Australia’s Cultural Night Sky: Culture, Flagship 1

“A Cosmos of Languages”

02
Jul

As part of their OAD funded project, “Australia’s Cultural Night Sky: Culture, Creativity and Community at Lake Ballard, Western Australia“, Dr John Goldsmith in collaboration with Koya Aboriginal Corporation developed a festival exhibit “A Cosmos of Languages”. The exhibit was presented as part of the Denmark Arts Festival, Western Australia’s longest running community arts festival. The 31st annual festival “Brave New Works” took place between 3 – 6 April 2025, and was themed “aurora australis” (the Southern Lights).

“A Cosmos of Languages” exhibit focuses on three astronomical words, “Sun”, Moon” and “Star”. These three words are explored in various languages, including three Indigenous Languages, from Western Australia, Noongar (South West Western Australia), Wangkatha (Eastern Goldfields) and Walmajarri (East Kimberley) and in other languages including French, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese (traditional), Indonesian, Russian, Greek, German and Romanian. The exhibit becomes a kind of a modern-day Rosetta Stone, linking multiple languages from around the world and Australian Indigenous languages.

“A cosmos of languages” was presented in conjunction with the “Visions of the Cosmos” astrophotography exhibition by Dr John Goldsmith.

 

The exhibit concluded with a creative cosmopoem “Sun, Moon, Star”, exploring the link between the Sun, the solar wind, aurora, comets, and the profound effect these astronomical phenomena have on human community.

Sun, Moon, Stars

A convergence of cosmos,
and community
when purpose aligns.
Thousands are drawn to the
western edge of our southern continent,
becoming witness to
a solar magnificence.
Dazzling sunlight overwhelms
the corona, until the Moon meets,
A total eclipse momentarily reveals
the Sun’s atmosphere.
From the Sun, a stream of energy,
minute particles charging their way
at phenomenal speeds,
drawn into the magnetic swirl
of our polar regions.
And, tonight,
we gather around our campfire,
as sparks flies, towards the heart
of the Milky Way,
our galaxy home.
From our Western Australian home
we face the celestial pole,
and watch, low above the southern horizon,
a transforming glow, the Southern Lights
prompt delight and wonder
tonight.
As the icey comet
streams into deep space
away from the Sun
An ancient call
A timepiece for ancestors and generations
and unknown distant futures.
In languages throughout,
words name and describe the astronomical
until the sheer wonder of the cosmos
gives way to silence.
The realisation begins
of the immensity of forces in space.
Our small planet
in an immensity
of black space.
One small planet
Shared by us all
All under one Sun
All under one Moon
We are the dust of stars
Cosmopoem by John Goldsmith. International decade of Indigenous Languages (2022 – 2032).

The project was presented at the Valuing Darkness symposium which was attended by over 200 delegates, mainly from across Australia, including Local, State and Federal government, town planners, astronomers and astrophotographers, First Nations community, lighting experts, environmental scientists and conservationists, health practitioners, students, and others.

Recently, the project organised a visit to the Western Australia Museum for Aboriginal students from the Governor Stirling High School (Woodbridge, Perth, Western Australia). The visit provided an important opportunity for students to learn about Aboriginal culture and history, as represented by the Museum, to visit the “Origins Gallery” and the “Western Australia by Night” digital astrophotography display, to be introduced to the book “Visions of the Cosmos: Landscape Astrophotography from Western Australia”, to learn about key Aboriginal sky and star patterns, including the “Emu” in the sky, and to learn about the importance of protecting our dark skies.