A PARENT from Perth Waldorf School in Bibra Lake is calling on Cockburn’s creative types to help make “dreaming rugs” for local community centres.

Anita Staude has been knitting and stitching the colourful rugs with other Steiner parents for years, but wants the next set to have more meaning behind them.

She’ll consult with Aboriginal elders about the history of Bibra and North lakes, so the next rugs tell a Dreamtime story.

“I’ve been helping make these rugs at the school for about eight years now and I’ve always wanted to do a dreaming rug,” Ms Staude says.

• Anita Staude displays one of the Steiner school’s farmyard rugs while Noongar elder Marie Taylor tells Carly (3), Albert (14) and Danika Viljoen (seven months) a story.

Storytelling

“We’ll be looking at aerial maps and working to a map of it and getting Aboriginal people in to tell the stories and history, hopefully doing it in a really respectful way.”

Noongar Elder and storyteller Marie Taylor says Ms Staude’s creations are “stunning”.

“I love this…I could see myself getting one of these off you and using it in my storytelling”, Ms Taylor told Ms Staude.

“To teach kids you need the visual to impress on them that we’re not talking about airy-fairy…we’re talking about real life.”

Ms Staude is looking for embroiderers, patchworkers, felters, crocheters, knitters and even woodworkers because of the ‘anything goes’ nature of the rugs.

Those interested in helping out but lacking the creative gene can put in a bit of money towards wool or textiles.

The first one will be donated to the Cockburn Wetlands Education Centre, and the second to a new Aboriginal Centre slated for Bibra Lake in 2019.

There’ll be a welcome session and exhibition of rugs at the wetland centre at 9am on October 19 where participants will be able to participate in discussions about the design.

by TRILOKESH CHANMUGAM