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Showing posts from 2007

it's alive!

Yes I'm still alive. Hi all. The last couple of months have been pretty huge... no chance of letting you in on all the goings on but here's a summary: - Was starting to really hit the wall at Ngukurr and feeling burned out. Felt the need to think seriously about medium to long-term plans - In the middle of that was a mammoth trip to the Indigenous languages Conference in Adelaide. Three of the guys I work with at Ngukurr came along. It was exhausting but great. We did a presentation that went very well (including a few tears and a choked up presenter... hmmm... that would be me!) - Then i turned 30!! - then i had a month off while my mami SN helped out with things at the Ngukurr Language Centre. Thanks mami. (You can read some of her stories on 'Finding A Voice' - click the link to the right) - I went to Dublin to visit my sister for two weeks. Hi sis! - Then came back to Katherine to find a tricky situation at work whereby I felt obligated to temporarily take

djatam!

So the other day, I was dropping all the language mob home after we'd been at Ngukurr School teaching language for the afternoon, when 5 men in the back of the troopy, our Ritharrŋu and Wägilak teachers, very quickly raised their feet off the floor saying dja t am! dja t am! And this is why:

the Intervention part 2

This week was a rough week, with another community meeting held by public servants from the Intervention. This time it was to tell the community about the changes to the CDEP program. CDEP is an employment program subsidised by the Government. It is similar to work for the dole, but slightly different in that the wage is a little higher, it isn't compulsory, it is easy for employees to receive top-up wages or do work extra work and you actually have a supervisor and manager and can build training and employment pathways into your job. CDEP has been working really well here for the past year or more providing employment to over 120 people. More than just provide employment, it helps Ngukurr provide services that we wouldn't otherwise be able to fund. The areas that rely heavily on support from CDEP employment are: creche, art centre, language centre, aged care, mechanic's workshop, builder's workshop, garbage collection, swimming pool/sport'n'rec/after schoo

Mal Brough's 1st 'good work' sticker

At Ngukurr, there is a community swimming pool. It is clean, free and provides great fun for dozens of kids each day who go there after school and on saturdays to have a good time. the place is run and supervised by a team of local workers who are employed by the CDEP program. When the health dept came to look at the pool, there were no problems found - it was clean and well maintained. The benefits to the pool at Ngukurr are: -keeping kids amused and entertained thereby giving parents and grandparents who look after big families in overcrowded houses and little bit of respite -improving kids health - swimming in the chlorinated water keeps kids' skin clean and thereby reducing the stress on the local clinic for treating scabies, skin sores etc. which can be common problems in communities -employment and training for local ppl on CDEP who work in the pool, many of whom now have their bronze medallion, a bit of training that comes in very handy. So why does Mal Brough get a goo

"no rubber stamp"

If you would like to do *something* to voice your concerns about the legislation currently going through Parliament, GetUp! has set up a campaign where you can email comments to senators about the legislation before Tuesday's vote. Go to: http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/NoRubberStamp&id=57 It's not much, but better than feeling completely powerless.

senate

The government's intervention legislation is being discussed in the senate today. I'm still disgusted and disheartened by the government's actions - mostly with the process and approach they've taken with the whole affair, but also with some of the things that they're legislating (e.g. needing to suspend the racial discrimination act to pass through the legislation... surely that's gotta raise alarm bells). It's all pretty depressing, especially when you feel so powerless to change what's happening. And that's exactly the reason why ppl are complaining about the paternalistic approach and lack of consultation - it's leaves ppl feeling completely disempowered... And so today, some of the most important legislation concerning Ngukurr ppl is going through the senate, but ppl here at Ngukurr are barely aware of it. It is not fair and it is not just.

The Intervention

Well, the survey team representing the government's 'intervention' came and went yesterday. Firstly, the communication about the whole thing was poor. There were no announcements about them coming. The local council had to chase up the information themselves about when and what they were doing. Even yesterday, no one knew for sure if there would be a community meeting or if discussions would be 'behind closed doors' so to speak. But they arrived. Norforce came first and just before lunch a team of public servants came. They first met with the local council and then held a public community meeting. The meeting started with a representative from Darwin's FACSIA office running through the main points of the intervention: non-compulsory health checks, increased police, tying centrelink payments to school attendance, the wind-up of CDEP, removal of the permit system for the town area and emphasised that this was all in the name of protecting children and keepin

here i am

so slow with posting... sorry. so much happens and i have so much to share but so much of what happens is going by unblogged. also, the politics (intervention etc.) is getting me down and is so overwhelming that i just don't know where to start blogging about it. but i've had pretty good week at work. most of it has been out bush seeing places that i haven't seen before. Tuesday was a day trip to Walgundu with is a special site with rock art n lots of stories n history. The highlight was hanging out with some Alawa speakers that I used work with quite a bit and finally doing a bit of language work on Alawa again. Wednesday was in the office and the CDEP team worked so well - they're such a good team at the moment. But they're the ones pushing me to work! They made a gazillion flashcards for teaching and then we got through a fair bit of a Kriol translation job we're doing. Which is tiring but definitely not a bad thing! And Thursday/Friday was an overn

Politics and getting on with it

I've found all the politics stuff that's been in the news lately really full on. I've been thinking about it lots and have had lots to say, but then at the same time, I don't quite know what to say and don't quite know what to think. Generally though, I find it pretty scary what the government is doing - and I think the fear comes about from the poor communication - when no one can tell you or knows what's happening, you can't really reassure yourself that everything's okay. One thing I can say though, is that the government's actions definitely have political motivations - no one can convince me otherwise of that. I was a bit depressed about it all a week or so ago, but I sorta came to the conclusion that I'll just get on with what we're trying to do here and then the proof (of our worth) will be in the pudding. And have we been doing some good work or what? The 4 ppl working with me on CDEP are doing really well at the moment and are a

the worst

I am really scared about what the government's doing with their 'National emergency response'. So much so, that I really just want to put my head in the sand because thinking about what might happen is terrifying, but putting my head in the sand is not going to be very helpful. I've started reading the 'Little children are sacred' report (from the inquiry into child protection from sexual abuse) and the government's response and I'll comment as I go along. One very important point stands out in the very first recommendation of the report - a point that Howard's government seems to have missed totally. "It is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities." Let me repeat that: "It is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities." That recommendation h

no-no

Occasionally, I get asked if there's any meaning behind the names of the languages we work with here, like, if a similar thing happens here that you get on the east coast where language names are sometimes derived for the word for 'no, nothing' in that language (e.g. Gooreng gooreng (from Bundaberg area) is the word for 'no' reduplicated). That doesn't happen here but I like to think what the languages would be called if that *did* happen here: Marluy marluy Mandi mandi Gatjja gatjja Waba waba Waari waari hehe... sounds funny. But then the other day I realised that it *does* happen for one of the languages here, although only informally and in casual speech... I realised that I've regularly ppl talking about Yolŋu or Ritharrŋu / Wägilak mob and referring to them as 'yaka bayaŋu mob'. Neat!

Pidgin and creoles workshop

Last week we had a big week in town (Katherine). We had two days with Batchelor and then three days with the Education Department for a Language Revitalisation Workshop. One of the highlights was working with Batchelor's linguistics students. They were in Katherine for a week-long workshop on Pidgins and Creoles. Their lecturer approached us to present something about the creole spoken at Ngukurr so we did a three hour session with them which was enjoyed by everyone. Usmob really enjoyed meeting the linguistics students and finding out where they’re from. They came from all over: Torres Strait, Desert, Western NSW, Victoria, Palm Island and came from different backgrounds (but all Indigenous). And they really enjoyed meeting the guys from Ngukurr and learning a bit about Kriol. It was just one of those lovely sharing experiences, but also included lots of discussion, opining and more. I was reflecting on why I enjoyed the session with them so much. One reason was that being

Marra and elan

The Marra team I work with here is just getting stronger and stronger. Their latest achievement is learning some basic skills on elan - which is a program linguists use where you can link sound to text - it helps a lot when you're transcribing and translating texts and it's good for listening to audio and reading along with it. So JJ, AJ and AD who are all on CDEP and the language centre have all learned to use elan a little bit - selecting and playing the sound files while reading the annotated text, as well as entering in the text so that it then attaches itself to the soundfile. And the wonderful FR has been helping us with the transcriptions and translations because the rest of us are all still learning Marra. So in the past two weeks we've transcribed and translated a 9-minute story in Marra spoken by an old lady a couple of years ago. It's been a good learning experience for me too. Here's a little bit of the story: ... wala-yurranyi na-warlja. Guwarda-niw

wildlife

Okay, I'm rubbish at taking photos. I average about one a month when in reality there's thousands of things I could be taking great photos of. But here's a couple of wildlife pics. First one is 'urban' wildlife, my neighbour who is looking after a wallaby that was rescued after its mum become roadkill... so cute! The second one is a big momma Praying Mantis sitting happily on the pandanus i planted at the language centre two and a half years ago (planted from seeds, i might add... I'm very proud of my pandanus).

running roughshod over Traditional Owners

Borroloola is a town/community south-east of Ngukurr and the two places have strong ties. The NT Govt is running roughshod over the locals and Traditional Owners who are trying to legally stop a mine expansion and the diversion of their river(!). It's absolutely shameful. My gagu has been writing about it on his blog. Click on the link to 'matjjin-nehen' there on the right please. If there was something more I could suggest you do, I'd ask you to do it, but I don't know what we can do! Very sad indeed.

hear hear

From ABC News website: --- Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser says the Federal Government has ignored most of a major report on the removal of Indigenous Australians from their families. In the lead up to next month's 10-year anniversary of the 'Bringing Them Home' report, Mr Fraser has attacked the Government's handling of Indigenous affairs, saying it has regressed. Mr Fraser says neither the Federal Government nor the Opposition is showing any real interest in Aboriginal affairs. He says more money needs to be spent on health, and education has gone backwards. Mr Fraser, who is a co-patron of the Stolen Generations Alliance, says there is no stark point of difference between the two major parties on Aboriginal affairs. He says the Federal Government should follow the Canadian Government's example. "The Canadians have shown a very real interest in resolving these problems," he said. "The kind of interest that hasn't come from Canberra, [from]

some bushman i am

The school started its bush trips again today, now that the wet seasons gone and the roads are dry (well.. dryish). And so me n JJ gathered a few old people to go out bush and teach kids language and culture. We were a bit early so we stopped on the way and old DB started cutting wood to make boomerangs. I started helping, chopping off a branch with an axe, and next thing a bit of wood flew in my eye! It was very uncomfortable and I couldn't wash it out. By the time the other troopies came by with all the kids, I'd had enough and asked JJ to take me back to Ngukurr so I could go to the clinic. So they dropped me off and then went back to join the excursion. And me, well, standing in the waiting room, the bit of wood came out of my eye all by itself and so I walked home feeling relieved and rather silly.

I heart language revitalisation

Today we recorded my little banji reading a Marra story that goes like this: Manabarru Nana ninya manabarru. Wagmin nana manabarru. Wiji gana wa-jinja nana ninya. Gana nyardin-gugi, wagmin. Nana ninya manabarru, marluy gana ngalgi-wugi. Marluy. Guda. These words were spoken by FR and we turned it into a little storybook that we have been using in the school program. A translation of the story is: Buffalo This is a buffalo. The buffalo is black. It eats grass. It's skin is black. The buffalo doesn't have a skin name (subsection). Nothing. That's all. My little banji, JF, is about 12 and he read the story pretty well. It's pretty special for a 12 year old kid to be able to read that story in a language which is only spoken by a few old people. Lots of credit to the Marra team here at Ngukurr who do a wonderful job. I heart language revitalisation.

Jidan kwait!

I learned another good word today (courtesy of AJ and old FR): Ngayab-gumi . Ngayab-gumi is a Marra word meaning 'jidan kwait' in Kriol (lit: Sit down quiet) and it's a very useful word to use in the classroom for the Marra students who tend to get a bit restless (which is nearly all of them, nearly all of the time!). The English translation of the Kriol phrase 'jidan kwait', isn't as straightforward as it seems. You'd be inclined to translate it literally as 'sit quietly', but I recently learned that you can be told to 'jandap en jidan kwait', which makes no sense when translated literally because you are telling someone to stand up and sit down quietly. But to 'jandap en jidan kwait' means more like 'stand up and be good/don't move/behave yourself/don't talk'. And so I think the best translation of 'jidan kwait' might be 'behave yourself'. But anyway, I'll just embrace the Marra version, Ngay

jahbony

This time of year there's only two ways to leave Ngukurr: either on a very small aeroplane or as shown - by a 30min/1hr boat ride up to Fomail (which is still 300kms from Katherine). Which is what I did the other day. And now I'm having a lovely Easter in Katherine. I wonder if I'll get to drive back to Ngukurr?

yo manymak wäwa!

My wäwa, BW, rocks. Here a few reasons why. (He's the one in the middle. He gave me this photo today, it was taken last month while he was in Melbourne). He likes to teach anyone and everyone his language Wägilak. He cleans the council office here everyday and he's been teaching the Accounts woman a few bits of Wägilak. She came up to me going 'B keeps teaching me his language but I don't know what he's saying!'. So I asked him what he's been teaching her and then I wrote it down for her, and she knows it now. So every morning when BW asks her Nhämirri nhe? (how are you?) she answers, Manymak (good). BW has started committing himself to teaching Wägilak in our school classes and he's excellent. He has authority with the kids and is a natural gifted teacher. Today, I sat down with him and my gaburani (uncle) DW and they made a new song to teach the little kids (to the tune of london bridge is falling down): Detuŋdja ŋay djirryuna djirryuna djir

last kapula weeks

Hey sorry. I haven't posted for a while. To play catch-up I'll just have to summarise the last couple of weeks, but I'm going to do it in the style of my real banji (brother-in-law), who describes things as a 'F' (big 'f') - which is a good thing and then 'f' (little 'f') - which is a not-so-good thing. Here's a summary of the last couple of weeks working here at Ngukurr: F - an amazing session working with old MT on Marra. FR and BR were also there, creating a very rare Marra speech community. We recorded some conversation. MT *demanded* I speak Marra to her ("You've been here long enough!"), which was extremely difficult but fun. We translated and transcribed 6 minutes of Marra in 3 hours. JJ and AJ learned some basic skills on ELAN. It was pretty spectacular. F - helping three artists with stories for their entries to the 27th Telstra Aboriginal Art Award. Not only do I love learning about the art, I also get a

blijiman

I learned a cool new Rembarrnga word yesterday. Me n my wawa were listening to an old recording of him telling a story and halfway, I lost what he was talking about. "We saw two policeman", he translated for me. But I couldn't hear where he was talking about any blijiman (Kriol for policeman). And so my wawa taught me that Rembarrnga has its own word for policeman (which is what he said on the recording): Nguwahjœrrœ . It's my favourite new word which I'm going to use now, and say, " Nguwahjœrrœ baganh! ". (There's a policeman there!). Note: Question for further thought - What's the cultural significance of the fact that the Rembarrnga word for policeman incorporates the Rembarrnga word for 'cheeky' or 'a thing to be wary of'...

bunggul man

Last week, I danced bunggul for the first time. (Bunggul is a form of traditional dancing from Arnhem Land.) It was so fun. I loved it, but it was bloody difficult and I was feeling very self-conscious. Bunggul is performed here for funerals and other ceremonial occasions, like when there is an opening and other things like that. Well, last week, this bloke from England was hanging around and talking to the bunggul mob about touring overseas. (They are very good dancers and musicians). And so they had a bit of a bunggul session at the school so this guy could videotape them. So it wasn’t for any big occasion, that’s why I could pluck up the courage to give it a go. And I’m glad I did. I’ve been to watch bunggul a few times now and people keep saying to me, half-joking, half-serious, “Come on Wamut, you now!”. I’ve always wanted to have a go, but been too embarrassed. But I thought to myself, I better just do it, or else people will stop asking me and I’ll miss the opportunity

Permits review - please submit something

The permit system (where you need a permit to be on Aboriginal Land) is under review and submissions are due next Wednesday! (Feb 28). All options are on the table - from no change, to removing the permit system altogether. I don't know a link that provides more info, but maybe email me or leave a comment - I'm trying to get a hold of the NLC newsletter that talks about the matter. I urge everyone to think about making a submission. I'm against changing the system because I worry about taking away power from communities/Traditional Owners. They're oppressed enough as it is. Any individual or organisation can send a submission. Address it to: Greg Roche Assistant Secretary, Land Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination Woden ACT 2606 Fax: 02 6282 3601 Email: greg.roche at facsia dot gov dot au I think the government's trying to rush this through before the election and it's got me very worried.

a bit of waagilak

This one's for you mami . My waawa BW and muluri AP were hanging around a bit today and BW asked about SN. AP translated my reply into Waagilak: (note: i haven't checked my spelling and don't know how to put in Yolngu matha characters either. forgive!) Banggul'yurru ngay ngulbitj dhang, ngarndimuya (She's coming back cold season time, your mother). Then BW and AP told me what to say next: Barri ngay banggul'yurru babang' mirri nu (Might be she's coming back with your father) (That is, she might be bringing back a husband) And we all chuckled. Then the next bit was for my privelege: Ngarra ya yang'ngaraya nhina na baman'nu, birr (I've stayed here for a long time now, shit.) Ngarraya barri matha mirri nu banggul'yurru. (I might go back speaking language.) Too deadly eh? Thanks guys. :-)

Nagooka, Nooka and Ngukurr

[Update (Oct 2012): go here for a more recent post and video about pronouncing Ngukurr] Before I came to Ngukurr, I already had a good idea how ‘Ngukurr’ should be pronounced (because I’m a clever linguist). I remember laughing at a story I heard long before I came here of a white person who called this place ‘Nagooka’. That’s the worst mispronounciation I’ve heard of. Less worse, but still wrong, is what the majority of munanga say, which is ‘Nooka’. I hear some munanga say, ‘oh the g is silent’. The g isn’t silent, it’s there – it goes with the n . The ng is the same ng you get when you say ‘singing’. But in English, you don’t get the ng sound at the beginning of words, so most munanga have a very hard time hearing and saying the ng . Secondly, the two u s in Ngukurr are pronounced the same – like the u in ‘put’. But most munanga turn the second u into an ‘ah’ sound. Lastly – the double r . It’s not silent. It’s a rolled r , we don’t get that in English either

fresh

Here I was starting to wonder if my job here is becoming a bit stale. Today was one of those not so exciting days where our main job was to scour the school roll, sorting kids into language groups and organising where, when and how to run our school classes… not really something I need my linguistic skills for, just a long-winded adminstrative task. But it’s funny how things can just turn around. Old F has been keen to work with these old Marra ladies (the world’s best Marra speakers) who are usually either at their remote outstation, or in Numbulwar (inaccesible this time of year). But she saw those old ladies here in Ngukurr today. And so at the end of the day, sick of my admin tasks, I went to Old F to see if she wanted to sit down with the two old ladies. And she did – she’s been hanging out to check the Marra materials she makes). So we went off to ask them. And it was the best ever! The three of them sat for an hour, speaking Marra 80% of the time. I sat there quietly, rec

back in Ngukurr

I got back to Ngukurr on Sunday. I actually felt like a real adventurer going deep into the wilds. I had to drive 40kms down a very soggy and muddy unsealed road until I got to 4mile boat ramp, on a very swollen Roper River. From there, a boat made the 1 hour trip up the Roper to get me and take me back to Ngukurr. And now I'm here, and I could be here for a couple of months because the roads will be cut for quite a while. So yes, I feel a bit like I'm in wild depths of Australia. (But not really, because this place is far from foreign for me now). So I'm straight back into work. The last few weeks, some of the language mob have been working with another lady. She's not a qualified linguist, but it was good to have her around to keep things moving along in my absence. And so the language mob had to work a bit more independently. Their task was to make a book about bush medicine. And they did a great job. R and A wrote short stories for about 10 bush medicine

not-so-hypothetical scenario

Okay, here's a scenario that happened to me a few weeks ago. I didn't know what to do. What would you do? You're on holidays in Broome, staying at a nice resort having a relaxing time. You go to the cafe/restaurant for an afternoon coffee and you're sitting there reading a really good book. Tourist season is long gone so it's quiet - actually, you're the only one there at that point in time - so it's extra relaxing. You're into your book and enjoying your coffee. Out of the corner of your eye you notice other people coming in, so you glance up and then go back to what you were reading. When you go back to you book, you realise you've just seen the Prime Minister and his wife. You look up again and they've gone behind you to the back to sit down and have some lunch while one of their minder sits quietly and the door to the restaurant. Understandably, you're in a bit of shock, feeling nervous/excited.... what do you do next???? And so

getting there...

I've had a lovely long holiday and am feeling much less burnt out... I'm back at work in Katherine and it's nearly time for me to go back to Ngukurr. I don't feel quite ready (not sure if I can ever be really ready) but getting there... I'll start posting stuff again soon, but hello to anyone reading this and hope you had a loverly Christmas and New Years.