This public lecture was a part of the History Trust's Talking History series. Hysteria is both a memoir of author Katerina Bryant’s experience of illness and a historical account of four women whose lives have intersected with the idea of ‘hysteria’. The book looks at the strength of women who were not seen as themselves but as patients alone. Katerina examines the lives of these women, touches on the South Australian context and speaks to what it means to contextualise herself within this complex history. Katerina Bryant is a writer and PhD student based in South Australia. Her first book, Hysteria: A Memoir of Illness, Strength and Women’s Stories Throughout History (NewSouth), is out now. Music in this episode thanks to -&nbsp; Myuu (http://www.thedarkpiano.com) | Track: Outsider Chris Zabriskie (http://chriszabriskie.com) | Track: I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io) | Track: Despair and Triumph Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Hysteria - Talking History Summer Series

SPELLBOUND TRANSCRIPT:
It was towards the end of the 1950’s when Doug Osborne, an overseer/stockman working at Ned’s Corner sheep station on the banks of the River Murray above Renmark was ‘spellbound’ 
He witnessed one of the most delicate operations he’d ever imagined. As an avid horseman and animal lover, in his own words he related this experience to me.

“I was riding my horse across an island on the River Murray looking for stray sheep. It was a calm mild day as I stopped to adjust my saddle, when I dismounted I could hear someone talking not far away. I tethered my horse and walked over to a thicket of tee tree about 60 metres away, looked through the titre and a further 60 metres or so away I saw a man who I recognised as Possum. He was a person I’d only had fleeting glimpses of over the years walking along the creeks and river banks, but I’d never spoken to him. He always seemed so shy, and was a real mystery man.
I knew he was fond of animals and birds as I’d often found evidence of his work attending to sick and flyblown sheep. He’d fish all day to feed the pelicans and cormorants which had flown in from up North, it used to happen when their lakes had dried up.
On this day, Possum was standing in a little grass-covered clearing. He had several horses standing around him and was holding one by the mane and appeared to be trying to get it to lie down. The horse was in a distressed and poor condition and Possum kept repeating ‘Easy boy! Jim will make you better!’ Eventually he got that horse to lie down and I could see a ‘crow’s nest’ of barbed wire tangled round it’s right foreleg.

Possum sat down just under the horse’s neck ,placing his right arm over the top of it’s shoulder and stroking and patting it with his hand, all the while he was talking to it with soothing words.

As I watched this drama I became absolutely ‘entranced’ and was frightened to move in case I disturbed the horses which were quite wild, as they hadn’t been used for years and just ran untamed on the island.
Possum took a rusty looking pair of wire cutters from his little sugar bag. It must have taken him half to three quarters of an hour to cut all the barbed wire from around that poor horse’s fetlock and when he finished, Possum stood up and stretched saying to the horse, ‘Now isn’t that better.’
The horse was still lying on the ground but had it’s head raised up as if looking at what Possum had done.    (Chapter continues....)

A Man Called Possum

A Man Called Possum Sample Chapter -  Spellbound

The official launch of A Man Called Possum Audiobook was held at the Paringa Silos where there is a giant mural of the legend of the bush.
It was the perfect location as although Possum roamed far and wide along the Murray River and the Darling he lived most of his life between Renmark and Wentworth. 
 It was a wonderful launch and some of the locals told previously unheard  stories of a man called Possum. Thanks to all involved

Possum Official Audiobook Launch  March 2023

Public Speaking is just better communication. Enhance your life by becoming a better Public Speaker . Personally and professionally being able to speak in public will improve your life in every way.

TRANSCRIPT:
I'm often asked at my public speaking workshops, why is storytelling so important? You're up there to sell a message. Tell people about an idea.

 Why not just give them the facts and figures? Well, down through the  ages, the way we've conveyed messages, the way we've passed on history, the  way we've conveyed, all forms of knowledge is being best told by stories, you can get a whole wave of facts and figures, and they can just wash over you. 
But if that can be incorporated into a story, a demonstration of what you're on about, it will make a huge difference. And storytelling is all consuming. 

We can all relate to a story to somebody in that story. No, that's not me. Yes, that could be me. facts and figures. No we're not going to relate to that. But we do relate to stories. It's a way into our heart and into our minds. And it's something that we form an emotional attachment to. 

So if you're selling a product or an idea, and you can do it in the form of a story, you're partway there. But make sure when you're telling the story, you tell it in the moment, don't tell it like it happened way back, then. You're back there. In the moment, I walked through the door, it was very dark. And I could just peer off into the distance and see something moving. I wondered what it was. And as I got closer, a scuffling sound  broke out behind me, I turned quickly. There was nothing there. 

So you can see by becoming totally involved in the story that you're telling you draw your audience in, you're taking them inside your being, and you're sharing with them some of your innermost secrets, it's a compelling way to get a message across. So and in fact, it's a good way to remember something because we all remember personal stories, things that have happened in our lives. 
And I don't mean get up on stage and parrot, you know, recite, word for word what happened to you at a certain time, you have to relive the event in your mind and relive it for your audience. And once you've done that, you'll have them on your side, they'll start believing what you have to say. And then then you can start incorporating the detail, the where you're going to, and why that story is so relevant. 
So be very mindful. Next time you're preparing to give a public speech, or you have to give a talk. See if you can work a story into it ,doesn't have to be wildly outrageously funny, or scary or whatever, but just human. You have to humanise when you speak. And there's a big crowd out there. You're not talking to a big crowd, you're talking to one person. They are hearing what you say each and every person is hearing what you say. They're hearing it as an individual. So bear that in mind. Don't think I'm talking to a mass of people. I'm talking to one person, but there are several of them in the room. They're all getting that individual message. So a lot of fun. Storytelling, keep it in mind.

Graeme Goodings Public Speaking tips - No.1 Story telling

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