Yarri of Wiradjuri CD Launch
2pm Sun 19th November 2006

By Margaret Walters
Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006

The North by North West Poetry & Folk Club is hosting a performance of John Warner's song & verse cycle Yarri of Wiradjuri which has been recently released on CD. The afternoon concert will also feature concert performances from members of the recording ensemble including noted narrator, John Derum, and world renowned didgeridoo player, Matthew Doyle.

Cornucopia Café, Gladesville
(cnr of Victoria Road & Punt Road in grounds of Old Gladesville Hospital)

Admission: $12/$10 (bookings recommended)

Call Jenny O'Reilly (02) 9559 3658 or (0414) 903 259

John Warner is highly respected among his peers for his well-crafted original songs, and he has a special talent for interpreting aspects of Australian history and environment through song.

The cast comprises the author, John Warner, plus Robin Connaughton, Jennifer Lees, Tom Hanson, Margaret Walters and Don Brian – all members of the group, The Roaring Forties. As with most songs chosen by the group, strong harmonies and choruses abound, with opportunities for audience participation.

Yarri of Wiradjuri tells the story of the 1852 flood in Gundagai when a flood on the Murrumbidgee river destroyed the original township of Gundagai. Many white settlers were rescued from roof tops and trees at the height of the flood on a June night by a Wiradjuri man, Yarri on a bark canoe. Another indigenous man, Jackey, was also prominent in rescue work. It is one of the most dramatic stories of Aboriginal-European interaction and one of very few from an English perspective in which the Aboriginal people are shown not as victims, but as heroic protagonists.

More information is available at John's web site and the CD is available fom my website.