MUNDARA KOORANG

(Thunder Snake)

Mundara was born in 1952 in Surry Hills NSW. Mundara is an Internationally renowned artist and an Elder of the Eora (Sydney) People. He is a descendant of the Gamilaroi People of the Moree area. His Totem is the snake. Mundara's grandmother was born in the Barwon River Mission and was sent to the Cootamundra Home for Girls at the age of 13 by her step-father because her mother passed away from illness.His great grandmother Nelly and great-great-grandmother Lily were born in the Brewarrina area.

ACTOR

Mundara is also an actor and has appeared on several TV shows including Water Rats, Police Rescue and Wildside. Additionally he was in the ABC's mini series 'Heartlands'. During the six months of shooting for Heartlands Mundara took groups of Aboriginal teens to appear in the series. He would pick them up at 4.30am of his own valition and take them out to the set and wait until they were finished for the day and then take them home. The groups got to see what it was like to work on a film set, meet actors, have some lunch and be paid for their time. He also appeared in the feature film 'Race the Sun' with James Belushi.

EDUCATOR

Mundara is the holder of a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Master's Degree in Indigenous Social Policy.

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He also holds Certificates in Training & Assessment IV, Train the Trainer, Brush Farm Security, CABE, CGE, Fine Arts, Media Studies, Photography, Interior Decorating, but to name a few and is a licenced Spray Painter. In 1996 Mundara was the first Aboriginal to win the Faculty Award for Aboriginal Studies in NSW and the Qantas Encouragement Award for the same. The awards were held at the AJC and Mundara was asked to hold an exhibition of his artwork at the awards ceremony, which included two lounge suits covered in Mundara's designed material.

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Mundara currently works in the TAFE and the Juvenile Justice area, he teaches Literacy & Numeracy, Legislation, Aboriginal Cultural Ethics & Perspectives, Mathematics, Science, History, Art, Drawing, Year 10 Certificate and is a mentor for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth.

Mundara is also a founding member of the Sydney Institute of Technology Alumni.

ARTWORKS

Mundara's artwork is highly sought after and many of his paintings hang in private and collective collections nationwide and worldwide.

Mundara has won many awards and commendations for his artwork, photography and illustrations. Including the inaugural 'Sorry Day' Poster competition, the 1999 David O'Chin Photographic Award and a highly commendation from the David Unaipon Writers Award for his book of poems titled 'Say your Sorry'. He is the designer of the widely used student law book 'Indigenous People and the Law in Australia', as well as the illustrations for the 'Mabo Land Rights Package' for law students and community. 'Alcheringa Spirit' an Australian Limestone sculpture which was displayed in the foyer of the ATSIC Commission in Sydney was sculptured by Mundara.

In 1995 Mundara was invited by the Australian Embassador in Bonn Germany to hold the first Contemporary Aboriginal Art Exhibition held in Europe. He held the exhibition in the same studio in Cologne Germany as Possum so that visitors to the gallery could see the differences and similarities between traditional art and contemporary urban art. Mundara also held the largest sole artist exhibition on his return at the Woolloomooloo Art Gallery the same year. His artworks were also part of the first to be exhibited in Moscow as part of a cultural art exchange.

'THE LITTLE PLATYPUS AND THE FIRE SPIRIT'

The Little Platypus and the Fire Spirit was written in 2006 and was included in the 2006 Australian Readers' Challenge

Review - Dr Anita Heiss

Current Top 10 Indigenous Titles for Lower Primary School Students

This book is a real treat! [T]he tale is what the author calls a contemporary Dreamtime story,told through a mix of traditional and contemporary mediums, that of storytelling and computerimaging…the story is a page-turner for all readers as the platypus is naively cute and the FireSpirit subtly wise.’Anita Heiss, ‘Message Stick’, January 2006

Review - From: Children's Bookwatch | Date: 8/1/2006

Authored and illustrated by Australian aboriginal artist, actor and writer Mundara Koorang, The Little Platypus And The Fire Spirit is a "Dream Time" story of the duck-billed, web-footed, paddle-tailed, fur covered platypus and how such a peculiar creature came to be of such a curiously featured shape. Following the platypus through its creative aboriginal folklore storytelling elements, The Little Platypus And The Fire Spirit carries young readers through the adventure of a little platypus who dreams of becoming a duck and swimming in circles as he saw ducklings do, then goes on to acquire (with the Fire Spirit's help) a tail, webbed feet, a beautiful fur coat, and a distinctive beak.

A superb selection choice for school and community library Folklore/Mythology collections for young readers, The Little Platypus And The Fire Spirit is very highly recommended as the remarkable aboriginal folktale story of allegorical self-discovery and how the platypus came to look the way it does.

Review - From: Message Stick

This book is a real treat! The first thing you will notice are the eye-catching illustrations – a rare yet skillful mix of painting and computer manipulation, which is an apt medium for Mundara Koorang to use, as the tale is what the author calls a contemporary Dreamtime story, told through a mix of traditional and contemporary mediums, that of storytelling and computer imaging.

"The Little Platypus and the Fire Spirit” is a novel tale of a platypus who begins life on the land, as opposed to water, and who originally plays with kangaroos and emus and sleeps in a bed of feathers! Entranced by the antics of a duck he watches playing in water one day, the little platypus becomes increasingly sad because he cannot swim and wants to play like the yellow duck.

A long red bearded Fire Spirit comes along to help the distressed platypus, but his answer to the problem creates a new one for the little platypus, who at first believes his life would be happier as a duck than the platypus he was. What’s that? The grass is always greener I hear you say?

I can’t tell you what happens next, but I will say the story is a page-turner for all readers as the platypus is naively cute and the Fire Spirit subtly wise. And as a bonus, you’ll learn as I did, that there are only two monotremes in the world. And if you don’t know what they are, then you’ll have to read the book to find.

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