Twilight Talks – Dancers on the Sea by Gabrielle Samson

Twilight Talks have been held at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute since 2001, providing a great opportunity to hear some fantastic speakers and meet up with friends over drinks.

Participants arrive at the Humffray Room from 5:00pm for drinks and conversation, followed by a 30 to 40 minute talk commencing at 5:30pm.

Gabrielle, a writer of fiction and memoir, has won national prizes for her short stories and has co-written a radio play produced by the ABC. She has lived and worked in education and community development in Australia, Indonesia, PNG, Vanuatu and Timor Leste.

Dancers on the Sea. This story tells of a woman’s life on Atauro Island, learning its history and culture as she worked with the community to improve living conditions through education.

During the period of East Timor’s occupation by an Indonesian military regime which was challenged by a fierce resistance movement, Gabrielle – an Australian woman working at an Indonesian university – was asked by a Timorese village leader to help establish a kindergarten for his community.

Dancers on the Sea is Gabrielle’s experience through six of those years as the little country of East Timor struggled for, and achieved, its independence and became Timor-Leste.

The BMI appreciates the support received from the Community Bank Buninyong for the staging of Twilight Talks