Aunty Beryl by Dennis Golding

Oh my god. It's absolutely beautiful. Thanks.

Aunty Beryl’s a well respected and prominent elder in the Redfern community. She's done a lot of things for Mob to have pathways into cooking. She's done hospitality courses at Yaama Dhiyaan. So everyone knows Aunty and they all love her and they love her food especially. She's also Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaraay, a woman from up northwest New South Wales and Walgett. And Walgett is only about 40 minutes away from where my family, a family, his hometown is in Collarenebri. And so a lot of that history up there on our Country, there's this traditional marking of Country, a traditional practice that Gamilaroi/Gamilaraay, people use to engrave and mark onto trees.

I find that connection with printmaking, the process of marking onto a surface and then seeing the result. I'm reminded of those histories I learnt from nan and pop, with Aunt by listening and reading her book, which is so special because this is not just a cookbook, it's also sharing her stories and how she's come to be and where she has found her passion and where she's found a purpose in her life to share stories through the practice of cooking.

When I was approached by Dennis and he came to see me and decided that we do a portrait together and I was honoured because he's a young Aboriginal person that I've known since a baby and his grandmother and I've been friends from our early days on the block. So what we wanted to do as young people, which our Elders sent us down here is to get a job in an education and I think we've all done that very well. And now the young, like my family and Dennis, they've got opportunities, the door is open for them to walk through. It was a very hard journey because you weren't allowed to be educated. But I thrived and I'm still surviving and still doing it and still doing the job that I set out to do. And I'm still in Redfern. So it's a big journey. It's been a big journey.

Through my upbringing in Redfern it was around the 90s, so it was a really hard time where media was portraying Aboriginal people in the block as negative people, as villains almost. And so, you know, we needed to have our heroes. And we needed someone to look up to and it was people like Aunty, Aunty Beryl I can remember, and nan, who were just there to just encourage us to do something. And that act was just a powerful thing too because it was taking us off the the streets, it was stopping us from getting into a bad pathway. When Aunty was setting up Yaama Dhiyaan, so many of my family went in and done that course. My mum, my sister, my cousin, who have taken Aunty's course and have learnt from her to create their own pathways.

A big part of this project is not just the image, not just the single etching. The plan for us is to do a community workshop and it's really to invite Aunty's friends, her family and Elders who she's, you know, been surrounded by in Redfern and who have supported her along the way to be involved in this creative workshop, whether it's through drawing or etching. It's about the relationships that she's had. We did a workshop with the community. A lot of that there is from community.

And they all sat down with their pen and paper and drew their little input. And there's my chef's hat there with the emu on it, and one with the apron because that's how she sees me as a cook in the kitchen.

I really love hearing the stories from art about, you know, her time moving from Country and travelling to Sydney because there's so many of our families, all of my grandparents, they made that decision as well. And if you think at that time, that would have been a really hard time to make that decision, to be so courageous and to pack your bags and get up to leave.

It's scary, it's scary. It's been a journey for us, hasn't it?

Yeah. Because all we wanted to do as young people, which our Elders sent us down here to get a job and an education and I think we've all done that very well.

If you've got an education, you have a voice, you have a choice. And that doors open now to our Mob.

And well, it's come up wonderful. Yeah, that's what all these artworks represent. Yeah. They're everyone's stories and their connection to you. Yep. Which is, I think, a whole, a bit greater representation of our culture. You know, what we do, and it's all really inspired with you and your work. You've always, you know, made it known that what you're doing is important too, you know, with just being in community and letting community know that, you know, you're running this kitchen or you're starting this course, you know, that can be a pathway for them. I think that's what I've learnt from you too growing up is you've always been there.

You've always shown a leading role, Aunt, and just that can just help a young black fella to see you have a passion, you have a love for creating and cooking. That's something that we as, you know, as young fellas growing up, we take note of that. We listen to it and we see, you know, that that is the point where you can make change, you know? You're an incredible leader.

That’s true.