Spring Song from Making Wings by Judy Jacques
"It's spring time • the birds are whistling • the spring has come • the clouds are all sunny • the fuchsia is out on top • the birds are whistling • everything is dancing • because it's spring time • everything is dancing • because it's spring time".
fanny cochrane smith 1903
as recorded on wax cylinder by horace watson, sandy bay, tasmania
Fanny Cochrane Smith was an Aboriginal woman born in captivity at Wybalenna on Flinders Island, Bass Strait Tasmania c1834. Her birth took place during the most tragic period of her peoples' history when the surviving Palawa people, were 'rounded up' by 'The Chief Protector-Conciliator', George Augustas Robinson, and forced from their country to live in exile on Flinders Island. Those who survived, were eventually removed back to mainland Tasmania to Oyster Cove. Fanny was one of the very few who survived.
Fanny's voice and songs were recorded by Horace Watson in Hobart in 1899 and 1903 and her recordings are the only known recordings of the songs and language of her people.
I am honoured to have been given permission and blessing from a Senior Elder of Fanny Cochrane Smith's family, to bring an interpretation and a way of preserving, two songs from Fanny Cochrane Smith's repertoire.
Tracklist
| 12. | Spring Song | 3:50 |
