Wakuwal (Dream) Audio Download 1

Chapter 1 Rakunythinyamirri Wakungul (Deadly Tempest) I

Click below on the red "add to cart" button to download the first of a series of progressing eight minute readings, by the author and friends, from the new book Wakuwal/Dream written by Peter Botsman in consultaiton with senior Aboriginal mentors. We have kept the readings to eight minutes in order to minimise the download size of the audio files.

Wakuwal (Dream)

A dhawu/story of daione sidhe and the great south land. A story to heal troubled minds and broken hearts and to help lost souls find their way home.

This book has been six years in development and ten years in discussion. 250 pages in length, Wakuwal emerged from a prolonged, continuing discussion between several senior Yolngu women and men and Aboriginal community leaders and elders I have met all over the country.Two senior women leaders in particular talked with me about this project over a long period of time: Ms. S. D. Gurruwiwi and Mrs. Batumbil Burarrwanga. I am so grateful for their wisdom and the knowledge and ideas they shared with me.  It shamed me that I could not really talk about my dreaming and my roots beyond my immediate family. Every time I visited Arnhem land a rich bounty of culture and ideas emerged and was given to me so generously. I felt that in return I needed to explain  to my mentors and to all Aboriginal people how it was that my family came to have so many resources and so much abundance from the lands of Australia that were guarded by Aboriginal communities for over fifty thousand years and how it was that the presence of my people not only brought an end to the freedom and prosperity of Aboriginal Australians but death and destruction for so many Aboriginal communities. In the period of discussion many things happened which seemed like a bad dream. Things did not seem to be getting any better. Gut wrenching policies like the Northern Territory Intervention, Tony Abbot's shocking Indigenous Advancement Strategy and many other calamities occurred. These policies were so bad because they continued to by-pass the knowledge, leadership and wisdom within Aboriginal communities and insert some foreign centralised structure from outside as if it could ever do any good. It was like the future was growing even bleaker than the past in north east Arnhem land and for many Aboriginal communities around the country. Yet through it all the leadership of Aboriginal culture and people shone out to me. A very great step in this country is needed to move beyond the banality and ignorance of Australia as we know it and towards a future where the Aboriginal people in their many nations and cultural forms are the foundation stone of everything, our land, our culture, our economy and our society. When this happens our nation will prosper and grow spiritually as never before. Aboriginal Australians are not a part of a multi-cultural Australia - they are our guiding foundation and essence. The fact that until 1967 Aboriginal Australians were not citizens in my opinion de-legitimises our whole society. It is embarassing and indicative of our immaturity that Aboriginal Australians are not only not mentioned but are an after thought for the constitution of our nation. 100 plus years after Federation and Aboriginal Australians are to be included! No its just not good enough!! Outside this land Aboriginal people are acknowledged as great protectors and visionaries of the whole world. Their gentle watch over this land for many millenia is studied and viewed with awe. We mainstream Australians must make this giant leap of understanding and go far beyond the status quo and look at ourselves in the process. It is time we recognised that we need Aboriginal Australia - much more, in many ways, than they need us. It is time for us to make great changes and moves to the fundamental structures of our nation so that Aboriginal Australia is independent in its own right and at the very heart of who we are and how we define ourselves. I hope this wild fairy story helps us make this change in our consciousness.

I hope you will listen to this story and tell me what you think of it. I hope this story is part of our great leap of understanding that fundamentally changes our national psyche!

Peter Botsman
Easter 2017

A hard cover copy of the 250 page book will be available through Valentine Press later in the year. In the lead up to the printed book I will be releasing each week an audio reading of the first few chapters of the book.  The audio may be downloaded for $2 each week. Each audio session is about 11 megabytes and 8 minutes reading from the written text.

Please encourage your friends and family to pay for the audio and the hard back book. A third of all profits goes to the cultural development and protection of two homelands estates in North East Arnhem land: Mata Mata and Gi'kal. I hope that the first thing that any profits from this book might create is a women's spiritual space and refuge at Gi'kal in honour of Mrs. S. D. Gurruwiwi who tragically passed away in early 2016 and  Mrs. P. Batumbil Burarrwanga.

Please note carefully: You can download the audio file by just clicking on the red "Add to Cart" Button below. When you enter a credit card number and pay for your audio file you will be emailed a link from which you can download the audio file. You will also be sent a receipt for your order. You can't download the file from different computers so when you pay you have to download the file from the computer you receive the email on.  If you are on a slow internet connection please note that the audio file is at least 11 megabytes in size and so will require some time to download. When you download and play the file adjust the volume on your computer or device to find the right sound balance. Just email me at peter@peterbotsman.com if you have any problems at all.

The painting above is a power painting of the ancestral fire burning beneath the land at Mata Mata by Mrs. P. Batumbil Burarrwanga. She says "This is not a gammon or pretend or lolly fire. It is a fierce burning volcanic power. Be careful it will burn you to a crisp in an instant if you do not respect the fire." It appears here with the permission of the custodians and wungan of that land and the owner of the painting for whom we are eternally grateful. This painting is telling us that there are powers and ancient beings and knowledge 'beneath the surface of the land' on which we live across the entire Australian nation. When we unlock and ask for this knowledge from the traditional custodians, if they are generous to us and give us their wisdom and knowledge, and if we are respectful, it will bring clarity, knowledge and understanding and a new sense of belonging to all of us.

Wakuwal Chapter One: Section 1 [MP3 format 11MB]

$2.00