A VIDEO performance of Australia’s national anthem sung in two languages – Aboriginal and English – formed the centrepiece of this week’s start to NAIDOC Week in Logan City, part of the national celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) culture that is focussing on Indigenous languages in 2017.
With performances by Tana Fire dance group and MC Triks, the event concluded with a ceremonial handover of an Aboriginal flag and a Torres Strait Islander flag to councillor Steve Swenson, representing Logan City Council (LCC).
It was the first time these flags have been officially presented to local government in the Logan region.
Paula Dewis, co-chair of Logan First Nations Peoples Community Coalition, which organised the NAIDOC event, said it was an acknowledgment of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and elders in the Logan area.
“We thought we would do the flag ceremony in a really different context,” she said.
“We’re on the land of the Yugambeh people here, but we would also like to acknowledge all of our other clan groups and traditional owners of the Turrbal and the Jagera, and the Yugarapul and the Mununjali people, and also the Quandamooka people in the surrounding areas here.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is all about sharing in our cultural value systems, and it’s about ensuring the wider community acknowledges and understands the way we have our connection, and that is through our languages and how we tell our stories and dance.”
According to Ms Dewis, over 600 dialects were spoken in Australia before the first permanent contact with Europeans resulted in the colonisation of the country, but today only about 250 dialects are frequently spoken.
“Language needs to be revitalised. It’s the deep connection we have. It’s about ensuring that we carry that connection on for the next generation,” she said.
“It’s also about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people knowing that we are part of the Logan community. Wherever we come from, we always have that connection, through our flags or our Dreamtime stories, our dance and our song, or even the way we have our conversations.”
Community elder Uncle Noel Summers and Leanne Smith, co-chair of Logan First Nations Peoples Community Coalition, also spoke to the gathering, which included deputy mayor Cherie Dalley and Mununjali elder Aunty Robyn Williams, who gave the welcome to country.
Language barrier broken
After receiving the flags, councillor Swenson acknowledged this was the first occasion LCC had been given ATSI flags and said that despite flag ceremonies being commonplace in Australia, accepting the flags on behalf of the council was “not something we do because we’re told to.”
“You’re teaching us the importance of preserving our language. It’s really important because the English language is so limited,” he said.
“One thing we can all do, especially is this year, is talk about what languages mean to us.
“Jimbooma means ‘place of thunder and little rain’, Mundoolun means ‘death adder’.
“We just go to Yarrabilba and we think of it as ‘that place out there’, but it’s ‘a place of song’, so it’s important that we hold onto language.
“During NAIDOC week can we all reflect on the past, can we all commit to one another, to learn from one another, and can we celebrate the goodness and the wholesomeness that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have laid a foundation for us here in Australia as a wonderful place to live, and to work in harmony for the good of our community,” Cr Swenson said.