First Lights Binalup: Menang-Noongar elders say drone light show will bring to life Albany’s rich history

Menang-Noongar elders hope a historic drone light show on Saturday night will open the community’s eyes to Albany’s rich history, back to a time long before white settlement. The show, First Lights Binalup, has been developed by Fremantle Bienniale with Noongar author Kim Scott and guided by the Albany Heritage and Reference Group. Menang-Noongar elder Vernice Gillies has been involved in consultations from the start. “Fremantle Biennale are just magnificent because they’ve worked this whole story around what the local Menang people have given them,” she said. She said “quite a lot” of locals had been involved and she was one of the “stayers” keen to see it through as another first for Albany. “I love the idea of getting one of the stories out to the wider public and putting this place, Binalup, on the map,” she said. “It’s a story that has been handed down over generations and generations, and it’s a story that’s true to here.” Accompanied by music and narration, 160 drones with lights will move rhythmically across the evening sky at Binalup/Middleton Beach, telling the story of Mammang Koort, the beating whale heart. Menang elder and Albany Aboriginal Corporation chairman Lester Coyne said it was special to include the traditional oral storytelling in the story’s modern retelling. “This is a special place, and that’s why it’s called Binalup, meaning place of first light, because it’s where the sun comes up,” he said. “There is a lot of significance about this place and highlighting that is what we are doing.” Mr Coyne hoped those in attendance at First Lights took away a “strong educational message” about the history of the land. “It’s like being alongside the Sphinx and saying ‘I’m alongside greatness’, but that’s only a few thousand years old and we’ve got fish traps out there 6500 to 7000 years old,” he said. “We’ve got in excess of anywhere in Europe, and we’ve got that context right here in Albany that Aboriginal people populated this area and lived according to their tradition right here.” Ms Gillies said the Mengang-Noongar story has special significance. “I hope what people take away from it is wanting to hear more,” she said. “I think the story of Mammang, the whale, fits well with some of the early history of Albany prior to white settlement and even after white settlement. “People will remember wonderful things and horrible things about Albany’s history with the Mammang.” The First Lights Binalup drone show will take to the sky above Binalup/Middleton Beach from 7pm on Saturday. “People will never come here again just for the beach, they’ll come here thinking about that drone show,” Mr Coyne said. “It’s going to be unforgettable.”