This year is the International Year of Indigenous Languages and a good year to bring people's attention to the work happening at language centres, in schools, in community organizations and in families to reclaim and maintain the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages of Australia.
In March Muurrbay will be holding an open day to celebrate the renovation work that we have been able to do thank to funding from Heritage Near Me. It will...
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Everyone at Muurrbay is very excited that we now have renovations underway thanks to a strategic grant from the the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. The building is an old church that was in need of some repairs and repainting. Despite all the noise as the workers prepare the walls for painting and redirect the drainage to prevent the buildup of water under the office, it is wonderful to see the work progressing.
When the work is completed we pla
Muurrbay was delighted to host a group of Indigenous Studies students on 19 September. Most years, John Hobson and Susan Poetsch have brought a group of students to Muurrbay to learn about the operations of a language centre. They did not come in 2017, so we glad to see them return this year. They showed a keen interest in the centre's activities, including how we fund our operations. They kindly provided us all with lunch before going to explore the Nambu
Community Elders, language workers and teachers, travelled from as far away as Port Macquarie and Newcastle for a Gathang translation workshop at Taree High School on 18 July. A lively day of discussion enabled the participants to develop a translation of the first verse of Djimban.gang gaga dhanbaan (Advance Australia Fair) that will be able to be used throughout the region....
Bundjalung-Yugameh Dictionary launched
The online Bundjalung-Yugambeh dictionary has been under development for several years. Based on many years research with Elders, from the Clarence River in NSW to Beenleigh and Beaudesert in QLD, it has been compiled by linguist Margaret Sharpe. Developed as an online resource by IT specialist Cat Kutay, you can now search the dictionary online or view and download the pdf version. The site had the capacit
Listen to the new song created by Dallas Walker especially for our Apology Day event. This was held at Muurrbay where Ruth Link organised a morning tea for around 50 community members including school students and Elders from as far away as Coffs Harbour. The event was sponsored by the Healing Foundation and the North Coast Primary Health Network.
https://youtu.be/98Ky9pLLrCc
The Muurrbay team have returned from the Puliima National Indigenous Languages and Technology Forum for 2017. The forum was an excellent opportunity for sharing and exchanging progress in language revitalisation and technological advances in language aid programs. The first two days hosted small workshops, followed by two days of presentations.
Sharon Edgar-Jones, Julie Long and Rhonda Radley ran a workshop with the Gathang language, titled “Langu
On Wednesday, 11 October 2017, Uncle Gary Williams and other Aboriginal elders gathered at the Parliament of NSW for the introduction and first reading of the Aboriginal Languages Bill 2017.
The objectives of this Bill are:
to acknowledge that Aboriginal languages are part of the culture and identity of Aboriginal people, and
to establish an Aboriginal Languages Trust governed by Aboriginal people that will facilitate and support...
Word Up shares the diverse languages of black Australia from Anmatyerre to Arrernte, from Bidjara to Bundjalung, from Nyungar to Ngaanyatjarra, from Yankunytjatjara to Yorta Yorta—one word at a time.
Follow links to Uncle Gary Williams episode aired 3 December 2016 and David Prosser episode aired 29 July 2017
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