Stacie Piper is a Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung and Ngurai-Illum Wurrung woman, Djirri Djirri dancer, and the First Nations Curator at the Victorian Indigenous Research Centre (State Library Victoria) and Creative Hub Manager for the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair. Stacie’s care for community, Country and kin is as unwavering as her dedication to keeping stories strong. Stacie is the storyteller behind the 101 Collins Soundscape, WOMEN NGAGA BIIK.

We yarned with Stacie about Wurundjeri Country (the Country where the 101 Collins building is located), the importance of ceremony and the Djirri Djirri dance group she is part of.

1. Tell us a little bit about Wurundjeri Country and your connection to this place.

My connection to Wurundjeri Country is very much who I am. The connection of our family here on Country is, luckily, unsevered, even though it has been filled with much oppression, dispossession, loss and trauma. Country remains a place of strength and wellbeing for us as custodians. Particularly for me, the mountain and river Country under the big gum trees is where I feel at my best. As William/Beruk once said, “You got to know your home. My home is on the Yarra on the mountain”.

Our songlines traverse Narrm/Melbourne urban and rural lands as well as waterways. Wurundjeri Country includes the inner city of Melbourne extending north of the Great Dividing Range, east to Mount Baw Baw, south to Mordialloc Creek and west to the Werribee River, and we are the ‘legal’ protectors of the Birrarung, Yarra River.

2. What does Djirri Djirri mean?

Djirri Djirri is the willie wagtail – a little black bird with a white fantail, and little white stripes on its face. That’s what the ochre we paint up on our face represents when we’re dancing.

In our culture, the willie wagtail is the spirit messenger and inspires us to keep dancing and singing.

3. When and how did the Djirri Djirri Dancers start?

Our people have always been dancing. We never stopped. However there is a Wurundjeri ceremony called murrum turruk-urruk that hadn't taken place in over 185 years. It’s a women’s ceremony and we are now in the 11th year of practising this ceremony after reawakening, remembering and reclaiming it. In this ceremony, we also Welcome babies to Country, collect reeds and make necklaces and other adornments, make emu feather skirts for young girls, possum skin belts for the girls who come of age, and dance and sing Country passing on our cultural values and Lore.