#092 Songlines

Combining the most powerful knowledge systems ever known (Part 1), with Lynne Kelly

Lynne Kelly is now often referred to as The Memory Whisperer. Amidst great personal trial and self-doubt, she stumbled on a series of insights that are revolutionising Western understandings of ancient knowledge systems. And with the likewise extraordinary Indigenous woman Professor Margo Neale, they are showing how the combination of Western knowledge systems with reinvigorated ancient ones, is where the deep promise lies for enabling the regeneration of life on this planet.

“I started then looking at these Indigenous stories, and realised they were memorising vast amounts of information, when I couldn’t remember the day of the week. I started asking the question, how the hell are they doing this? Remembering so much stuff, without recourse to writing. And that became an obsession, and has been ever since. I can now memorise anything I want. My natural memory’s just as bad as it always was. But I can now memorise anything.”

— Lynne Kelly

Late Night Live is one of Australia’s longest running radio programs on the ABC. It’s hosted by an Australian legend across media, film, the arts, and now even regenerative agriculture, with his wife Patrice Newell. His name is Phil Adams. And late last year, I was gripped by an interview he conducted with Lynne and Margo on release of their book, Songlines: The Power and The Promise. That in turn, stemmed from the Indigenous-led exhibition taking the country, and soon the world, by storm – Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters.

Phil said of that exhibition that he’s never seen anything of comparable quality anywhere on earth. Margo Neale was the lead curator of that exhibition, alongside the Indigenous communities involved. It was this chat with Phil Adams that also alerted me to the exhibition opening in Perth soon after. We managed to get along just before heading north, and have joined Phil’s chorus. I’ve since read the book by Margo and Lynne, and been blown away.

Phil wished they’d allocated an hour to this on his program. Well, let’s enact that wish here. And then some. We’ll speak with Margo in part 2 of this Songlines series. Today, we feature my conversation with Lynne, on how her transformed life is now helping bridge non-Indigenous understanding of the most powerful knowledge system ever known. And how her personal practice of it has transformed her life – from becoming a national memory championship title holder, to learning languages at will, well into her 60s. And that’s just scratching the surface of Songlines, and what it could mean for all of us right now.

This conversation was recorded online (from inside the store room of the Exmouth Yacht Club – thanks Cathy & Denise!) on 8 July 2021, with Lynne speaking from her home in Castlemaine, Victoria.

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