Language Courses – Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative

Language classes

Gumbaynggirr class Sydney Summer School 2009 — Sydney Summer School 2009

Currently Muurrbay is running a weekly Zoom Class on Wednesday afternoons with a range of teachers, including Gary Williams, Micklo Jarrett and Brother Steve Morelli.

Miklo is also offering regular classes across the region:

Bellingen Youth Hub Centre: Monday 9:30-11:30am

NSW AECG Office, 2/22 Bowra St, Nambucca Heads:

Tuesday 10:00am-12:00pm

Sawtell Public School: Tuesday 4-6pm

For more information please call the office on 02 6569 4294.

Sixteen Gumbaynggirr people graduated with the Cert III in Gumbaynggirr Language and Culture Maintenance in 2018. It was delivered on-site at Muurrbay part-time over a year and half, as workers were not able to be released from their day jobs.

Muurrbay is focusing on developing accredited Aboriginal language courses and teaching resources to empower other language communities along the central to north coasts of NSW.

Twenty six Gathang people have graduated with the Certificate III in Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language for Gathang. Delivered most recently by Teacher-linguist Julie Long in 2020, it went online due to Covid. This course was previously run from July 2015 to December 2016 in Taree. Participants travelled from all parts of the large Gathang area – from Port Macquarie in the north, Stroud to the west and Port Stephens in the south and many places in between.

Wubala marrung, Well done! Some of the Gathang 2020 course graduates.

Sharon Edgar-Jones, Rhonda Radley went on to further studies of LInguistics and taught Gathang within their communities and most graduates have been called on to use language in varied contexts within community.