For Matthew, the promise of being able to tell stories of his people, the Yolgnu, to a wider audience beyond his home town was all the motivation he needed to join the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program.
A natural singer and spokesperson with a gift for telling stories, Matthew is the lead singer and dancer in the band Reflections. He shares a rich cultural connection with his community in Milingimbi, an Island approximately half a kilometre off the north coast of Central Arnhem Land, approximately 440 km east of Darwin.
When Matthew first approached STEPS about joining the SEE program, he stressed that he wanted to engage with a bigger audience beyond Milingimbi, to be able to tell the stories of his people, the Yolgnu, to the world, only he needed the ‘ballanda’ skills of reading and writing to be able to channel the stories he feels so compelled to share.
Together with his trainer, Matthew set about doing song writing tutorials to look at the language barriers that English has for a Yolgnu person and to try to ‘bridge’, the best they could, the stories in Matthew’s “telling”. Matthew’s teacher Ciara says she feels very privileged to have Matthew in her class. “He is both resourceful and very clever” she said, “I am learning so much more about Yolgnu culture than I thought possible.”
Although it has been a series of adjustments for Matthew to create his learning pathway, he has and continues to take things in his stride. Recently we found out that all his hard work had certainly paid off when he told us of the exciting plans that he and his band have in the coming months.
In July of this year Matthew and Reflections, will be launching themselves as performing artists by supporting another local band throughout Arnhem Land and recording their very first CD. In September, at the annual Milingimbi Festival, the band will be part of a tribute concert honouring the life and musical contributions of the late Dr Yunupingu of the band Yothu Yindi. It promises to be a thoroughly memorable event by anyone’s standards, and a dream come true for Matthew who will be one of the main singers.
In Milingimbi, the Morning Star is a central emblem for this North East Arnhem Land community – and we can safely say that Matthew is the embodiment of this in every sense. Well done Matthew, or “maynmak!” excellent!
The Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
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