Pauline from Play School
Popularly known as Pauline from Play School, Pauline E. McLeod was one of the first First Nations performers to appear regularly on a nation-wide television show in Australia. Throughout her lifetime Pauline presented her Cultural Learning stories at schools, working with children and youth from preschool to high school grades. She was also a guest lecturer at TAFE colleges and universities throughout New South Wales and a storyteller at the Opera House, Australian Museum and the National Gallery in Canberra.
Dreamtime storytelling
“I was a removed person and when, in 1986, I met my natural family, I wanted to tell others, through drama, what had happened to me and that it wasn’t nice. But Australia wasn’t ready for it at that time. Poetry, talks and things like that were acceptable, but I was an impatient person – I wanted to make changes! One day my mother told me a Dreamtime story and, as soon as I heard it, I thought, ‘that is the way I want to go – as a storyteller I can reach people and change attitudes – with Dreamtime stories.’ But you have to find the right ones. I began with ‘How the Kangaroo Got its Pouch’ and it was successful for me. Following this I decided that I needed nine to twelve stories I could tell, which would become popular culture in Australia, especially in NSW. I felt the nine NSW stories I chose could help people change attitudes towards animals. First to see the see the beauty of our animals – to stop the all-out culling of kangaroos – and learn to regard them as very special animals, as we do.”
This is how Pauline E. McLeod described her introduction to storytelling to Helen MacKay for the Feb-Mar 1998 edition of Telling Tales. Listen to three Dreamtime stories below, retold with permission by master storyteller, Pauline E. McLeod.
Little Flying Fox
This is a Creation story from the NSW North Coast. In this story there are no less than 16 lessons. It is not the Storyteller’s responsibility to tell you what they are, but the listener’s task to find the lessons hidden within the story. See if you can work out what they are.
Little Flying Fox
Brolga
Brolga is a bird story from the Mutti Mutti people of Lake Mungo and the Darling Basin. Brolga was a young girl who liked to dance.
Brogla
Why the Kookaburra Laughs
This story is a Wijadjuri Creation story, from central NSW. Here we learn why we should never laugh at a kookaburra. This is because the kookaburra’s laugh heralds the new day by waking the Sky People who start the sun every morning.