{"id":291853,"date":"2020-12-22T15:23:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T05:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=291853"},"modified":"2020-12-24T21:00:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T11:00:04","slug":"aneta-shares-her-bunya-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/12\/22\/aneta-shares-her-bunya-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Aneta Shares Her Bunya Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wakka Wakka artist and author Aneta Dodd with her Granny Weazel tree at Dandabah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The cover of Aneta Dodd’s book, “The Bunya Tree”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 22, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent corroboree held at the Bunya Mountains had special meaning for Wakka Wakka woman Aneta Dodd who dreams of bringing language and culture to a new generation of young Indigenous men and women.<\/p>\n

Aneta – also known as Mgurr Narlee\u00a0– paints and writes about what she sees, feels and dreams.<\/p>\n

She has created posters and postcards but her\u00a0latest work is a book, “The Bunya Tree”, which combines her artwork with Wakka Wakka language.<\/p>\n

“I go out on country and put the words together with the landscape,” she said.<\/p>\n

It tells the story of a special dream she had where she saw Grandmother Weazel, who hugged her and welcomed her.<\/p>\n

The spiritual love she felt overwhelmed her.<\/p>\n

“The little old Weazel lady took me to where her spirit is in this very huge bunya tree, so high up top,” Aneta wrote.<\/p>\n

“She no longer was a lady but the bunya tree. Her face and hair were the bunya tree.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

All along the branches of the tree were cute little children’s faces “with the biggest brown eyes, dark skin and chubby faces”.<\/p>\n

“The reason why she is in this huge beautiful bunya tree is because her spirit is safe,” Aneta wrote.<\/p>\n

A large bunya tree at Dandabah on the Bunya Mountains – overlooking where corroborees have been held for the past two years – is Aneta’s “Granny Weazel” tree.<\/p>\n

Aneta feels a strong, spiritual connection to the Bunya Mountains, one of the many sacred, dreaming spaces across the South and Central Burnett areas.<\/p>\n

She believes her ancestors want the true history to be told so it isn’t lost; and that reviving language and visiting country – such as the Bunya Mountains and Ban Ban Springs – is part of healing.<\/p>\n

“We have to get this culture back now. It will make our young people so strong and proud,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They are the future generations. We have to keep that knowledge going.”<\/p>\n