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The WA Day Festival at Burswood Park on June 6th and 7th was a celebration of the amazing state of Western Australia. Close to 160,000 people attended the event that showcased Western Australia’s culture across a myriad of industries. Fireteller were commissioned to create a film exhibit that told a selection of animated Wadjuk Nyoongar dreaming stories.

The film showcased four dreamtime stories that were aimed at children of all walks of life. Fireteller collaborated with Lux Events and Rose Walley to bring the four stories to life. Fireteller had previously worked with Lux, Rose and the Wadjuk Nyoongar elders to create the Perth water screen spectacle ‘Shining The Light’.

The stories were written by Rose’s late mother Aunty Theresa Walley, a Nyoongar Elder, with animal designs by Nyoongar artist Biara Martin. The stories are narrated by Danny Ford. Shortly after the screening of Wadjuk Dreaming, Aunty Theresa passed away. The film stands as a legacy to her storytelling, family and culture. Lux Events has since had the honour to screen the film again at the WA State Library as well as at schools around Western Australia.

Fireteller worked in-house and with a team of digital animators to turn Martin’s designs into fully traditionally animated characters. The Great Race tells of the race between Waich (emu) and Yongu (kangaroo). Red Robin and Blue Wren explains how the two birds got their bright colours. Boodalang and Miliyang tells of the feud between pelican and heron over a bounty of fish. Coolbardie the Magpie tells of two magpies who must protect their eggs from kaarda the sneaky goanna. Along with the film, children were given information sheets and asked to identify the different animals they could spot in the films. They also had a mission to try and spot karma the goanna in every film who could be found hiding and sneaking around in various places. The exhibit gave kids an interactive and informative approach to learning about traditional Aboriginal culture.

Fireteller were also commissioned to create a promo of the WA Day event which you can view below. You will see the Wadjuk Dreaming tent and the elongated screen that was designed for the film. Fireteller are always looking to collaborate with local Western Australian businesses and cultural groups to celebrate the diversity of our country. Working with the Wadjuk Nyoongar people on a number of projects has been an honour and a privilege.

In 2021 the Perth Skyworks, our capital’s annual Australia Day firework show, were cancelled due to Covid. This unforeseen event saw the City of Perth searching for an alternative event that could better cater to the covid restrictions that had swept across the city. They turned to event company Lux Events to commission a new water screen projection show to be screened as part of the Australia Day festival. Lux turned to Fireteller to create the film that would ultimately be projected onto a water screen installed by Lux.

The film was projected onto a 15 x 32 metre water screen from January 22-26, 2021 as part of the Australia Day Festival held by Auspire (The Australia Day Council of WA) and The City of Perth.  The water screen, installed by LUX, was the first water screen ever seen in Perth. Special water jets were installed under the water in Elizabeth Quay which shot water high into the air in a fan shape. High tech projectors beamed the film content onto the giant screen for spectators to see.

Fireteller were commissioned to create the 13-minute film that tells a story from a Wadjuk Nyoongar perspective. The Wadjuk Nyoongar people are the original custodians of the Swan River, Derbarl Yerrigan, area in Perth. Fireteller worked closely with Rose Wally and the Wadjuk elders to create a show that told the story from early dreamtime creation, through colonisation, to reconciliation. Titled Shining the Light, the show aimed to highlight the injustices faced by Aboriginal people in the past and to shine a path forward for the next generation.

Fireteller interviewed eight Nyoongar elders for the film and worked with Aboriginal dancers, musicians and performers. Split into four parts, the beginning showed a fully animated creation story of the Rainbow Serpent and how it created the Swan River area and contributed to the life of early inhabitants. An important aspect of the show were the talking heads of the elders who spoke frankly and honestly about their personal experiences of colonisation and the stolen generation. The poignant stories were made more affecting by the ghostly effect the water screen created with their faces; voices speaking from the past, their stories haunting us to this day. The show culminated with a dance to We Are Australian, choreographed by Michael Smith and danced by Michael and Claudia Alessi from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

The show was a sell out every night it screened and over 20,000 people saw the show. On opening night, the elders who took part in the project came down to see the show. It was a powerful and poignant experience for all involved.

Fireteller have been working closely with Community Vision for a number of years, having engaged on a number of different video and book projects. Community Vision is an organisation based in Joondalup who supports the local community by providing care to vulnerable members of the public. Their work sees them supporting aged care, disability, indigenous and minority community groups and members. 

Each year since 2020, Fireteller have published a book for the Badjaling Aboriginal Community, in conjunction with Community Vision. The book, its accompanying website and promotional video was a campaign to showcase the history of the Badjaling people from the past to present day.

Badjaling, originally called Yaruga, is an Aboriginal community situated ten minutes east of Quairading, in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region. The small community of elders reside in a number of houses surrounded by the bush.

Fireteller first visited the Badjaling Community in November 2019 during the production of a video for Community Vision’s Roast to Remember program. This video promoted the mission of the Dementia Bus, a vehicle designed and funded by Community Vision to visit communities and share stories and information about dementia in order to inform and connect people across Western Australia.

In 2020 Fireteller produced and published the book Badjaling Remembers which depicted a post-colonial time. In 2021, Fireteller produced the book Badjaling: A Ballardong Nyoongar Story which provides a juxtaposition of older times with the present. Fireteller excel in graphic design and are able to produce high quality books that tell a story through pictures.

Each year Community Vision celebrated the release of the book with a photo exhibition in Quairading. Fireteller filmed the exhibitions and provided a promotional video of the event that Community Vision used in their social media.Fireteller also created an interactive website that allowed members of the community to view the preserved photos- you can view the websites here: https://badjalingremembers.com.au.