Moonbird Boy, Matthew Newton, 2009

In the 1970s a young Tasmanian Aborigine, Errol West, wrote a beautiful poem, The Moon Birds of Big Dog Island:

Like dust blown across the plain are the people of the Moon Bird.
And yet there is no one to teach me the songs
That bring the Moon Bird, the fish
Or any other thing that makes me what I am.

Mutton birds, also known as moonbirds have been harvested by the Tasmanian Aborigines for hundreds of years. It is a time for the Aboriginal community to come together and connect with country.