See our other 2022 grant winner:
Dr Mary McMillan
Dr Mary McMillan
In February 2022, two micro-grants of $1000 each were granted for a new, original short work, for writers and creatives over 18, residing in New England and creating for adult readers/audiences in any genre. Works could be multi-arts and the theme was "Community in a time of change", which could be interpreted in a variety of ways.
We are proud to present this unique and personal narrative from Aunty Jeeno, providing a window into her community and the central role of 'the mission shop' (otherwise known as the East Armidale Store).
We are proud to present this unique and personal narrative from Aunty Jeeno, providing a window into her community and the central role of 'the mission shop' (otherwise known as the East Armidale Store).
All rights are retained by the author.
Our sista connection to the mission shop
|
I go over to sista Kath’s place, walking across the road, feeling like a journalist reporter on a
mission, from a mission, for the mission. Deadly hey! Knocking on the front door. ‘Hey sis!’ I say, ‘Narrjarrwinni! Gymmagaya! Yawayi! Yarma! You here sis?’ Sista Kath say, ‘Oh my sista, you should have seen me today.’ I say, ‘Why? What? What happen? Come sit down sis! Breath slowly. Put your thinking in place. Breath slowly.’ We sit on the lounge and relax now. ‘Sis, what's the matta?’ Sis Kath say, ‘I’m feeling pain in my chest.’ I say, ‘Where on the chest?’ Sis Kath says, ‘In the middle.’ ‘What did you do today?’ I turned this place upside down,’ she say. I say, ‘You went in flight mode hey?’ ‘Yer,’ sis Kath say. ‘Relax now. How you feeling?’ Sista Kath say, ‘I’m feeling better, thanks sis. What you come over for sis? I say, ‘I’m learning to become a writer sis.’ Sis Kath say, ‘Why? What you here for?’ I say, ‘Remember that mission shop story that we was reading? Well, I’m here to record you and your family – about the mission shop and what it means to you, my sista.’ ‘Brings back memories,’ sis Kath say. ‘Same thing as a child, my sista. Same way walking over to the mission shop. Fun memories! We use to go up to Uncle Kenny's place. He would hide some bottles under the house, and we would get the bottles and put them in a big bag or a suitcase and carry them over to the mission shop. Ya know those Schweppes lemonade bottles? Just so we can buy some lollies. We love the lollies at the mission shop.’ I say, ‘How much mulla money you get sis – for the bottles?’ Sista Kath say, ‘Ten cents or twenty cents for the fizzy drink bottles.’ ‘Oh yer? They heavy big bottles sis – to carry hey?’ Sis says, ‘Yer, we as jarjums needed our lollies back in those days – and they still do the same today.’ ‘Sista Kath, what's your favourite food at the mission shop?’ ‘Fish and chips – a delicacy for the world!’ |
I say, ‘This mission shop fish and chips, it must be that good my sista, yer?’
Sis Kath, she nodding her head sayin yes. I say, ‘Where does the good cooking taste of fish and chips from our mission shop take yar sis – from yar remembering times in the past sis?’ Sista Kath say, ‘Havin fish and chips remind me being back at the beach.’ ‘What beach sis?’ I say, ‘That the greatest cooking of fish and chips from our mission shop takes yar?’ ‘Hat Head,’ sista Kath say. ‘At the back creek. It's like the untouchable sleepy town.’ ‘Everything put in its place, hey sis – even the fish and chips?’ Sis Kath say, ‘Yer, eating the fish from the mission shop is like eating the fish from the sea! You remember the beach – the taste, the sea salt, hey.’ I say, ‘Sis what old news and new news of today that brings you back memories?’ ‘Same thing as a child,' sis Kath says. ‘Have fun in the fun memories. I use to walk my children over to the mission shop and now they walk their babies over to the mission shop, and I walking with my grannys over to the mission shop.’ ‘Sis,’ I say. ‘What else you love buying at the mission shop?’ ‘Ya know the scallops?’ sis Kath say. ‘They taste the same as chips, ya know – only with more batta!’ ‘Oh sis, thank you – murrin buu! So great to hear what the mission shop means to you and you family. You keepin the tradition – cos we walked it together, we lived it together, we grew with it together, and we still here with our mission shop.’ It’s tradition, it’s custom. We born with the mission shop. We alI walk with it together. We live it, we all grow with it, we all still here. I’m still here. In the 1960s, growin up on the mission, we would walk over to the mission shop. And if the mission shop wasn’t there, we all have to walk five mile to MacDonald’s in town! Today when I go off the mission to and from walk about over to the mission shop, it's walkin in the stories, telling the jarjums all about the way it was to the way it is now. So we all gonna keep going to the Eastside mission shop! We, us mob, we keep stories – feeling all the time we never gonna miss and mix up our past. Cos we live it. Bulloo bulloo! See yar! See yar! |
The mission shop of belonging
Mission shop is the shop we all look for,
early in the morning, that's for sure.
Ah, there someone knocking at my door.
‘Who that knocking at my front door?’
‘It’s me – Aunty Irene,’ she say.
‘Can you please take me over to the mission shop in your car?
Come on, let's go. It's not very far.’
‘Come on then,’ I say. ‘I’ll get the keys to the car –
I know the mission shop not that far.’
When we pull up at the mission shop I say to Aunty Irene,
‘This is crazy, I’m still dazy!
It's still daunting, I’m still yawning.
Yawning at 7 a.m. in the morning?
Look at us! You lookin for a jhoom! What?
What a morning, exploring, and I’m still yawning.’
Or gee, I see cuso ere too!
I say, ‘Gymmagaya! Narrjarrwinni! Yaiwa! Yawayi!
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!’
I say, ‘What yar buyin at the mission shop cuz?’
He say, ‘I is buyin a birim breads.’
‘One loaf or two?’ the shopman say.
Cuso say, ‘Five loafs of birrim bread alright.’
Shopman say, ‘What? How you holding up, mate?’
Cuso say, ‘Well, three jinda sistas rocked up at my place last night,
lookin for a bed to sleep in alright.
With four or five or eight little jarjums now in my bed,
I gota keep them, keep them well fed.’
Shopman say, ‘Anything else I can help you with mate?’
Cuso say, ‘I know there somethin else I gota buy’ – scratching his murra head. ‘Let me think.’
‘I know what it is, mate. Lollies yes?’ the shopman say.
‘Or yer, that’s what I need mate!
Or I'll be dead if I don't get these. Jarjums, they prayin for me to come back to my bungalow, you see.
With all the sweetest lollies –
lollies that the jarjums never ever seen or taste or own.
So this is they Dreaming all on they own.
That sweetest taste of lollies please –
murrin buu, thank you mate!
Cos all the little jarjums be waitin at my gate.
These lollies races they heart very very soon,
with their faces all gigglin and gloomin with laughter.
Cos mate, if I don't have lollies with me when I go back –
guess who they’ll come after? Me, mate! It’ll be me!
They’ll come after me.
I'll never hear the end of the stories.
So mate, you better make the best of it –
with a big big bag of lollies.’
All the jarjums on a walk about to the mission shop,
leaving they footprints in our world.
Off they jarjums walk, all the little ones –
with their mulla money in they pockets.
Knowin what they wanta buy,
knowin what they wanta get, yer?
But when they get there to the mission shop it's a different story!
They see all the lollies at their glory.
They say to the shopman, ‘I want this! I want that!’
Shopman say, ‘You haven't got enough money please.’
Then the jarjums dhulawa heads start hangin low,
sad eyes puffed up for the tears to flow.
Then the jarjums, with their sad eyes lookin, sayin, ‘Please sir? Can I have some more? Please?’
Shopman say with a cheeky smile, raising his voice in a deep cheeky tone. ‘More please? You want more?’
Then the jarjums say, ‘Murrin buu! Thank you! Please! Yer, more, hey? Yer! Yer!’
Shopman, he give in and change his tune of tone. ‘Yes, ok. You can have some more.’
Then the jarjums say, ‘Murrim buu! Murrin buu! Thank you!’ with the biggest biggest smiles on they faces all day.
Shopman say with his great big smile, ‘You’re welcome. Have a nice day, ok.’
Then the jarjums they say, ‘Allurra, welcome back to you sir. You have a nice day hey!’
Strange woman in the shop she say,
‘You, sir, have a great hospitality too! Your work is delightful to witness.
The way those little children speak their hearts to you with their desires.
For now sir, your shop will be my desire.
This shop you have here, my dear sir, has a history to the world.
This Eastside shop of belonging to you and those children –
it’s a place I would like to belong. Me!
Thank you, young sir, for sharing that with me.’
The mission shop – yarning and mingling
‘Hey bulloo Jeeno’, I say.
‘Eastside mission shop is the heart and muscle of this town, yer. Here in anawaina ghooten country, Armidale NSW Australia, see. Yer!’
Bulloo Jeeno says, ‘You can call them online, on the muya banggi breathflying telephone, yar see. Call them and you will see.
Cos they will always answer with a smile, so all yar do is just give them a dial.
‘Bulloo Jeeno,’ I say, ‘them jarjums say to me they haven’t got enough mulla money. They askin for more – “More please! Please! More, please!” – to go over to the mission shop lookin for they lollies.’
‘Sis,’ I say. ‘It’s breakfast lunch dinner time from 7 a.m. to 7 at night. They mob at the mission shop always have that food cooked on time.’
Dad say, ‘A workermans industry is wanting to be fed on time at that Eastside mission shop!’
Thanks for the online cos workman and woman they get fed on time at the mission shop.
Those lunchtime orders the mission shop mob take and write down
from the people when they all come around
with the big big orders from the working town.
Those people working in that shop, those woman and man,
they have a lot to write down, making sure all the people happy.
With the orders done and dusted before the sun goes down on our side of town.
Murrin Buu! Murrin Buu to our Eastside mission shop!
They will always be around for you and me.
Call them online, call them now!
They the little big marketing shop for all this town.
Sis Kath says, ‘The whole world would be feeling sad and blue if it wasn’t for the mission shop!
The ladies and the gentlemen who work there in the shop –
keeping the Eastside mob happy for ever more, yer!
You can't take the mission shop out of this town
cos the Eastside Mission shop is this town!'
Bra says, ‘We may go away to another place or just move around –
but yar can't take the mission shop out of us.
Nar sis, you can't take the mission shop out of us!
We've been here together through the past, in the present, setting the future for the next generation to come – walking the footprints in the land.
They all got they footprints all in the ground!
Yer sis! That's how long we've all been around.’
‘Or bra! You call that a walk about to and from that mission shop!?’
Uncle say, ‘That's where we all belonging to. Belonging to you. Belonging to me.’
Aunty say, ‘We live on the Eastside all together now see.’
Sis say, ‘Meet you all at the mission shop! Cuz, bra, sis!
Bulloo bulloo! See yar, see yar all at the mission shop, gathering eating fish and chips!’
early in the morning, that's for sure.
Ah, there someone knocking at my door.
‘Who that knocking at my front door?’
‘It’s me – Aunty Irene,’ she say.
‘Can you please take me over to the mission shop in your car?
Come on, let's go. It's not very far.’
‘Come on then,’ I say. ‘I’ll get the keys to the car –
I know the mission shop not that far.’
When we pull up at the mission shop I say to Aunty Irene,
‘This is crazy, I’m still dazy!
It's still daunting, I’m still yawning.
Yawning at 7 a.m. in the morning?
Look at us! You lookin for a jhoom! What?
What a morning, exploring, and I’m still yawning.’
Or gee, I see cuso ere too!
I say, ‘Gymmagaya! Narrjarrwinni! Yaiwa! Yawayi!
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!’
I say, ‘What yar buyin at the mission shop cuz?’
He say, ‘I is buyin a birim breads.’
‘One loaf or two?’ the shopman say.
Cuso say, ‘Five loafs of birrim bread alright.’
Shopman say, ‘What? How you holding up, mate?’
Cuso say, ‘Well, three jinda sistas rocked up at my place last night,
lookin for a bed to sleep in alright.
With four or five or eight little jarjums now in my bed,
I gota keep them, keep them well fed.’
Shopman say, ‘Anything else I can help you with mate?’
Cuso say, ‘I know there somethin else I gota buy’ – scratching his murra head. ‘Let me think.’
‘I know what it is, mate. Lollies yes?’ the shopman say.
‘Or yer, that’s what I need mate!
Or I'll be dead if I don't get these. Jarjums, they prayin for me to come back to my bungalow, you see.
With all the sweetest lollies –
lollies that the jarjums never ever seen or taste or own.
So this is they Dreaming all on they own.
That sweetest taste of lollies please –
murrin buu, thank you mate!
Cos all the little jarjums be waitin at my gate.
These lollies races they heart very very soon,
with their faces all gigglin and gloomin with laughter.
Cos mate, if I don't have lollies with me when I go back –
guess who they’ll come after? Me, mate! It’ll be me!
They’ll come after me.
I'll never hear the end of the stories.
So mate, you better make the best of it –
with a big big bag of lollies.’
All the jarjums on a walk about to the mission shop,
leaving they footprints in our world.
Off they jarjums walk, all the little ones –
with their mulla money in they pockets.
Knowin what they wanta buy,
knowin what they wanta get, yer?
But when they get there to the mission shop it's a different story!
They see all the lollies at their glory.
They say to the shopman, ‘I want this! I want that!’
Shopman say, ‘You haven't got enough money please.’
Then the jarjums dhulawa heads start hangin low,
sad eyes puffed up for the tears to flow.
Then the jarjums, with their sad eyes lookin, sayin, ‘Please sir? Can I have some more? Please?’
Shopman say with a cheeky smile, raising his voice in a deep cheeky tone. ‘More please? You want more?’
Then the jarjums say, ‘Murrin buu! Thank you! Please! Yer, more, hey? Yer! Yer!’
Shopman, he give in and change his tune of tone. ‘Yes, ok. You can have some more.’
Then the jarjums say, ‘Murrim buu! Murrin buu! Thank you!’ with the biggest biggest smiles on they faces all day.
Shopman say with his great big smile, ‘You’re welcome. Have a nice day, ok.’
Then the jarjums they say, ‘Allurra, welcome back to you sir. You have a nice day hey!’
Strange woman in the shop she say,
‘You, sir, have a great hospitality too! Your work is delightful to witness.
The way those little children speak their hearts to you with their desires.
For now sir, your shop will be my desire.
This shop you have here, my dear sir, has a history to the world.
This Eastside shop of belonging to you and those children –
it’s a place I would like to belong. Me!
Thank you, young sir, for sharing that with me.’
The mission shop – yarning and mingling
‘Hey bulloo Jeeno’, I say.
‘Eastside mission shop is the heart and muscle of this town, yer. Here in anawaina ghooten country, Armidale NSW Australia, see. Yer!’
Bulloo Jeeno says, ‘You can call them online, on the muya banggi breathflying telephone, yar see. Call them and you will see.
Cos they will always answer with a smile, so all yar do is just give them a dial.
‘Bulloo Jeeno,’ I say, ‘them jarjums say to me they haven’t got enough mulla money. They askin for more – “More please! Please! More, please!” – to go over to the mission shop lookin for they lollies.’
‘Sis,’ I say. ‘It’s breakfast lunch dinner time from 7 a.m. to 7 at night. They mob at the mission shop always have that food cooked on time.’
Dad say, ‘A workermans industry is wanting to be fed on time at that Eastside mission shop!’
Thanks for the online cos workman and woman they get fed on time at the mission shop.
Those lunchtime orders the mission shop mob take and write down
from the people when they all come around
with the big big orders from the working town.
Those people working in that shop, those woman and man,
they have a lot to write down, making sure all the people happy.
With the orders done and dusted before the sun goes down on our side of town.
Murrin Buu! Murrin Buu to our Eastside mission shop!
They will always be around for you and me.
Call them online, call them now!
They the little big marketing shop for all this town.
Sis Kath says, ‘The whole world would be feeling sad and blue if it wasn’t for the mission shop!
The ladies and the gentlemen who work there in the shop –
keeping the Eastside mob happy for ever more, yer!
You can't take the mission shop out of this town
cos the Eastside Mission shop is this town!'
Bra says, ‘We may go away to another place or just move around –
but yar can't take the mission shop out of us.
Nar sis, you can't take the mission shop out of us!
We've been here together through the past, in the present, setting the future for the next generation to come – walking the footprints in the land.
They all got they footprints all in the ground!
Yer sis! That's how long we've all been around.’
‘Or bra! You call that a walk about to and from that mission shop!?’
Uncle say, ‘That's where we all belonging to. Belonging to you. Belonging to me.’
Aunty say, ‘We live on the Eastside all together now see.’
Sis say, ‘Meet you all at the mission shop! Cuz, bra, sis!
Bulloo bulloo! See yar, see yar all at the mission shop, gathering eating fish and chips!’