When Aunty Diane Riley-McNaboe was a toddler, studying her Wiradjuri language carried a devastating risk.
“I grew up doing what they name ‘phrases in isolation’,” Aunty Diane says.
“I listened to a few of our Elders talking, however not entire sentences. They do what we name ‘speaking whispers’, behind buildings or timber or out bush away from the children in order that we would not be choosing up the language and be taken away.”
Her journey of overcoming that racist barrier and changing into fluent in language required tenacity and hours of workshops, weekly meet-ups with different language college students and minimal sources.
With the assistance of language advocates Stan Grant Snr and John Rudder, compilers of a Wiradjuri dictionary, she finally turned one of many first lecturers at Dubbo TAFE instructing Wiradjuri language.
Spreading the phrase
Dr Lynette Riley and Aunty Diane Riley-McNaboe share their language with grandchildren on the launch of their Wiradjuri Workbook collection at Sydney College on January 23, 2023
Now Diane and her sister, Affiliate Professor Lynette Riley, are on a mission to make Wiradjuri language and cultural sources extra accessible and entertaining for everybody.
They’ve launched a collection of seven books, titled ‘Wiradjuri Workbooks’, which can assist do exactly that.
“The books cowl issues just like the seasons, numbers, colors, sounds and animals,” Aunty Diane explains.
“Once you stroll right into a newsagency and seize an exercise ebook to do while you’re occurring a aircraft or a practice, these books are alongside those self same traces, with crosswords and find-a-words.”
Produced in collaboration with Sydney College, the collection is a wealthy cultural and language useful resource that represents an evolution in data sharing, and while any age group will profit from the sources, there’s one specific demographic they’re hoping to succeed in.
The Wiradjuri Workbook collection characteristic language and a few symbols that will also be discovered throughout totally different language teams across the nation.
Connecting with tradition
Aunty Lynette had been listening to conversations round what Division Of Youngsters’s Providers and comparable organisations have been doing with First Nations kids which have been taken off their conventional lands.
Each sisters puzzled how kids off Nation might nonetheless find out about their tradition and language after they have been away from household.
“That is what made us resolve to do these books, for kids which have been taken away and for the Stolen Technology… these adults which have been taken away after they have been kids and weren’t allowed to be taught their language and tradition.
“I imagine it is one of many largest issues for reconciliation and for therapeutic.”
Aunty Diane mentioned the workbooks provide a complement to anybody increasing their cultural data, past the lands of the Wiradjuri.
“With the image artwork, though lot of it’s Wiradjuri symbols, there’s Aboriginal symbols which are used proper throughout Australia. So these books can be utilized by lots of people which are making an attempt to grasp how we do our cloaks and do our storytelling utilizing these symbols.”
The passing on of this data is seen by the sisters as not solely a cultural useful resource, however leaving a legacy of therapeutic. Connection to Nation has many components, and figuring out the language of a spot is only the start.
“In the event you’re on Nation, you must know in regards to the nation you are dwelling on. What are these rivers named? What are their totems? What’s these totally different mountains?” she says.
“A ‘dubbo’ is a ceremonial mourning cap worn by the ladies when their companions died. To mark the legislation that no man was to come back close to that girl whereas she was going by mourning. Narromine or Ngarru Mayin is ‘honey individuals’.
“So if you are going to go throughout Nation and also you’re utilizing Aboriginal language, should not you realize what they imply? I believe it is vital.”
The Wiradjuri Workbooks could be accessed by way of