Paul Taylor

As a 16-year-old, Paul Taylor’s education was highly influenced by the American Civil Rights movement, initiating an exposure to an indigenous worldview.  He received a BA in Social Work from the University of South Australia from 1975-79. In a rapidly changing world, he consciously decided not to follow a “western career path” but to have an adventure “walkabout” with his life and let his path unfold. He worked as a medical Social Worker in Australia’s remote Northern Territory, where he met Aboriginal Wardaman Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney, one of Australia’s “national treasures.” So began a lifelong friendship that developed into a focused continuing mentorship and a dedicated research project, the Yubulyawan Dreaming Project YDP, that celebrates and gives voice to the world’s oldest continuous culture.

Paul’s “walkabout” took him to reinvent himself on 2 different continents. Firstly, in the UK, he worked in a burns/cancer unit and residential care; then a clown/animator in a traveling circus act; and London pub theater. He attended the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art, the Actors Center, and the School for Fools. Returning to Australia, he dedicated himself to the theater, working for the Adelaide Festival Fringe and in regional theater as an actor/stage manager.

In the 1990’s he was invited to the US as an ambassador for the Adelaide-Austin, TX sister city program. He again re-invented himself as a professional storyteller/didgeridoo-ist/artist in education, traveling throughout the US from 1995 to present.

All the while, he annually maintains his relationship with Yidumduma and his homeland. In 2000, his research formalized into the YDP Dreaming Project. Supported by American philanthropy, he published the YDP education website featuring over 50 teaching video clips in 10 chapters.

Paul’s work has been recognized on both continents with the 2013 State Finalist Award-Australian of the Year, and the 2015 WY Governors Arts Award. Yidumduma has adopted Paul into the Wardaman as “Jalala” and awarded him a PhD from his “Bush University.”