry Land People’. Uncle Roy is an inspirational man.
In a fitting tribute to a man loved and respected in his community, this book was written by 10 Hay Public School students as part of the Creative Catchment Kids program. The book was launched on 6 November 2018.
Included in the book are the lyrics of ’The Old Wilga Tree’, a song Uncle Roy wrote in memory of the fun times he spent at the ‘common’ on the outskirts of Ivanhoe where the family lived when they left Marfield Station.
A highlight of the book launch at Hay Public School was a video recording of Uncle Roy singing this song, which he ended with a good dose of yodelling to great applause.
He is proud of his cultural heritage and believes he has had a wonderful life. His lessons about life include; love our family no matter what, be a caring individual, respect our teachers, care for our country.
