Cirrus@Austlit

• TAPE 1: 'Carol Ridgeway-Bisset, born at Soldier's Point, N.S.W. recalls her family history in Port Stephens area of New South Wales; her family's involvement in the local fishing industry (Port Stephens, N.S.W.). She gives a description of fishing techniques; traditional cooking, possum and bandicoot. Carol recalls stories about the origins of Port Stephens and the Hunter River; Aboriginal folklore passed on by her grandmother; community life around Port Stephens; community values, not being troubled by racism as a young person. Carol recalls stories about the massacres at Soldiers Point and about local sacred sites. She speaks about her grandmother's spirituality and her own spirituality; her days at university; her awareness of her Aboriginal culture; her work at Maitland Jail; various counselling and teaching jobs, becoming a researcher; becoming involved with the Newcastle Greens and Wilderness Society; fighting for a local women's sacred site; protesting about koala habitat in the local area; protesting about sand mining at Stockton Bight.'
• TAPE 2: 'Carol speaks more on Aboriginal Culture; learning about her language, discovering recordings of local Aboriginal language; the research into her local area; Koori English, recorded and preserved; Aboriginal tribal movements for trading; local underwater Aboriginal sites; music in her family; bush remedies, documenting and recording local plant use as medicine; her environmental work in the local area; storytelling; teaching local school children. She recites a story about the echidna, the man in the moon;Carol gives her views on land councils, social security; Land Rights Act and its effects on Aboriginal people; establishing a co-operative for Aboriginal people.' Source: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au (Sighted 06/04/2009).

'Harold hunt born 1925 at Bourke, NSW discusses his book Gorn Shearin'; his family background; his parents; his Aboriginal heritage; the depression years in the outback; the family travelling around western NSW looking for work; his parents getting a lease for a 'Coallie Bore' and settling there; his parents separation; his mother taking the children to Wanaaring; bush remedies; children's games; his mother's laundering techniques and equipment; his mother playing musical games on the accordion; a family band playing for dances in the area; the entertainment of the time; musical performers, being mostly country and western; his views on trust and respect in those days; his family getting their first wireless; the fights in the boxing tent shows.'

'Hunt speaks about the 'University of life'; his ideas on the value of education; the Aboriginal view on education; racism in Australia; his views on Aboriginality; his views on multiculturalism; living with Aboriginals in Central Australia; his work as a drug counselor in Central Australia; the shearing industry; his shearing days; the shearer's area; shearing superfine sheep and the 'Golden Bale'; 'Big Jack McLeod', a noted shearer; changes in the shearing industry; the introduction of the wide comb by New Zealand shearers; how he stopped drinking and dealt with the problem; helping others with drinking problems; his philosophy on life; his current position as a university lecturer.' Source NLA (Sighted 27 November 2009)