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Bunna Lawrie
QUÉBECOR STAGE
Bunna Lawrie, guest of honor at the 35th Montreal First Peoples Festival
Born and raised along the arid land of Nullarbor at the head of the Great Australian Bight, Bunna Lawrie adopted his community’s culture, laws and tradition at an early age growing up to be a senior elder and medicine man
When talking to him, he will often reference the Mirrdinjar word goonminyerra– a notion of thanks and respecting and honouring the land and sea. A natural poet, he loves to tell the Creation story, and help people to understand and appreciate the way he does. With the whale being sacred to the Mirning people and the tribe’s totem, he has used them as a symbol in recent years while campaigning against big oil and gas exploration within the Bight.
The story of Jeedara, the Great White Whale is central to Mirning lore. “He’s the totem, the creator of all the whales. The Seven Sisters, they didn’t like him at first but he sprayed them and put his magic on them and they looked at him again and thought he looked handsome. They fell in love with him, and the Mirning people, we all became the children as well as the other whales.”
The whales are womooum – “belonging as family”. Bunna is a whalesong man. “When you sing they come to you and they join in with you. We have the same law as the whale. My grandmother used to say they’re like policemen of the sea. They deal with law and order out there. If a shark attacks a dolphin, the whale will chase him away and give him a slap with the tail.” The whales of the Bight are sacred to the Mirning people.
WELCOME TO MONTREAL, BUNNA!
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