Speak louder than words...

Wadda Mooli… that’s Birri-Gubba for hello, how you going.

This week is Reconciliation Week. The theme of the week is Be Brave. Make Change.

 At school we ran a competition with students and staff to submit a response to the question, 'What does reconciliation mean to you?'.

A daunting task I discovered that laid bare the inadequate education I have around the topic. Where to start? At home… my local area, the land on which the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people are the traditional landowners of. I found there wasn't much information about them. Wulgurkaba are the ‘Canoe People’ which I thought was cool. I pictured a seafaring people moving between the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. I thought ‘why are my kids watching movies about Moana and Polynesian history, when they don’t know about our own history?’.  

As I read more and more, I found I was particularly interested in the language... or what I saw as only accounts of it. A word here, or some phrases there. The language, Wulgurukaba, was described as 'extinct' or 'ancient'. Archaeological sites in the area date back over 10,000 years... but in 300 years we've lost a language. We can't imagine the link to a place that Indigenous Australian's have... how can we? I have a connection to this place because I remember the way the grass looks, or the way the water tastes, or the way the air smells. And I've only been here for 30 years. Imagine being here for 10,000 years the connection that you must feel. And there's a language that goes hand in hand with that connection.

When we say sunset, it could be anywhere around the world. The world is a universal English one used to describe that event. A beach, from on top of a mountain, in the outback… same sun, same word. But Namuru. That's the Wulgurukaba word for sunset and it's unique to this place. I think there's something special and powerful in that. The sunset over Rowes Bay in Townsville painting the sky with oranges and pinks… but the feeling of it and the way the breeze and sea feel and smell and the cloud formations… all connected to a place. We can all share that feeling that comes from one word.

So... the change that I want to make is around language in our schools. Let's celebrate, learn and use our local language and build our indigenous cultures back up. Let's say that we are proud of these languages and share them. In schools, let's not use the names of ships or captains or foreign animals or invaders… let’s use Indigenous names. Our schools’ sports houses are named after the Palm Island group… here’s my idea; Goolboddi (Orpheus) Buli (Kangaroos), Yanooa (Pelorus) Sarpaye (Torres Strait Warriors), Eumilli (Phantom) Bururu (Sharks) and Carbooroo (Falcon) Maybiya (Crocodiles).

Language is a small part of the journey… but it’s a journey that we all need to be on.

#NRW2022 #BEBRAVEMAKECHANGE