Perth Voice Interactive

TAKE a well-deserved break from the Christmas sales to enjoy the stunning 3D tribute to the Moodjar Tree in Yagan Square.

Part of Perth’s Xmas Lights Trail, each night the story of the “Australian Christmas Tree” is told through a vivid and beautiful multimedia installation with artworks by Biara Martin and a spoken word performance by Rose Walley.

Renowned Noongar singer-songwriter Phil Walley-Stack composed the soundtrack and narrates the journey with 15 stunning scenes about the Moodjar Tree and its iconic orange blooms.

Presented in a way that has never been seen before, the cutting-edge 3D anamorphic visuals were created by Perth’s Lux Events.

For the Noongar people, December and January is a season called Birak. It is during this time the Moodjar tree flowers bright orange. In local Yued dreaming, stories passed down from ancestors shows why the Moojar is of such cultural and spiritual significance to Noongar people in the past, and still today.

It serves as a marker for significant ceremony and burial sites. During lore time, when the tree is in flower, it shows in significant places around the country.

Yued ancestors have always enforced that people show respect for the Moojar and to protect the tree where possible.

A Yued legend associated with the Moojar is that when a Noongar person dies their spirit enters the tree where they wait for Birak. 

When the tree flowers, their spirit goes west to Kooranup (over the ocean) to be with their ancestors.

During Birak, celebrations are held on the seashores to honour the spirits of the ancestors and celebrate the continuation of cultural lore and traditions.

The vivid orange flowers of the moodjar are traditionally used to make a lightly alcoholic brew called mungitch. The sweet drink is brewed over several days by soaking the flowers in fresh water and the drink is used to celebrate the abundance of food traditionally on offer during Birak.

Birak is also lore time on Yued Boodja. It is that time of year when Noongar people host ceremony and celebration with other cultural groups along the coastline.

The Moodjar Tree in Yagan Square is on 6pm nightly until January 2 at Yagan Square.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK