Weaving traditional stories with Quandamooka artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins at the Museum of Brisbane

Acclaimed Quandamooka artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins has brought a beautiful insight into an ancient story from her people to the Museum of Brisbane.

The artist-in-residence from Minjerribah/Stradbroke Island continues to evolve her arts practice, and this time has reimagined the Museum of Brisbane’s creative space into an interactive and immersive realm exploring the ancestral story of Warrajamba the Mermaid.

“I still have this lifelong goal to uncover what’s happened to her and I feel like the energy in the space is going to bring her a little bit closer, bring me a little bit closer to her and that result,” Delvene says.

“I have made her (Warrajamba) in different forms in that sculptural piece in my exhibition, putting her in place, like where is the community, where is the country, where is the family that spoke about her? That was in 2018, the search for Warrajamba.

“So that initiated the public knowing about my quest to uncover what’s happened to her.

“I’ve brought her to life on the runway at Melbourne Fashion Festival with Mob in Fashion and Melbourne Fringe Festival, and in 2022 at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair.

“So that’s what I’ll be doing here too. I’m creating another collection that’ll be showing on an overseas runway in September.

“I’ll be in here every Wednesday working on that collection around the mermaid and the island. You’ll see these raw materials, you’ll see me applying them onto the garments and how I work. I’m looking forward to welcoming people into the space and talking with them about my practice.”

The Museum of Brisbane’s Artist-in-Residence program has commissioned local artists to create new work within the Museum for more than ten years, enabled by philanthropic support from Tim Fairfax AC, while sparking community connection and creative dialogue.

Delvene’s expression of this opportunity has created a hub of tranquility in the bustling CBD of Brisbane, inviting audiences to slow down and connect with Country and culture.

“The essence of the island is here,” she says. “And I think when children are in here, that they’re going to feel this sense of calmness that people receive when they come to the island.

“People comment on how Minjerribah gives them this sense of peace and I think it’s here in this room. So don’t be surprised if you come in here and you see these kids ready to fall asleep.”

She’s inviting all of us to join her on her quest to find Warrajamba—a central figure in her art, as she continues the ongoing search to find the ending of the mermaids story.

“It’s like there’s an obligation to get to the bottom of it and I’ll do what I can to make sure that happens,” she says.

As Delvene explains on Streets of Your Town, this significant story of her people was passed down to her from her mother, grandmother, and generations before them.

“This is the story of Warrajamba, keep asking the questions of your family, find out your family stories because you don’t want it to be too late. And so when I hear my Mum say—‘I wish I had asked my mother more questions about the mermaid, about a lot of things, about her grannies’—it’s a big lesson for me.

“Ask my Mum the stories and things that she remembers, ask those Aunties, do that research.

“So sharing that message here is really important. For anyone that comes in, ask those questions, take only what you need and spend time with each other, sit down and have a cup of tea.

“I wouldn’t be doing this without my Mum. I can only do it with her and her support and her guidance and there’ll probably be a time when it will be time for me to hand down more of that stuff to my nieces and elements of my practice to my sons. There’s an obligation.”

Delvene Cockatoo-Collin’s free Artist-in-Residence exhibition Warrajamba will continue at the Museum of Brisbane until November 15.

How’s this for some good news to break up the onslaught of negativity of late—more episodes of Streets of Your Town have been purchased by the State Library!

Streets of Your Town was identified as such a valuable snapshot of Queensland life that in March the State Library of Queensland purchased more episodes to live in its digital collection in perpetuity. Which makes this old salt journo very happy to know I’m contributing to the history of Queensland! Here’s a photo of a very chuffed me signing the contract with the State Library…

So apologies for a bit of a break in transmission in there with a longer than ideal delay between episodes of late but between getting these episode transcriptions and mp3’s to the State Library, and a bit of time off for illness earlier in the year I’ve been a bit under the pump. But I am back into it again now!

In more great news, an exciting new sixth season of Streets of Your Town is on its way!

It will become… Streets of Your Town—The Outback Project!

I’ll be heading out towards Winton from Brisbane on Sunday June 21 to give me plenty of time to get to there by the opening night of the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival on Friday June 26. And I will be heading out there in none other than Mildred my cantankerous kombi. Driving 1300km to Winton in the midst of a fuel price crisis you say? In a 1974 Bay Window kombi? Of course! This is how the Wandering Journo rolls. I plan to get some cracking yarns from the bush for your listening pleasure. And hopefully a video or two of that incredible big sky country if I can overcome my Gen X fear of all that is new and get my technology together.

So please share this Streets of Your Town magazine on Substack far and wide to your mates and beyond to get more earholes onto this amazing little slice of Australian life. You can also share the links from Apple and Spotify, and all the major podcast providers. We are now more than 130 episodes strong, and none of it would have been possible without your support.

Thank you my ever supportive Streets of Your Towners for keeping me and Mildred the Cantankerous Kombi on the road and getting these stories that will now be kept in the State Library of Queensland collection for generations to come. As one of the librarians so kindly told me when I asked her why they bought the rights, she said that I had captured stories of Queenslanders that in a hundred years no-one would remember—what it was like to be a refugee, to be a struggling actor, or to trek into the Woodford Folk Festival. You can see how to access the State Library collection at the bottom of this previous newsletter!

So thank you all for making this possible!

Please consider taking a paid subscription to Streets of Your Town if you are as passionate about telling these stories in this age of AI as I am.

In an era when we are all craving human connection and it seems to be harder to find, you know you can listen to humans talking to humans—right here.

Love yas!

Nance