The Banksia Man (The Truth)

(Original story 'The Truth about the Big Bad Banksia Man' by Lee Trew and retold here with kind permission / This article by Michelle McCosker / Banksia illustration by Helen McCosker)

Feature article from our January 2025 Newsletter

_______

There's a wonderful story I love to hear when I take my kids to the Bluegum Bushcamps. Apparently much-loved fireside trickster-storyteller, Lee, made it up, on a bush school day when, with a group of children, he found a banksia cone and mentioned the Big Bad Banksia Man from May Gibb's 'Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie'.

One child got scared at the idea, even though he knew it was made up.

‘Why would someone make that up?!’ .

Lee invented this story to reassure him - the ‘truth’ about the banksia man.

In this story the lone Banksia Man is almost as frightening as those from 'Snugglepot and Cuddlepie', though maybe a little more new-age and open to change. Let's see.

The story (as I remember it) is about a group of children, who love to play in the wild bush. They have a wonderful life full of curiosity, wonder and excitement. EXCEPT FOR when the Banksia Man is around.

The Banksia Man is a man with many mouths, all of which are constantly talking. His voices jabber away non-stop, disagreeing and loudly talking over the top of each other, competing for air-space. So much so, that the Banksia Man is always agitated, frustrated and angry.

He runs madly around with this grumpy, loud racket on his head, hoping to escape his own noise for some peace and quiet, though never able to.

"Ahhhhhh-cack-cack-cack-CACK" the children hear as he approaches.

"RAAAAAR-CACK-CACK-CACK" as he passes by.

(NB: this is the bit at camp where Lee waves his arms above his head and runs wildly around the fire, making a loud funny noise, lifting his knees up in a comical hopping parody of someone who can't get away from themselves. All the kids roar with laughter louder than the crackling fire - 'he looks so funny'!!)

The Banksia Man is SO scary and unpleasant. He makes life hard for everyone! They are forced to hide in the grass whenever he is around, just to protect themselves.

Eventually the children have a meeting.

"We are tired of hiding all the time" they all agree "We want to be free to play in the bush!"

"But what shall we do? What can we do?"

Eventually they hit upon a wonderful plan. They decide that it might be best, to try and help the Banksia Man! They can see that his main problem is that the voices on his head cannot agree, and so, he cannot feel the peace and freedom he is yearning for.

They come up with some ideas of how to help him.

(Here Lee puts it to the group of gathered, avid listeners.

"What could they do?" he asks the children. They yell out some ideas:

"Teach him to get exercise!""Teach him to listen!"

"Teach him to be quiet!"

"Teach him to be kind!"

"Teach him to meditate!"

"Teach the voices to take turns!")

One day, when the group of children are playing, they realise the Banksia Man is asleep nearby. Even all the mouths sleep and snore in discord, making a terrible sound!

They whisper to each other and point "There he is!"

They creep closer, and, put their plan into action.

Softly at first, they begin to sing a beautiful song. A song about roots growing deep, deep below the ground and into the earth.

As the Banksia Man wakes up his voices begin to mimic the song they are hearing.

The children are teaching him to sing!

One by one, each in their own unique voice, the Banksia Man's mouths sing along to the song.

His voices become a choir, full of endless harmony, each adding a unique tone to his sound, making it richer, expansive and unified. Free, and peaceful.

Not one voice is left out, and not one voice sings the same note.

_______

There is a teaching from Malcolm Ringwalt that says,

'We speak with Many Voices'.

(You can read more about that in this blog post 'We speak with Many Voices' - an excerpt from Lee Trew's Tending the Garden of the Heart Journey.)

The crux of it is, that like a Banksia Man with many mouths, we are all full of discordant and sometimes opposing voices. Some might not even be our own! They might be inherited from family or given to us in some way from society. Or they might be our own and influenced by our different mental and emotional states - 'me when stressed', 'me when successful', angry, hurt, confident, defensive etc.

As Lee explains, 'one of the main jobs of the ego is to weave together a coherent story of who we are, from the ever-changing maelstrom of varying perspectives.' 

So, by this notion, there is always a part of us hoping to identify as being a unified human being that makes complete sense.

But as we learn from the Banksia Man, it might be possible to exist as a being that Sings with Many Voices, free and expansive, each opposing force offering a harmony to our true hearts' desire.

_______

If you would like to explore your own voices more deeply, or unpack your New Year intentions for 2025, book in for a healthy chat with any one of our open-hearted therapists this month.