NATIONAL TALK BLACK – 24/07/2025
On todays National Talk Black via NIRS – National Indigenous Radio Service we have:
Desmond Crump, The University of Queensland Course Lecturer and Industry Fellow (Indigenous Languages), talking about Finding a “little language family” with Australia’s first Indigenous language revitalisation program. Mid-year graduates crossed the stage for the University of Queensland’s inaugural class of UQ’s Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalisation. The Graduate Certificate is designed by Indigenous language experts to empower First Nations people to reclaim and share their languages by learning how to develop resources and apply research. Course lecturer and Industry Fellow (Indigenous Languages) Desmond Crump said the inaugural cohort was made up of 13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from 11 language groups, stretching from the Torres Strait to northern New South Wales. The Graduate Certificate is part of a larger national effort to support the resurgence of First Nations languages and empower the leaders behind that change. You can find out more via the link below!
https://news.uq.edu.au/2025-07-finding-little-language…
TicTac Moore, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation Programs Manager, talking about Children’s Books from Yirrkala Reflect Yolŋu Life, Language and Country. Yirrkala School is a remote school in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and has a long-standing program of bilingual, ‘both ways’ education. Three beautiful picture books have been created in Community that reflect Yolŋu life, Language and Country.
Published by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), these books were facilitated in a workshop with ILF Lifetime Ambassador Alison Lester, children’s author Jane Godwin and designer Lee Burgemeestre. On the Way to Yalaŋbara is written and illustrated by two respected Elders of the Yolŋu people of North East Arnhem Land Community, Rärriwuy Garramu Marika and Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs. Their book is a story of family and Country, based on a real-life adventure to the sacred homeland of Yalaŋbara. Djawundil Maymara is a Maŋgalili woman raised by a Gumatj Elder. She is a Yolŋu mother and grandmother from Bawaka in North East Arnhem Land and has written Ŋäṉḏi ga Gatapaŋa (Mum and the Buffalo) with illustrations from children at Yirrkala School. Written in Dhuwaya and English, this book is also a fun adventure about a family’s unexpected encounter with a buffalo while out collecting pandanus. Guḻun’ (Billabong) was created by the children at Yirrkala School and is a counting book written in Dhuwaya and English that introduces twelve local animals found around the billabong. You can find out more via the link below! (Photo Credits: The Courier Mail)
Heidi Tait, Tangaroa Blue CEO, talking about Registrations Now Open for the 2025 Great Barrier Reef Clean-up. Registrations have officially opened for the 2025 Great Barrier Reef Clean-up, a flagship initiative of Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s ReefClean® program, delivered in collaboration with Clean Up Australia. Running throughout October, the event invites schools, businesses, community groups and individuals across the Reef catchment to host clean-ups at their local beach, creek, river or reef. Participants receive free clean-up kits and support to organise their event, making it easy to take part in protecting Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. In 2024, more than 1,800 volunteers removed over 97,000 items of marine debris across 147 clean-up sites. Now in its seventh year, the Great Barrier Reef Clean-up continues to unite communities in a shared mission to protect the Reef from marine debris and its impacts. Register a clean-up and receive your free clean-up kits at the link below!
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