WEAVING WATER
may 5-16, 2025
Woorim, Yarun (Bribie Island), Queensland, Australia
PROGRAMME
MONDAY 5 MAY
14:00 - 15:00
PARTICIPANTS ARRIVE AND CHECK IN
17:00 - 18:30
WELCOME TO COUNTRY AND OFFICIAL OPENING WITH MICHELLE WATSON, TRACEY BENSON, PHIL AND LEISHA KRAUSE, PIEEC JARJUMS AND COMMUNITY
18:30 - 20:00
DINNER
20:00 - LATE
ORIENTATION WITH TRACEY BENSON AND TEAM
TUESDAY 6 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
cultural awareness training with aunty flo watson and michelle watson
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 16:00
workshop: weaving circle with krista ellis
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
wednesday 7 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
seminar: plant collaborations with bruce phillips and tracey benson
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 17:00
Workshop: Eco Dyeing with Tracey Benson
17:30 - 19:00
dugong tour and dinner with Sherry bruce, Darren Jew, and Tracey benson
20:00 - late (optional)
lightning talks
thursday 8 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
community talks: presentations from beipa, ben timmings, arts centre, bribie island nature festival
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
15:30 - 17:00 (optional)
Pumicestone indigenous education and employment council (pieec) meeting
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
20:00 - late (optional)
lightning talks
friday 9 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN with tracey benson
11:00
check out of birrc
12:30 - 13:30
lunch in bongaree (self-catered)
mini sunshine coast residency
14:00 - 15:00
travel to nungeena
15:00 - 16:00
orientation and story of place with michelle watson and team from nungeena
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
20:00 - late
campfire conversations
saturday 10 may
mini sunshine coast residency
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 13:00
travel to mary caincross reserve
13:30 - 14:30
lunch
15:00 - 17:30
talk: the broken tip of the dugongs tail with tracey benson
18:00 - late
dinner and drinks
sunday 11 may
mini sunshine coast residency
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
visit galleries on the sunshine coast
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 18:00
place stories
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
monday 12 MAY
return to birrc
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson and tracey benson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily chck-in session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
tour: bribie arts trail studio visits with tracey benson
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 15:00
check in at birrc
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
20:00 - late
screening session
tuesday 13 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson and tracey benson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
joondoburri walk with elder and dugong walk with tracey benson or michelle watson
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 17:00
symposium speaker series
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
wednesday 14 may
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson and tracey benson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily CHECK IN session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
workshop: treecreative with tracey benson
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
14:00 - 17:00
tour: bora ring with michelle watson and uncle phil krause
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
thursday 15 MAY
6:00 - 7:00 (optional)
greet the dawn with rebecca thompson and tracey benson (woorim beach)
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
daily check in session with tracey benson
10:00 - 12:00
reflections session
12:30 - 13:30
lunch
15:30 - 17:00 (Optional)
Pumicestone indigenous education and employment council (pieec) meeting
17:00 - 18:30
closing session
18:30 - 20:00
dinner
20:00 - late
social time
friday 16 MAY
7:00 - 8:00
breakfast
11:00
check out and farewell
About Weaving Water
Weaving Water was conceived by Dr Tracey Benson, founder of Treecreate in 2022 as a working title for projects which brought together ways of thinking and understanding water ecosystems, stories and cultures. The first iteration of this project was Weaving Water @ Yarun, an interdisciplinary residency and symposium hosted on Yarun, Bribie Island, Australia where Treecreate is based.
Weaving Waters @ Yarun was an in-person and online SciArt residency and symposium. The overall program was framed by acknowledging the First Nations peoples and their deep understanding of place.
Weaving Water @ Yarun explored the concepts of water, relational ways of being and connectivity. The inaugural program ran between 27 November and 8 December 2023 on Yarun (Bribie Island), Queensland Australia.
The aim of this project is to create a space to explore Yarun (Bribie Island) and its environment, history and community. The objective of the project is to build connections between the local creative and environmentally focused community organisations with artists and scientists that are internationally recognised for their work.
By creating a transdisciplinary program with a focus on Bribie Island, the project provided opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing and capacity building locally. It also presented to the public novel ways of highlighting the importance of the environment of Bribie Island and its role as a marine and wildlife sanctuary.
The residency brought together First Nations knowledge custodians, scientists (both professional and citizen scientists), visual artists, sound designers, wellbeing practitioners and students (secondary and tertiary) to explore, make and record the biodiversity of Yarun, through citizen science activities, education, creative production and applied research.
sessions
welcome ceremony and official opening
WITH michelle watson, tracey benson, Phil or leisha krause, pieec jarjums and community
We follow the cultural protocol of the First Nations with the Welcome to Country, given by one of the Joondoburri clan who are the traditional owners of Yarun.
This welcome is followed by a smoking ceremony by the Pumicestone Indigenous Education and Employment Council (PIEEC) jarjums (young ones) as well as some songs and dances to welcome everyone to Yarun.
cultural awareness training
WITH aunty flo watson and michelle watson
Facilitated by Michelle Watson and led by Aunty Flo Watson, this session will provide context to the First Nations perspectives, cultural protocols and history of colonisation. Aunty Flo Watson is a highly regarded community Elder and shares her personal story of how she was impacted by the policy of forcibly removing Aboriginal children from the parents to assimilate them into western culture. We will look at ways of understanding the bigger impacts of colonisation, how to engage with First Nations people with respect and explore how we can decolonise how we see the world.
workshop: weaving circle
WITH krista Ellis
In this workshop, Torres Strait Island and local resident Krista Ellis will demonstrate traditional weaving techniques to the group. The cultural context of weaving in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is also explored as a means of understanding the importance of weaving to the community. This is a hands on workshop and later in the session we will present some examples of how traditional weaving has been incorporated into contemporary arts praxis through the work of Charlotte Ellis, Maata Wharehoka and the artists from Weaving Water @ Yarun in 2023.
Seminar: plant collaborations
WITH bruce phillips and tracey benson
In this seminar led by Murri Tukka’s Bruce Phillips we will explore local bush foods you can forage on the island. Bruce will share traditional knowledge about the local foods found on the island and have some samples to share. We will also learn about local plant dyes from Tracey as she demonstrates some of the techniques she uses for eco-dyeing on recycled fabric, paper and other materials.
Workshop: eco dyeing
WITH tracey benson
In this workshop, we will forage for local plants to create some dyes and then create some eco dyed fabric using some of the techniques Tracey demonstrated during the Plant Collaborations seminar. The workshop will also look at the fundamentals of eco dyes and some of the household materials you can also use to create beautiful rich colours on fabric, paper and fibre.
tour: Dugong
WITH tracey benson, sherry bruce, and darren jew
This is a group tour on the local tourist charter boat the Ferryman. We will travel up the Pumicestone Passage at sunset to enjoy the stunning views and hopefully spot the elusive Dugongs which inhabit the area. Coordinators of the local environment group the Dugong Diaries, Sherry Bruce and Darren Dew, will talk about the citizen science work the group is doing to support scientific research.
lightning talks
WITH tracey benson
These nighttime lightning talks are a chance for anyone in the group to share quick updates of the current work with the group. These sessions are optional and seen as an informal way of discussing recent creative research.
community talks
presentations from beipa, ben timmings, arts centre, bribie island nature festival
In this session we will learn about some of the cultural and environmental work happening on the island and the importance of this work in raising awareness in the community as well as shaping the narrative about Yarun and its identity as a sanctuary for wildlife. There will be a focus on how there is an emerging collaboration between environmental and creative practitioners and how these collaborations seek to raise awareness about Yarun.
Pumicestone indigenous education and employment council (pieec) meetings
During the school term the Pumicestone Indigenous Education and Employment Council meet at the Bribie Island skatepark and provide afternoon tea to the jarjums (young ones) and community Elders. These weekly gatherings are to keep the community strong, provide support for the young people and to encourage intergenerational dialogue. Our group may be invited to do a presentation or facilitate a workshop to share knowledge.
orientation: story of place
with michelle watson and team from nungeena
This session will focus on the location and role of Nungeena as a sacred women’s site which looks out onto Mt Beerwah - an important part of the creation story of the Glasshouse Mountains. We will learn about the sacred birthing trees and the culture and protocols of the Kabi Kabi people of this region.
Tour: Travel to mary caincross reserve
The Mary Caincross reserve is dedicated to the preservation of subtropical rainforest eco systems.
Many of the animals and plants that live in subtropical rainforests are only found between southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. They are endemic – meaning they do not live anywhere else. This bioregion is a climatic overlap, featuring species from the tropics in their southern-most range and species from temperate areas in their northern-most range. This overlap is incredibly biodiverse.
88% of subtropical lowland rainforest has been cleared since European settlement, making this reserve ecologically important within the fragmented landscape.
seminar: the broken tip of the dugongs tail
with tracey benson
A social history discussion about the changing form of Bribie Island and its relationship to the coast.
workshop: place stories
with tracey benson
The group will break into two teams to discuss ideas of place using transdisciplinary frameworks with an aim of creating a new creation story of place. This workshop will explore how contemporary creation stories have been interwoven into the dreaming of First Nations peoples in Australia and how these stories strengthen the continuation of culture.
Tour: joondoburri walk with elder and dugong walk with tracey benson or michelle watson
The Joondoburri Walk is a short walk around the local mangroves and wetlands at Bongaree. There are many trees of significance and the places markers along the trail explain the cultural significance of plants. The Dugong Walk is closeby and is a soundwalk created by Bronwin Patrickson at Weaving Water @ Yarun in 2023, inspired by the local dugongs and the changing geography of Yarun.
workshop: tree creative
with tracey benson
This walkshop brings together mindfulness meditation with walking and creative observation. We will spend some time exploring some of the local bushland.
Tour: bora ring
with michelle watson and uncle phil krause
The Bora Ring is a sacred site - a place where the local people and visitors to the island have met for thousands of years. We will learn more about the significance of this place and how it has been looked after for millenia. This is a very rare opportunity to spend time at a Bora Ring site which has been preserved by the local Joondoburri people. Like many pagan sites in Europe, the arrival of the colonials and Christianity saw many of these sacred places turned into church sites.
BIOs
Dr Tracey M Benson is an Australian based interdisciplinary artist, UX designer, researcher and founder of Treecreate. She is passionate about more-than-human design and bridging the links between western ways of thinking with experiential and interconnected knowledge.
Tracey works at the nexus of media arts, digital transformation, ecological systems and citizen empowerment. Her work focuses on issues related to belonging, place, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviour change. Walking is central to her creative practice exploring locative and augmented media tools to engage audiences to see their places with fresh eyes.
Her work has been extensively presented internationally in media arts festivals and exhibitions. With a passion for understanding different knowledge systems and engaging audiences, she often collaborates with Indigenous communities and Elders, historians, technologists and scientists.
Tracey most recently co-designed and facilitated the international program Meeting of the Waters:Locative Media Oceania in collaboration with Supercluster, hosted by the Centre for Applied Water Science at University of Canberra. She is listed as an expert with the Australian Academy of Science for her work on citizen engagement and behaviour change around energy and household sustainability.
Academic overview
In 2001 she received a Research MA from Queensland University of Technology, focusing on souvenirs, nostalgia and personal identity. In 2010 Tracey was awarded a PhD at The Australian National University, where her thesis explored online communities, activism and social networking tools. She lectures internationally and holds adjunct positions at University of Canberra, the More than Human Lab at Victoria University, Wellington, NZ, the eXtended Reality Collective at Charles Sturt University and is an Advisor for the TransArt Institute. As an independent academic, Tracey has assessed a number of PhDs and is an advisor for PhDs in Australia, UK and USA across a range of disciplines including organisational psychology, media arts and urban design. She is currently working as a sessional academic at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
https://traceybenson.com
https://weavingwater.net/project/
Additional bios TBA
8/25 Benabrow Ave
Yarun, Bribie Island
QLD 4507 Australia
This project is in collaboration with Treecreate: https://treecreate.org/
