The Gulf Getalong

It started with a phone call one afternoon tinged with beams of doubt infiltrating my usual positive outlook upon the horizon of life.

"Hey sis, what are you doing in Feb March next year? Do you want to come teach a podcast course in the Gulf of Carpentaria?"

Those words are the ones I dream of hearing, for it's my dream to work away from home on projects that empower the participants and offer up a glimpse of the real Australia, far from the frilly whitewash of the East coast and into the red earth and the true grit of reality.

I hitch a ride with Desert Pea Media, a not-for-profit organisation that for over two decades, have amplified Indigenous community voices through impactful creative processes, creating important and rare opportunities for truth-telling, personal empowerment, community transformation and positive social change.

They've built a strong reputation for authentic, impactful programs with some of the most marginalised and ’at risk’ people in Australia and have collaborated with thousands of young people, Elders, knowledge holders, community members and local service providers around Australia

Their impact-led projects utilise creative forms such as music, film, digital media and performance to facilitate important community conversations and critical reflection. Now, they are working towards a new strategy that transforms these ‘lightning strike’ projects into a ‘long-burning fire’ for generations to come. Podcasting is part of that vision.

This is the first time they've worked solely on a podcast project in a community, accessing their wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of filmmaking, interviewing, production, editing, storytelling, performance and music compilation, to birth a truly complete and unique project.

The destination is Normanton which takes its name from the Norman River that surrounds the tropical savanna landscape, and the area belongs to the Gkuthaarn (Kareldi) and Kukatj people.

We arrive on a way too early Monday morning in March, disembarking from the tiny Rex plane direct from Cairns that carries locals and workers to remote destinations. We cross the humid runway, splashes of monsoonal rain dampening our clothes but not our spirits, as we make our way towards a small shed like airport building to meet out host Robert.

He welcomes us with an awkward but open smile and straight away the banter begins, punctuated with laughs, lots of excitement and our genuine pleasure to finally be there.

We have a few large cases, full of our own personal belongings for the 10-day stay but also extra cases that contain the all-important podcast gear we've brought to set the participants up in their own podcast studio. A brand-new laptop, recording gear, mics, stands, a sound card, headphones, cords, leads and cables galore!

As we wait for the extra ute to come to carry us and our luggage, Robert waves us towards a bench seat under a shady tree and we continue the yarns and the laughs listening intently as Robert tells us about the town, his place there, his work and fishing. Lots of talk about fishing. This is after all the big Barramundi capital of Australia!

After a guided tour of the town, a flat 3kms from one end to the other, we venture out past the bridge over the Norman River, and gaze into the waters longingly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the resident 10mtr saltwater croc the locals talk about. No sighting this time round, we'll have to make do with Krys, the life size statue of a dear old croc and historical landmark of Normanton, perched up on the main street harbouring a tragic story that made one woman and her gun famous, earning her a place in the Guiness Book of Records, but that took the life of this incredible creature while it slept innocently on the banks of the river.

Crocs aside we head into Bynoe CACS, an organisation established to provide affordable housing to local Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. Incorporated on the 29th of October 1979 with the Founding Directors: Adam Billy, Daisy Burnett, Doris Casey, Sylvia Charger, Laura Geordie, Shirley George, Rolly Gilbert, Eddie Miles, Una Owens and Elza Savo, Bynoe CACS continues to provide quality housing as well as delivering several other community-orientated services, like this podcast course we're about to facilitate.

After a briefing in the main building, we are taken to the learning center adjacent to our accommodation to meet the participants. 8 women have enrolled in this course, many not knowing what a podcast even is, having never listened to one. We don't see this as a barrier to learning, we see it as an opportunity to empower these women new skills and knowledge, and we spend the first day getting to know each other, feeling it out and deciding together how the flow of the next 10 days will work best.

We all share who we are and our own stories around what we do and what led us to be there. My own story of growing up unable to communicate clearly, struggling to give voice to the thoughts and feelings within me, my disconnection to my culture and the difficulties that presented throughout my life, resonates with the group. Many of them don't make eye contact at all on that first day but we know they will. We allow their pace of life to guide us as to how this project can best be delivered. This is after all a podcast we want them to make, not us.

As our time together unfolds, I notice one of the most important times during the day is the time we sit together outside on breaks. Sharing the communal tables during lunch was especially important and a great deal of learning happened without the need to be inside a classroom under bright lights or in front of a computer.

For me the art of conversation and communication is listening. I love to listen. It's become my greatest ally in the world of radio and podcasting, not to mention life. So, I sat. I listened. They share stories, we get to know them, allowing them to open up when they are ready and don't try to pry into their minds, hearts or lives.

We have fun together. We become a little podcast family. We go into town on the hunt for interviews and field recordings and they practice together supporting one and other. They want to let the locals know there's a podcast project happening in Normanton and invite them to be part of it! We set up a podcast studio together a few days into it, which creates so much excitement I think the walls are going to burst!

We witness the group expand, both as a team and also personally, with many of the participants asking thoughtful questions, coming into class each day with new ideas, trying new things they thought they wouldn't like but ended up loving. We see their confidence grow and their personalities come out to shine so brightly. We manage to capture some of that in audio form and can hear the happiness in their voices from being part of this project and they share positive messages of encouragement to other wann- be young podcasters in town. You can't ask for more than that!

Toby and Daniel from Desert Pea Media

This kind of empowerment is what these projects are made for. To show people what's possible. To give them a glimpse of a world or place they didn't know existed, both in a work capacity but more importantly within themselves. Our mission is to leave people confident enough to use the skills we've shared with them and to go on to create their own podcasts from that experience.

It's always hard to leave a group of people having formed such close bonds and after witnessing their growth and newly discovered pride in themselves at what they've achieved in the time we spent together, but that day inevitably comes.

We board the same small Rex plane on our departure narrowly dodging the heavy flood waters predicted to fall from the sky imminently, Robert joking that morning about all the flights out being cancelled, which means we can't leave, something I think all of us were secretly a little open to.

The project doesn't stop here. The group remain connected through a weekly online mentoring session thanks to Desert Pea Media so that we can continue to support them to get The Gulf Getalong podcast up and running. This is currently my favourite time of the week, seeing their faces again and hearing their audio creations!

A part of me wishes I could have stayed, to continue to support them on a daily basis, accompanying them to meet more locals and seek interviews, to sit beside them as they edit their work and guide them through the roadblocks and potholes along the way, to invite new people into the podcast studio we set up in the hope it will be used the way in which it's intended. We can only hope and continue to share that hope with them.

The Gulf Getalong is coming your way sometime soon. Stories of Normanton. Past Present Future. The place, its people, its stories.

In addition to the podcast course, I had the honour of interviewing Aunty Deanne Sibley for one of my radio shows - BELLY which aired today on BayFM Byron.

Listen Here - BELLY Normanton

If you or anyone you know are interested in a podcast project for your community or group, then reach out. You'll never know what gifts lay dormant inside until the doors of podcasting are unlocked and that which lies dormant within has the space to unleash itself.

It's a gift worth experiencing and at the very least you'll be left with a new view on communication, connection and the endless possibilities audio adventures can provide both for a listening audience and for your own personal growth and expansion.

Contact - aloha@plantationstudios.com

Weekend sunset Karumba, Gulf of Carpentaria.