Yaka Tala
Oorala Aboriginal Centre
Pronounced Yugga Dulla meaning ‘I Speak’
No.2.
Message from the Director
This year has been a very busy year.
The Oorala staff and I have been
planning new and innovative ways to
assist both our students and the UNE
in delivering services and programs
that assist our students on their
learning journey. Next year will see
the Oorala Student Services Team
move into newly renovated office
accommodation within our building.
OORA100
Aboriginal Resilience and the Arts
This is a new unit, offered in Trimesters 1 and 2 2013, for those
interested in examining Aboriginal people's successes in overcoming
oppressive social conditions through a variety of cultural expressions
throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
It unpacks human resilience by focusing on traditional practices of art,
ceremony, storytelling and music to demonstrate cultural vitality.
OORA200
Working with Aboriginal People
This unit examines the history of relationships between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal peoples, using the notion of whiteness to understand
dispossession, resistance, adaptation and survival of Aboriginal peoples
in Australia. Models of community development and cultural awareness
will enable students to develop strategies to equip them in working
with Aboriginal people in a variety of professional practices.
The Student Services Team of
Oorala will soon relocate from
the Oorala Administration Office
area into the former TRACKS
Teaching Room. This is to house
our growing team to better
service our students.
Choosing to come to university is
not an easy decision and we again
congratulate all those students
who started studying this year and
would like to encourage you in your
learning journey.
Please don’t be ashamed to come
and have a yarn with staff either
in person, on the telephone, using
our 1800 number, email or by using
Facebook. We will try to assist in any
way we can.
OORA200 is offered in Trimester 1 and 2.
To find out more
OORA200: http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2013/units/OORA200
OORA100: http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2013/units/OORA100
contact the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, UNE, on (02) 6773 3034
Behind the scenes this year, I, Rose
Lovelock and Guido Posthausen
received a Unit Commendation for
the undergraduate unit OORA200,
this is the first time Oorala has
received this. Next year the
undergraduate units being taught
from Oorala will be mandatory units
of several undergraduate programs
of the UNE and we look forward to
the rewards and challenges we face
as we enter a new era in offering
undergraduate programs across the
university.
Nature is painting
for us, day after day,
pictures of infinite
beauty if only we have
eyes to see them …
Next year, plans include the
establishment of both an ‘Elder in
Residence’ and a Regional Advisory
Council to assist both the UNE and
the Oorala Centre in maintaining
links to community and keeping the
cultural safety and integrity of the
Centre’s programs in check. Stay
tuned.
As this is the last newsletter until
2014 may I wish you and yours a
happy and safe Christmas and New
Year and look forward to seeing and
hearing from you all in 2014.
Thank you to all involved withYaka
Tala, for contributions, suggestions
and input.
If you would like to be involved with
or have a contribution for Yaka Tala,
please email:
[email protected]
All the best, Debra Bennell.
John Ruskin (1819 – 1900)
The duck family, recent visitors to the
Oorala Aboriginal Centre.
1 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Meeting With NSW Fair Trading – September 2013
Mr Rod Stowe, Commissioner
for Fair Trading NSW, Mr Andrew
Gavrielatos, Assistant Commissioner
for Fair Trading NSW and Mr Paul
Coles, Regional Manager (North) for
Fair Trading NSW, were in Armidale
to announce the winners of the 6th
Annual Armidale Fair Trading Centre
Aboriginal Art Competition and
called in to Oorala Centre to visit
with Ms Debra Bennell, Director:
www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/
ftw/About_us/News_and_events/
Media_releases/2013_media_
releases/20130830_art_competition_
winners_armidale.page
The visit was not only an
introduction but to discuss how
the Department of Fair Trading and
Oorala might work together and
what kinds of support would be
mutually beneficial. It is hoped that
the services of the department will
culminate in future workshops, to
be held at Oorala, aimed at students
and the community, to better
inform the community on a range of
consumer matters.
L to R Paul Coles, Regional Manager (North), Mr
Rod Stowe, Commissioner, Ms Debra Bennell,
Director Oorala, Mr Andrew Gavrielatos,
Assistant Commissioner - Fair Trading NSW
personnel visit to Oorala
Department of Educaton Scholarships for Aboriginal Students – September 2013
Pamela Widders, Team Leader,
Employment and Aboriginal
Career Development Unit, Staff
Services, Aboriginal Liaison Officer
and Teacher with Department
of Education (pictured front row
second from left) visited the
Oorala Centre to talk with the
2 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
Oorala TRACKS and TAFE students
about Scholarship opportunities
for Aboriginal students studying
Education.
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Mapping and Embedding Indigenous Knowledges
In 2013, the Oorala Centre has
embarked on a project to both map
and embed Indigenous knowledges
into the curriculum across the
university. The project will firstly
map where in curriculum Indigenous
knowledges are located, what level
they are and how they are scaffolded
into curriculum and assessed.
Ms Lynelle Watts & Mr David
Hodgson, Social Work, Edith Cowan
University, WA, were invited to
attend Oorala on 23rd and 24th
September to give a presentation to
the Oorala staff, UNE School of Law
and School of Social Work staff and
any invited/interested attendees and
deliver their findings and offer some
round table discussions on how their
research on this subject may be able
to assist us with our project.
Presentation Abstract: Assessments
are key to university curriculums and
significantly pre-occupy academics
and students experiences of Higher
Education. In this workshop the
presenters will outline a project
they have been working on to
map assessment activities in a
social work curriculum to the
kinds of capabilities expected of a
graduate of a Level 7 course within
the Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF). The framework
and methodology developed would
be broadly transferable to other
discipline areas that would benefit
from curriculum development,
mapping and systematic integration
of either content, learning
outcomes, or assessment at a
whole of curriculum level (i.e.,
beyond that of a single unit, subject,
or module of study). The project
draws on principles of backward
design to emphasise the following
skills and attributes of students
studying a Bachelor Level course of
study: critical thinking; judgment;
reflective practice; creativity; moral
development; problem solving;
emotional and social regulation;
and, communication. The presenters
will discuss how they arrived at this
framework, the kinds of assessment
tasks and activities that would assist
students in attaining these qualities,
and how to map assessments in
curriculums back to this framework.
This workshop would be of interest
to anyone interested, involved and
responsible for quality in curriculum
development.
“A wise teacher does not ask you to enter the
house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the
threshold of your mind”. Kahlil Gibran
3 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
2014 Scholarship – Roberta Sykes Indigenous Foundation
2014 ROBERTA SYKES
HARVARD CLUB SCHOLARSHIP
The Roberta Sykes Indigenous Foundation, in conjunction with the
Harvard Club of Australia, is offering a fully funded scholarship for
one Indigenous Australian to undertake a postgraduate degree at
Harvard University commencing in August 2014.
Applications for the Roberta Sykes Harvard Club
Scholarship close on 15 December 2013.
The value of the Scholarship is up to $60,000 per
annum to be paid over the course of the scholar’s
study. The Scholarship covers university fees, travel
costs and living expenses.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
t
be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
t
be accepted to the Harvard graduate school of
their choice
t
be able to demonstrate that their studies will be
of benefit to their community upon their return to
Australia.
Selection of successful applications will be based on:
t
academic merit
t
the applicant’s past and future contributions
to Indigenous communities and the wider
community
Roberta Sykes – c. early 1980s
i
For more details about the Roberta Sykes Harvard Club Scholarship, please go to
www.robertasykesfoundation.com.au. If you have any questions or wish to discuss
your application, please contact Tess Crellin on [email protected]
.
4 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network Symposium for 2013 (NIRAKN)
Debra Bennell, Director, Oorala
and Johnnie Aseron, UNE Visiting
Academic, attended the NIRAKN
Symposium for 2013 which was
held in Rockhampton, Queensland.
The following is the Media Release
regarding this Network Australian Government - Australian
Research Council (ARC) Media Release
15 July 2013
CLOSING THE GAP BY BUILDING
INDIGENOUS RESEARCH
A new Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Researchers’ Network will
help to close the higher education
gap by supporting aspiring postgraduate and mid-career Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander researchers,
and build our Indigenous research
capacity.
The Australian Government is
providing $3.2 million over four years
for the new Network, to be opened
today by Australian Research Council
CEO, Professor Aidan Byrne.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people are under-represented
among researchers, higher degree
research student enrolments and
completions. Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students made up
1.1% of higher degree by research
students at university, and 0.8%
of all higher degree by research
completions in 2010. This highlights
a need for strategic investment to
support Indigenous researchers to
pursue research degrees and research
careers,” Professor Byrne said.
Funded through the ARC’s Special
Research Initiatives scheme,
the Queensland University of
Technology will lead the new
National Indigenous Research and
Knowledges Network (NIRAKN)
together with nine collaborating
institutions across the country, the
Australian Institute for Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Studies,
and five Partner Organisations.
“The initiative is aimed at creating
a national collaborative Network—
harnessing the leadership of skilled
and experienced university-based
Indigenous researchers with strong
track records—who will build a
research program to mentor those in
their early careers, to improve their
chances of staying on, filling research
positions and pursuing successful
research careers,” Professor Byrne
said.
“It will create pathways for
Indigenous researchers from
undergraduate to post-graduate
studies, establishing a pipeline of
new researchers, across institutions,
disciplines and areas of critical
research importance.
The new network will be led by
Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson
from the Queensland University
of Technology. The Network will
have an interconnected national
presence, administered from a
central hub based at QUT, with
‘spokes’ of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander researchers located
throughout Australia. Each ‘spoke’
will focus on one of four research
programs: Indigenous Sociology
and Knowledges, Indigenous Law,
Indigenous Health, and Yuraki –
History, Politics and Culture.
The nine collaborating Australian
universities involved in the Network
are: Central Queensland University;
Charles Darwin University; The
Australian National University;
The University of Newcastle; The
University of Western Australia;
University of Tasmania; University of
Technology, Sydney; The University
of Melbourne; and University of
Wollongong.
Five partner organisations have
committed a further $2.1 million
in cash and $3.4 million in kind
towards the new network: Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Healing
Foundation; National Congress of
Australia’s First Peoples; Ninti One
Limited; South Coast Women’s
Health and Welfare Aboriginal
Corporation; and the United Nations
University.
For more information on the ARC’s
Special Research Initiative for an
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Researchers’ Network, visit:
www.arc.gov.au
Better than a thousand useless words is one
single word that gives peace. The Dhammapada
5 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Cultural Perspectives and the Oral Narrative
The Oorala Aboriginal Centre and
UNE School of Law presented a 2 day
program on 16-17/10/13, including
an interactive evening performance
of Aboriginal Australian, Native
American and Tibetan Music and
Storytelling on the evening of the
17th October.
The program was facilitated by
Jacqueline Williams, Postdoc
Research Fellow, UNE AgLaw
(Aust Centre for Agriculture & Law)
and Johnnie Aseron, UNE Visiting
Academic and explored ideas about
working together, as individuals,
organisations and/or community
members. Content covered included Collaborative Investigation Parameters
ř¨Ÿ§¨¥’Ÿ’—–§¬’¡•¥’”§œ”–ň§›–¢¥¬
and methodology investigation)
ř¡™’™– –¡§§¥’§–™œ–¦Ń
Collaborative Innovation in Design
Space –
Procedures and Practice ř•¨”’§œ¢¡Ńœ™›–¥•¨”’§œ¢¡
Participation and Pathways
ř
¡•œ™–¡¢¨¦–¢£Ÿ–¦¢©–¥¡’¡”–
/ Environmental Law / Natural
Resource
Governance ř¢ŸŸ’“¢¥’§œ©–¢©–¥¡’¡”–
structure(s)
ř’£’”œ§¬ª’¥–¡–¦¦’¡•’£’”œ§¬
Raising/Building (social capital,
cultural capital)
ř¢ £¢¡–¡§¦—¢¥™–¡¨œ¡–
partnerships, stakeholder – ship,
identifying challenges/obstacles
A unique two days of sharing cultural
expression ended with a special
gathering of many cultures at the
Oorala Centre on the evening of 17th
October. Through an extraordinary
L to R: Mrs Mary Barber, Linc Yow Yeh, Nick Larkins, Vice Chancellor Professor Jim Barber, Tenzin
Choegyal, Chancellor The Hon Mr John Watkins, Ms Debra Bennell, Director Oorala, Johnnie Aseron,
UNE Visiting Academic and not pictured is Ms Jacqueline Williams, Postdoc Research Fellow, UNE
AgLaw.
effort from many contributors,
(sponsored through a collaborative
effort between UNE School of Law Ag
Law Centre and the Oorala Centre),
two days of intensive discussions and
sharing of experience culminated
in a many cultured performance
that included Australian Aboriginal,
Tibetan, Native American and Irish
Australian stories and songs. For
all in attendance it was a special
evening exemplifying different
cultural expressions working
together to create a wonderful
narrative that flowed through all the
artists. Oorala and the Ag Law Centre
thank all those who came to support
the artistry of the evening, with
the hope of seeing you next time.
Comments and thoughts from those
who were there are welcome, please
email [email protected]
The Artists
First Nations performing artist,
Johnnie Aseron, uses traditional
instruments of North America along
with story and song to share and
explore ideas of culture and cultural
perspective. He has also produced a
number of documentary films and
actively developed events for First
Nations Peoples from around the
world through the Stories and Songs
of the People collaborative.
The Deans, formerly known as The
Grenadines. The Deans, a critically
acclaimed original band, were
nominated for the “Band of the Year”
in the prestigious Deadly Awards
in 2007. The Deans combine soul
with cool rock influences to create
urban songs about a future Australia.
Singer/songwriter and guitarist,
Linc Yow Yeh, is a Goreng Goreng
man raised in Brisbane, but whose
country is around Bundaberg and
Rockhampton. Bass player Nick
Larkins is a musical nomad from
Tasmania and former member of
Wild Pumpkins At Midnight.
Tibetan singer/songwriter, Tenzin
Choegyal’s music has been described
as “beautifully evocative,” “healing,”
“spine-tingling,” and “transcendent.”
Tenzin’s cantering rhythms, soaring
vocals and exquisite flute solos
have enchanted audiences around
the globe. He regularly tours
internationally to the US, Japan,
New Caledonia, India and New
Zealand and has touched the lives
of thousands of people with his
music and his concern for his fellow
human beings. Tenzin is the founder,
organiser and creative force behind
the Brisbane Festival of Tibet.
6 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Armidale Benevolent Society Visit to Oorala - www.benevolent.org.au/
The Benevolent Society attended the Oorala Centre on 11th September and gave a presentation to Oorala TRACKS and
TAFE students on what the PHaMs program is all about and how it may help some Koories.
Mental Health Month Raffle
The Mental Health Month
Raffle was drawn on World
Mental Health Day, 10th
October and Oorala’s Colin
Ahoy, Student Relationship
Officer, won 2nd prize, a hand
painted Didgeridoo by artist
Greg Reid, and Didgeridoo
bag/sleeve (Prizes were
kindly donated by Dreamtime
Native Arts & Crafts and all
money from the raffle goes
towards community mental
health month activities).
Congratulations Colin.
7 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Student Profile
Kevin Toby
he passed on this information
onto my older brother. One of our
traditional sites was a location in the
surrounding hill area approximately
200mtrs long and 60mtrs wide, this
location is where stone axes where
made by our mob and traded and
transported to neighboring groups.
To date the location is still kept
secret due to face that as a group
we have decided not to reveal to the
location to non-Aboriginal people
as we feel it may be exploited to
our disadvantage. We still practice
and pass on our heritage in regards
to traditional dancing and other
cultural aspects to the younger
generations who want or feel they
need to learn about their culture.
Is currently a full time student
studying Bachelor of Health Ageing
and Community Services and is
employed full time with the Armidale
branch of The Benevolent Society as
an Aboriginal Mental Health Support
Worker in the Personal Helpers and
Mentors Program (PHaMs) and
we asked Kevin for a brief personal
bio and information on his current
position with The Benevolent Society.
‘A little bit about me and my early
life. I am a Gungalu man and
elder of my mob from central
Queensland country. I was born in
the same township as my father,
Baralaba (approx. 35mins by car
from the Aboriginal community of
Worrabinda). I am of mixed descent,
my father was Aboriginal and my
mother was from Wales, England. I
grew up in a tin shed with dirt floors,
no running water and the toilets
where outside. We had a wood
stove for all our cooking, had to
carry water from a rain water tank
200metres from the house, hand
wash our clothes, boil water every
day on the stave to wash ourselves
in a small galvanised tub, slaughter
and prepare all our own kangaroos,
goats and fowls. Walk 9klms to
school in the morning and then walk
9klms home from school every day
as there were no bus services where
we lived. I grew up with the changing
Commonwealth policies operating
in 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1990’s until
today. During my childhood we
weren’t allowed to have any cultural
vitality under the policies of the day,
we had to go bush during the weekends to practice our dances and
didgeridoo playing or even to speak
our traditional language. I have to
endure being discriminated on a daily
basis at school and in public because
I am Aboriginal on daily basis as long
as I can remember, of being dropped
from the cricket team because I was
the only Aboriginal person in it and
the schools principal’s son wanted
to play in the team so I was dropped
because I was the only Aboriginal
player in the team. Even today I still
live in social exclusion in some ways
because of the racist and redneck
attitude of people in today’s society.
I remember Caucasian people in the
streets of my home town saying
to my face as a child, all black c..t’s
should be taken out to the middle of
the ocean and thrown overboard to
die. I have also have lived experience
in regards to the being involved in
the land rights marches of the 1980’s
and 1990’s and would not change
my involvement especially in the
Sydney, Brisbane and at the Tent
embassy land Rights marches during
the 1988 Australian Bicentenary, to
me it was not an end of a decade
or 200yrs of colonialism to be
celebrated, but rather for me as an
individual as a separate entity and
as a whole Aboriginal to project a
voice as a culture of survival through
oppression. I was told stories by my
father when they heard the cars of
the bulliman (police) coming my
grandmother and great grandmother
knew they were coming to take the
children away so they would run
away from the camps and hide dad
and the other children under and in
tree logs or in the creek bed so they
would not take the children. My
parents weren’t legally able to marry
in Qld until the 1970’s. During the
1950’ and 1960’s it was illegal for dad
to travel interstate let alone travel
with a half caste family and a white
woman (mum) so he had a approx.
4 aliases which he used to mitigate
this issue of illegal travel between
states and not to be classified as
Aboriginal by the authorities and
police. One of these aliases was Bo
Bo Garcia (claiming to be an African
American from the USA), all of us
use to travel interstate with dad in
the boxing troupe of Jimmy SHARMA
and at times did the Australian show
circuit. The location of our sacred
sites where only passed down to one
of my uncle’s, and before he passed
away due to complications related
to a chronic respiratory disease,
8 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
Over the years I have been employed
in various positions including a train
driver, Police Officer and a Race & Sex
discrimination/conciliation officer for
Human Rights & Equal Opportunity
Commission. I am currently a full
time student studying Bachelor
of Health Ageing and Community
Services and complete my studies
this year. I also currently employed
full time with the Armidale branch
of The Benevolent Society as an
Aboriginal Mental Health Support
Worker in the Personal Helpers and
Mentors Program (PHaMs). The
PHaMs program provides individual
(one-on-one) recovery planning
support to eligible participants. One
definition of what recovery is:
“…a deeply personal, unique process
of changing one’s attitudes, values,
feelings, goals, skills and/or roles. It is
a way of living a satisfying, hopeful,
and contributing life even with
limitations caused by the illness.
Recovery involves the development
of new meaning and purpose in
one’s life as one grows beyond
the catastrophic effects of mental
illness.” (Anthony, 1993)
Recovery planning is a process
focused on supporting you to
identify what you can do to increase
your wellness in a whole-of-life
context and to minimise the negative
impacts of mental distress/ mental
illness within your life and make
plans accordingly. To assist in this
process the following tools are used:
Individual Recovery Plan (IRP) and
the Wellness Recovery Action Plan
(WRAP) or the Mini WRAP. This
involves identifying your strengths,
coping skills, strategies and wellness
tools, making new connections
www.une.edu.au/oorala
with other supports and identifying
resources within the community and
striving towards your aspirations.
These plans are reviewed with you
every 3- 6 months in.
The program support people to
identify what they can see could
be different in their lives – and
what needs to change for this to
happen. It is our intention to leave
people strengthened, independent
and resourceful, and we believe
people do not always need services
present in their lives. This is why we
do not believe in doing things “for”
people; rather we take a position
of discovery, encouragement, and
“walk alongside” someone in their
recovery journey, as opposed to
leading a person. As support workers
we do not believe we are experts, we
believe each person is the best expert
within their own life, and we support
people to find their own solutions.
Your recovery journey is self-directed,
as unique as you are and there are
no recipes. We, as support workers
believe regardless of a person’s
history or psychiatric diagnosis –
quality of life is for everyone, and all
people are of equal value and can
have contributing, meaningful lives’.
Staff Profile
Fiona Lovelock
I am an Anaiwan woman with
extended family ties to the
Gumbaingirr and Dhungutti people
of the mid north coast. I am happy
to be home in Armidale after four
years away and am looking forward
to meeting all students and working
with the wonderful staff at Oorala
Aboriginal Centre and UNE in general.
I commenced employment at Oorala
Aboriginal Centre in September 2013
as a Special Projects Officer as part of
the Student Support Team.
I have been assigned a project
working on ways to support students
in the areas of positive first year
experiences and retention with the
ultimate goal of ensuring that we at
Oorala assist students to complete
their studies in every way possible.
We have a duty to facilitate and
encourage the access, participation
and retention of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Island students at the
University of New England.
Looking after students is a major
priority, I strongly believe that
retention and completion is a whole
of UNE responsibility and I will be
working closely with all UNE services
and schools to ensure that the best
experiences are encountered for all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students.
As a current student myself, studying
a Masters in Business Management,
I can empathise with the issues and
exhilaration students are and will
be experiencing during their time
studying, so come talk to me, you are
more than welcome to sit down and
have a yarn anytime.
18th National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games
The National Indigenous Tertiary
Education Student Games will be
held in Sydney from the 22nd to the
26th September, 2013 hosted by UWS
University of Western Sydney.
The National Indigenous Tertiary
Education Student Games (NITESG)
began as a joint-class project
between thirteen students enrolled
in a Diploma of Aboriginal Studies
(Community Recreation) at the then
Wollotuka School for Aboriginal
Studies, the University of Newcastle,
in 1996. The first Games were
attended by around 30 students,
and have since grown to host
hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander tertiary students
from Universities across Australia.
The Oorala Aboriginal Centre from
the University of New England
Armidale will be taking a team of 13
students and 2 staff members. Our
students are enrolled across many
disciplines at UNE we currently have
500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students currently enrolled
at the University of New England.
This year the University of Western
Sydney is hosting this event at their
Penrith Campus from the 22nd-26th
September for a week full of sport,
and social events. This event is a
fantastic way for students to meet
Aboriginal students from all over
Australia, not only studying in the
same fields but across all disciplines.
Teams attending the games will
compete in playing, Netball,
Basketball, Touch Football and
Footsal, this is the 4th time that
Oorala students has represented
UNE at these games, in the past we
have attend the games in Perth,
Canberra and Newcastle. The
experience the students have had
from this event has been beneficial
to their learning and well-being here
at UNE, the support network the
students build not only with each
other on campus but other students
from all over Australia stay’s with
them throughout their studies and
friendships last forever.
Going to the Games
9 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Are You Creative
‘Are you creative? Students are
invited to submit creative work for
our future newsletters. If you like
to write short stories or poetry, or
if you practice visual art through
photography, drawing, painting
or other media we’re interested
in showcasing your talent in our
student community. It can be a great
way for you to network with other
students through your interests.
Whether you get creative in your
studies or during your ‘time out’,
we’re inviting you to submit work for
the next newsletter to
Veronica at:
[email protected]
by Monday 9th December 2013.
P.S. If you want to submit short
fiction we’d need to set a word limit
to suit the newsletter’s format.
About 200 words would take up one
column in a 3 column format. Please
discuss with Veronica via the above
email.
Submissions need to be non-denominational
and non-political in nature.
Student Profile
Nathan Dawson
My name is Nathan Dawson. I am
currently completing a Bachelor of
Arts/Teaching at UNE externally from
Glen Innes.
I have always been drawing and have
exhibited in Japan at national and
local levels. I mostly use water colour,
pen and pencil and air brush.
I try to produce artworks which have
a meaning, however I usually don’t
know what the meaning is until after
I have finished. I believe that people
who can’t articulate and express their
feelings, thoughts and ideas through
speech, through necessity express
themselves in different ways, some
may play music, dance, sport, even
work. I have always expressed myself
through art. I also like to produce art
that keeps the viewer’s eye moving
around the artwork and keeps the
viewer interested.
“Whenever you find yourself on
the side of the majority it is time to
pause and reflect”.
Mark Twain (Notebook, 1904)
10 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Student Profile
Victor Briggs
Hello my name is Victor Briggs, I am a
mature age student who completed
a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History
and Indigenous Studies at the
University of New England Armidale.
After I finished my undergraduate
degree, I enrolled in a Masters of
Environmental Advocacy. I thought
I would keep the ball rolling with
my studies as I enjoyed learning
at University level. The master of
Environmental Advocacy is not a
tree hugging degree like the name
implies, it covers many areas such
as political science, social work, law,
and all of those matters that come
under the environmental agenda
with such good lecturers in peace
studies such as Marty Branagan and
Bertie Jenkins.
If I was to give advice to others
coming into University study I
recommend that they should apply
themselves and build on a routine of
study where every day they would
put at least 5-6 hours aside for
reading and writing then winding
down in the afternoon to summarize
the work that was done earlier. I also
believed that ‘humility and patience,’
is required so that the amount of
work and study dissolves into the
student’s way of life. I found that
with myself for instance I treated
it like a job. Everyday up at 6 and
out of the house at 7.30am, it was
the only way to get work done as
procrastination doesn’t discriminate.
I would separate myself from
distractions and built on a strategy.
I was brought up with a martial arts
background so I studied before I
came to uni in my own time Miyamto
Mushashi’s ‘The Book of Five Rings,’
that book taught me a lot about
strategies and how to examine
strategy as Samurai warriors in the
Tokugawa times fought against
competitors who were the best in
their field. So I governed myself with
strategies to start and finish. I also
studied the ‘Art of War,’ by Sun Tzu
who was also a master tactician
who again strategized in the warring
states periods of ancient China. I
also read the book by General Von
Clausewitz, ‘On War,’ which was
also about war and strategy which
to me we as minorities are at war
with the system which challenges us
minorities as institutional racism in
embedded in all forms of corporate
life that western democracy survives
on. The reason I mentioned those
authors and what they were about is
that they helped me build a strategy
to finish my degree and build and
work on structures around my life
that I would always have back up
plans and others to get me out of
rucks and dead ends. I thought like
a general just like Napoleon when I
read some stories about him in ‘the
48 laws of Power,’ by Robert Greene
who was a historian who collected
many classics and essays and put
them in stories in his works. Robert
Greene gave me inspiration as a
writer and that is why I chose history
as my second major.
If I was to give tips for other students,
I would say don’t surround yourself
with pygmy minded narrow little
minds who run around in a circle
and can never get anywhere but
run in a circle. If you’re at university
then choose circles where people
are going places, we have to learn
to walk the walk and talk the talk
here. If you wana hang with yarndie
smokers and drinkers then fine but it
will affect your work at some stage
so don’t get baited. White fullas
too drink and smoke, they aren’t
perfect; they just aren’t targeted as
much like us minorities. We are being
stereotyped, we have to show and
prove like everybody else. We have to
show and prove regardless of religion
or race or creed or gender. We have
to stand up and be men and women
and be proud of who we are and
where we come from. Integrity has
to be shown because your name is on
show in the university.
11 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
In my final year at Uni I knew I
had only a couple of units left so I
knuckled down and applied myself.
I established goals early on and set
a target. I made up plans and then
when those semesters came I just
went out guns blazing. This is how I
did it, and again I separated myself
from distractions. It’s ok If you’re a
drinker, just party up after you get
your work done, don’t have a mad
Monday when you have another
thousand words to go, get it done
first ‘prioritise and sacrifice,’ that’s the
only way to get through university. If
I can give examples, when we were
young in our communities, we learnt
early on the value of money, so we
established a paper chase where
we all would want money, whether
its playing marbles for money, two
up, cards, selling stuff, whatever
hustle where currency is involved
we understood the value of money.
But as we get older we have to
establish principles that are higher
than the value of things, this way we
don’t sell out on ourselves and each
other. Because in this world, say, in
international countries, people are
now selling secrets for money, people
are selling themselves in Kings Cross
and all sorts of scenarios and stories.
As men and women we have to
prioritise and build on ‘principles’ that
we stand for because without them
you become fake and transparent
and you can see these characters on
the street who will quickly sell out
for money or other means. I am not
saying money is bad, we all want it,
and it does give us limited freedom,
I’m just saying that principles are
what governs us and gives us
formidable characters where others
would have different opinions about
the topic.
If I would have done anything
differently I probably would
have done a Bachelor of Human
Movement or Exercise Science.
Only because when I was younger I
studied Biology and Maths in school
and I loved biology and learning
about the body. I had a sports
background and I worked in gyms
and fitness centres for about six
years. I trained boxers and athletes
and people from all walks of life. I
understood the industry but it wasn’t
an industry where it was stable, only
managers profited from it, trainers
worked for pocket money and to
keep fit, Confucius once said, ‘love
www.une.edu.au/oorala
the work you do and you will never
have to work a day in your life,’ and I
believe that’s true in some regard.
My best experience at UNE would
have to be when I played Othello in
a major Shakespeare production at
the University. From what I hear I
was the first Indigenous Australian
to play that character of William
Shakespeare’s and people came from
all over Australia to see that play.
All up we performed 4 matinees
and 8 night performances at
Booloominbah. Another area that I
could say I helped in was recently in
2013, me and another student helped
establishing the ‘Aboriginal Student
Association,’ in an indirect way I gave
advice in seeing Indigenous students
empower themselves by having a
formally recognised representative
body. This I believe will get us
countrymen back on track and have
a voice were it is needed, we have
to stand up like Pemulway did. We
have to understand the dominant
social group’s morals and values
and ethics like Bennelong did. We
have to keep fighting for our rights
like Windradyne did. Look at the
Arab spring in the Middle East? They
are only just being challenged by
globalization, where we, with 200
hundred years of history have already
been acculturised into their way of
life and thinking, take advantage of
this I say. University is not a walk in
the park, I was fortunate to be a little
wiser by using the Oorala Centre
every day. And I thank the Oorala
staff that helped me over the years.
Today I am content in studying my
masters and I am nearly finished it.
Hopefully I pass it and get accepted
in a PHD? Who knows, whether it’s
lecturing at the university or writing
books, there is an area I will excel in
as I have many opportunities now.
land and North West region including
Ashford, Glen Innes, Guyra, Mungindi, and Tingha.
Ruth spoke to the group about alternative entry pathways to UNE and
applications for admission for 2014.
The Internal Selection Program (ISP)
and TRACKS Tertiary Preparation Program were of particular interest to
members of the group. Other entry
pathways discussed included mature
age entry, UNE enabling programs
and a Certificate III Aboriginal Pathways course that is run in partnership with New England TAFE.
If you would like further information
about alternative entry pathways
to UNE please contact the Oorala
Aboriginal Centre on (02) 67733040.
You can also find further details of
alternative entry pathways at:
www.une.edu.au/oorala/
‘ARAG’ Visit – October 2013
Ms Ruth Lovelock, Senior Project
Officer, Oorala Student Support
Team, met with members of the
Border Rivers Gwydir Catchment
Management Authority Aboriginal
Reference Advisory Group (ARAG)
who were visiting UNE to participate
in a seed collection course with Dr
David Carr from Environmental and
Rural Science. The 10 ARAG members
came from areas across the New Eng-
12 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Woodford Correctional Centre Visit - October 2013
Oorala’s Director, Debra Bennell,
and coordinator of the TRACKS
tertiary preparation program, Guido
Posthausen, visited students at
Woodford Correctional Centre in
South East Queensland. The students
are enrolled in the TRACKS tertiary
preparation program, with three
being close to completing their
studies. During the visit Education
staff from Woodford, students and
Oorala representatives discussed
the students’ progress, their plans
for further study at UNE and
improvements to the provision of
learning materials for students in
correctional centres.
The TRACKS program has been
offered in a distance education
version to Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander men at correctional centres
since 1999. Oorala’s relationship
with Woodford commenced in 2001,
and since 2012 Oorala is funding
the employment of a tutor at
Woodford to meet regularly with
its TRACKS students. Oorala also
offers additional support, orientation
sessions and course materials to the
students. Visits to Woodford included
involvement of Oorala’s Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Campus
Mentor for specific social and cultural
support related to the educational
experiences of these students.
Completing TRACKS has helped
build inmates’ self-esteem and
confidence and has assisted them
to find employment upon their
release. However, if they choose to
study for a degree after completing
TRACKS, inmates are limited in the
degrees they can complete while
in prison and face many obstacles.
These include lack of regular access
to a computer and online course
materials and assessment, and to
practical classes.
The current students have
distinguished themselves in their
application to their study and results
for assessments have often exceeded
those of other students. Two of the
students will be undertaking an
undergraduate unit as part of their
TRACKS course in Trimester 3 - in
Sociology and Indigenous Studies.
This is made possible through the
invaluable assistance of Student
Assist at UNE to negotiate “offline”
learning materials and alternative
assessments once the students
commence study in undergraduate
units.
Of Interest
August 2013 ‘In Addition’ Newsletter
from the Office of Advancement and Alumni and Supporters of UNE.
In Addition’ Special Edition 75th Anniversary Celebrations 2013
Aboriginal Languages:
www.dnathan.com/VL/
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/
GAMDICT/GAMDICTF.HTM
13 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
October 2013 to January 2014 Dates to Remember
Trimester 2 2013 (1 July – 21 October 2013)
October
4 October
T2 Lectures end
7 October
Last day to withdraw from Year-long 1 or T2 units without
failure
7 October
Public Holiday: Labour Day
8-21 October
T2 Examination period
9 October
Internal Selection Program (ISP), Oorala
13 October
T3 UNE Direct Admission applications close
16-17 October
‘Cultural Perspectives and the Oral Narrative’, Oorala
21 October
T2 ends
Trimester 3 2013 (28 October 2013 – 10 February 2014)
October
November
December
January 2014
25 October
T3 Orientation Day
25 October
Graduation Day – Arts and Sciences
26 October
Graduation Day – The Professions
28 October
T3 Lectures start
4 November
Last day to add Year-long 3, Year-long Honours 3 or T3 units to
an existing enrolment
21 November
Last day to withdraw from Year-long Honours 1 units without
failure
22 November
Year-long Honours 1 ends
28 November
2013 Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture, 7:30 pm, Oorala
30 November
Census Day T3 units:
ř’¦§•’¬§¢ªœ§›•¥’ªªœ§›¢¨§Ńœ¡’¡”œ’ŸŸœ’“œŸœ§¬İ
ř’¦§•’¬§¢ ’ž–¨£—¥¢¡§£’¬ –¡§¦İ
ř’¦§•’¬§¢¦¨“ œ§¢ ¢¡ª–’Ÿ§›¦¦œ¦§’¡”–¢¥ 13 December
UAC ‘Main round’ and ‘January Round 1’ admission applications
close (T1 2014 On campus study)
20 December
T3 Lectures end for term break
23 December
Census Day Year-long 3 units and Year-long Honours 3 units
25 December 2013 – 1
January 2014
UNE Shutdown period
31 December
Student Services and Amenities Fee Payment date for Research
Period 2 and last day to submit SA-HELP form
January 6
T3 Lectures recommence
24 January
T3 Lectures end
24 January
UAC ‘January round 3’ admission applications close (2014 On
campus study)
27 January
Public Holiday: Australia Day
27 January
Last day to withdraw from Year-long 2 or T3 units without failure
28 January – 10 February
T3 Examination period
10 February
T3 ends
Oorala’s upcoming events will be announced on Moodle and on the Oorala homepage.
More UNE Principal Dates: www.une.edu.au/dates/2013/
UAC Admission dates: www.uac.edu.au/undergraduate/key-dates.shtml
UNE Direct Admission dates: www.une.edu.au/admissions/
14 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Tamworth Corroboree 2013 – Saturday November 2nd – The Botanical Gardens
Yaama (Hello in my language, the Gomeroi Language)
From Robert Waters, Aboriginal Employment Officer,
A great opportunity to experience up close the Culture
and Dance of Aboriginal Nations from all over Australia.
UNE Human Resource Services, Strategy, Systems and
Planning
The Tamworth Corroboree will be hosted by Tamworth’s’
very own “Gomeroi Dance Company” and will be an event
not to be missed, hope to see you there, Rob.
15 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
2013 Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture
The Frank Archibald Memorial
Lecture is an annual event held
in honour of Mr Frank Archibald,
a revered Aboriginal community
member of the Armidale area. Frank
Archibald was renowned for his
knowledge and interest in all issues
affecting Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people, particularly
education. The Lecture was
established in 1986 by the University
of New England in association with
the Oorala Aboriginal Centre.
This year the 28th Frank Archibald
Memorial Lecture will be presented
by Associate Professor Karen L
Martin from the School of Education
& Professional Studies; Indigenous
Research Unit, Griffith University.
Dr Karen Martin is a Noonuccal
woman from Minjerripah (North
Stradbroke Island - south east
Queensland) and also has Bidjara
ancestry (central Queensland). She is
a qualified early childhood educator
who has taught for more than 20
years in Aboriginal Community
education services from early
childhood, compulsory schooling to
adult training in remote, regional and
urban areas of Queensland.
Dr Martin will be addressing some
of the challenges of Aboriginal
Schooling and the need for Aboriginal
people to remain grounded in their
culture and tradition as they proceed
through their formal education.
“It’s not good enough to just get
through school and university, if it
means losing touch with your people,
your culture and the land. Breaking
away from those links means you will
end up with a lot of schooling, but
not an education.”
She is a University Medallist; joint
awardee of the AARE Dissertation
Award (2007) and NAIDOC Scholar
of the Year (2008). Dr Martin has
lectured in Indigenous Australian
Studies for 25 years and is the Deputy
Chair of the Longitudinal Study
of Indigenous Children (FaHCSIA)
and an academic advisor to the
Indigenous Clearinghouse Board
(AIHW). Karen’s work in higher
education encompasses some fifteen
years and she is currently Associate
Professor in the School of Education
and Professional Studies and
member of the Indigenous Research
Unit of Griffith University.
2013 Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture
Motivation + Action - Tradition = Aboriginal Schooling:
some ideas on rethinking the equation and achieving Aboriginal education
presented by
Associate Professor Karen L Martin
School of Education & Professional Studies; Indigenous Research Unit,
Griffith University
To be held at the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, UNE
7.30 pm Thursday 28 November 2013
Followed by supper in the foyer
RSVP
Thursday 21 November 2013
P: 02 6773 2411 or e: [email protected]
Please advise any special dietary requirements
Oorala Library:
Oorala has a small library of books
available for students to borrow.
There is list of the books available at
Oorala Reception. Borrowing terms
are 14 days, forms are available at
Oorala Reception
Oorala Aboriginal Centre
He who smiles rather
than rages is always
the stronger.
Japanese Wisdom
and must be completed prior
to borrowing book/s. A Student
borrowing a book/s is liable for
the cost of repair and/or loss. For
further information please contact
Cassandra Strong:
[email protected]
16 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Student Profile
Kelly Naylor
Kelly Naylor, 3rd Year Bachelor of
Psychology with Honors student won
the 2013 Australian Psychological
Society (APS) Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander and Peoples
Psychology Interest Group (ATSIPP)
Indigenous Student Conference
Attendance Award. The purpose of
this Award is to provide Indigenous
students with a positive experience
of the psychology profession
through a conference format. It
also provides students with an
opportunity to network and liaise
with other psychology students and
psychologists from the Australian
Psychological Society, particularly
Indigenous Psychologists, in
attendance at the conference. The
aim of this Award is to contribute
toward increasing the number
of Indigenous Psychologists in
Australia.
This award funded Kelly’s attendance
at the 48th APS Annual Conference,
Cairns, 8-12/10/2013 and Oorala asked
Kelly if she could put together a few
of her thoughts in a brief summary,
for Yaka Tala, about winning/
attending the conference and plans
for the present/future. Kelly provided
us with the following;
‘Opportunities are put in front of you
for a reason…
So, when Debra Dunstan, Acting
Director, Clinical Psychology
Program, School of Behavioural,
Cognitive and Social Sciences
(BC&SS), UNE, called and invited
me to attend a meeting to discuss
how the BC&SS can encourage more
of Psychology, The University of
Adelaide, before and during the
conference. I set myself a goal for
the conference. I wanted to have a
ten minute conversation with Pat
Dudgeon, Australia’s first and most
recognised Aboriginal Psychologist, a
2013 Deadly Award winner and most
importantly, she is making changes
in mental health at a federal policy
level. To make a difference in the
future, I knew I had to meet her. On
the first morning of the conference,
Yvonne introduced me to Pat. We
had a good yarn, and I realized my
conference goal was met.
It is not what you know, but who you
know…
Aboriginal students to do Psychology,
I agreed. Whilst at this meeting I was
strongly encouraged to apply for the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
and Peoples Psychology Interest
Group (ATSIPP) Student Conference
Attendance Award. After checking
the conference dates and confirming
I would be able to attend, if
successful, I wrote and submitted my
application. I was so happy when I
read the email that announced me as
the winner and the congratulations
offered by both Oorala and UNE
Psychology lecturers were all very
uplifting.
If your goals don’t scare you, they
aren’t big enough…
I felt nervous about attending a
psychology conference. I am forever
grateful for the support given to me
by Yvonne Clark, Lecturer, School
I met so many interesting,
supportive, wonderful people at
the conference. I have come away
with a list of names and contacts of
people from all over Australia. I know
that these people may one day be
a key in providing the next step in
my journey. My journey has already
changed. Through meeting Debra,
Yvonne, Pat and many others I now
know that I can make a difference in
how we educate our young people
using psychology as the medium. I
also know that if I choose to become
a Psychologist that the world is my
oyster, and I will be one of the very
few Aboriginal Psychologists. I am
driven to complete my Honours
next year because, like Pat, I dream
of effecting change. I dream of
modernising our federal policies on
education, so that all of our children
enjoy more engaging and better
opportunities.
Postgraduate Student Profile
Saraeva Mitchell
My name is Saraeva Mitchell, I am
a Gunggari Woman from Mitchell,
South West Queensland. I graduated
from University of New England in
2009 with a Diploma in Aboriginal
Family & Community Counseling.
After my graduation I worked for
two years as the Caretaker of the
Mitchell Yumba which was an old
Reserve 191 and one of only two
reserves in Queensland which had its
own School. It is now an Aboriginal
Education and Learning Centre
for visitors and tourists. Over 800
people were removed from Gunggari
17 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
Country with many of these families
today still returning home looking for
Connection to Country. My studies
assisted me to work successfully
with many families that returned
home. I then commenced working
as an Aboriginal Health Worker
and completed my Certificate III in
Primary Health Care.
I became interested in Bush
Medicine when my Aunty Irene
started showing me all of the plants
on country and their uses, and
thought I could use these to treat
the number of skin conditions in
the community such as eczema,
www.une.edu.au/oorala
dermatitis, boils, sores and rash’s.
I began to make soaps and bush
rubs out of the remedies which we
made up the traditional way which
encompasses the Spiritual aspect
of Healing . They quickly became
very popular and in March 2013 my
husband and I opened a little shop
in Mitchell called Punga Products
www.punga.com.au . Punga means
ground and sky, today I work full time
at the shop and also do workshops
across the Darling Downs and South
West Queensland. We use Bush
Medicine in our Workshops and have
a presentation called Understanding
Spirituality and Traditional Forms of
Healing still in Use Today in South
West Queensland.
community commitments together
with Study. I learnt to ask for help
from my family to allow me time to
study uninterrupted this allowed
me to complete assignments on
time. The staff at Oorala were
very welcoming and could not do
enough for us to make sure we
were able to manage our studies.
I applaud anyone that studies it is
a new learning curve where once
our learning was oral and visual to
grasp the contents of a text book is
daunting. The best part of studying
for me was that I gained the skills
to help people and felt confident in
doing so.
Teresa Baker – Master of Laws
Victor Briggs – Bachelor of Arts
Matthew Reynolds – Graduate
Certificate Professional Accounting
Jacqueline Brown – Bachelor of
Social Work
Jesse Smith – Bachelor of Arts with
honours
Katie Byers – Bachelor of Commerce
(Accounting)
Yvonne Spreadborough – Bachelor of
Arts
Tamika Carberry – Bachelor of
Criminology/Bachelor of Laws
Gillian Squires – Bachelor of
Teaching (Early Childhood Education)
Nicholas Denshire – Master
Environments Science
Cedric Suey – Diploma Indigenous
Archaeology
My advice to current students is
to plan and manage your time
effectively, whilst studying I found
it hard to manage family and
Graduation
Oorala would like to extend
Congratulations to all Graduands
about to receive their Testamur and
for those attending the Graduation
Ceremony at UNE on 25th-26th
October and will have graduation
sashes available for load or purchase,
in Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander colours. The Oorala Centre
will be open from 830 am on Friday
25th and Saturday 26th October,
morning tea will be provided to
Graduands, their family and friends.
Amongst the Graduands; Tamika
Carberry has the added honour of
being the first Aboriginal Person at
UNE to graduate from the combined
Bachelor of Criminology/Bachelor
of Laws degree and Victor Briggs
has commenced the Master of
Environmental Advocacy. Both
Tamika and Victor studied in the
third Trimester to accelerate the
completion of their degrees.
This graduation includes the
following Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Graduands -
Leanne Fisher – Bachelor of
Teaching (Early Childhood Education)
Stevie Glew – Bachelor of Zoology
Leonie Hobson – Bachelor of Social
Work
Damien Jones – Graduate Diploma
Counselling Health & Social Care
Tahnee McGrath – Master of
Education (Special Education)
Graduation photos
will be included in
the next edition of
Yaka Tala due out in
January 2014.
Monica McKay – Bachelor of
Education
Jason Paag – Bachelor of
Psychological Sciences
18 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala
Spellings and Pronunciations with Aboriginal Language Words
to you, you can train yourself to
say it right. For example there’s
a place in the Northern Territory
called Ngukurr; most people
pronounce it nukurr and that’s
OK.
With Dr Margaret Sharpe, Adjunct
Senior Lecturer, Linguistics, UNE
Behavioural, Cognitive & Social
Sciences
Aboriginal languages have different
combinations of sounds to those
in English. This means that many
people who wrote down words
had to struggle to try to spell them
so that other people could get the
pronunciation somewhere near right.
As you are well aware, English
has lots of spelling rules that you
learnt at school. Some of these are
due to changes in the way English
speakers pronounced the vowels
over the past centuries, and also the
“r” after vowels — most Americans
still sound the “r”, whereas we in
Australia mostly don’t. And this also
changed how the vowel before the
“r” was pronounced. English kept
many of the traditional spellings of
how words used to be pronounced,
even though they are said differently
now. Some words which used
to be pronounced differently are
pronounced the same now, but the
different spellings helps us (when
we are fairly good readers) to know
which word is meant.
Traditionally, most Aboriginal people
spoke more than one language:
they knew their own one, and
often at least one other one from a
neighbouring group. So they found
it easier to pick up English than most
English speakers find it to learn
another language. Add to that the
sad fact that many groups were killed
or died off from introduced diseases,
many found they had hardly anyone
to talk to in their own language.
They were hunter gatherers, and only
groups like the ancestors of most
others in Australia had any need for
writing.
Our alphabet and spelling works
fairly well for English, French,
German, Italian and so on. The
problem comes when we try to spell
and write down sounds and words
from a very different language. So
what are the factors in spelling or
sounding out Aboriginal words and
phrases?
1. Most Australian Aboriginal
languages don’t have any contrast
between sounds we write p and b,
or t and d, or k and (hard) g. Some
groups choose p, t, k and others
use b, d, g (the hard g in go). In
6. We usually don’t write the stress in
words, even though we have two
ways of pronouncing present (an
action, or an item). And English
patterns of stressing words
aren’t necessarily the same as the
patterns in Aboriginal languages.
In many of these, the stress is
on the first syllable, or on a long
vowel if there is one. (Anaiwan is a
little different here.)
Dr Margaret Sharpe
some languages these ‘stops’
sound more like English p, t, k and
in some more like the voiced b ,d,
g, so the series is chosen which
most closely approximates the
group’s sounds.
2. Most Aboriginal languages have
a few palatal consonants, such as
y, dj, ny. And (though not close to
Armidale) many have retroflexed
consonants, which sound a bit like
American pronunciations of rd, rt,
rl, rn.
3. Most Aboriginal languages only
have three vowel contrasts,
though many also have a contrast
in the length of the vowel. So
we write these vowels a, i, u; the
long ones (if we are sure they are
there) are written aa, ii, uu. In
Bundjalung we write the long ones
ah, eh, ih, uh (Bundjalung has four
vowel contrasts).
4. Many Aboriginal languages have
a contrast between r as most
Australian speakers of English say
it, and a ‘flapped’ or ‘trilled’ sound
which is often written rr.
5. In almost all Aboriginal languages
there’s an ng sound which can be
used at the beginnings of words.
In English, French, German,
Italian, etc. we only get this sound
at the ends of syllables in words
that used to have a sounded hard
g after an n. But languages like
Indonesian as well as Australian
Aboriginal languages have this
sound at the beginnings of words
as well as in other places. DO NOT
try to pronounce ng as though it
had a sounded g. If it’s important
19 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
There’s another thing with spelling:
sometimes a group opts to spell a
word from their language in a way so
most English speakers get the word
about right, especially when they are
reading names of streets or towns
or places and not trying to speak the
Aboriginal language ‘right through’.
This may not be the same way it
‘should’ be spelt if you were reading
and writing that language.
And sometimes the English speakers
keep — say — an Italian or other
language spelling and they learn to
say it right. For example pizza, if we
spelt it ‘in English’ should be pitsa.
Ayers Rock is now called Uluru, and
I think most people pronounce it
very much like the traditional way
it sounded. Oolooroo would also
make the sound about right — as
long as we stress the first syllable! We
tend to put the stress on the second
syllable if there are three syllables.
If we look at some local names,
let’s consider Uralla, and Oorala.
If we choose to spell this word in
Anaiwan, we’d probably spell it urala.
It sounded (as far as we know — as
so little Anaiwan was written down)
about the way we pronounce Oorala
at UNE.
So let’s look at the sounds and stress
in some Aboriginal names of places
and things.
Vowels
The three short vowels in most
Aboriginal languages are:
i
like i in pit, sit, city. It is NEVER
like our pronoun I, or y in my.
ii (or ih in Bundjalung) is the same
only longer — fairly like ee in see or
i in machine
www.une.edu.au/oorala
a like u in cut, but, or a in sofa. (A
lot of dialects in English, including
those which helped make
Australian English, had a ‘vowel
shift’, but there are still some
dialects whose speakers still have
the vowel sound of good in these
words.
Lighting the Fire – Aboriginal Youth Leadership Event
aa (or ah) like al in palm, calm
u like oo in good, hood, put
uu (or uh) like oo in soon, balloon
and for the few languages which
have a fourth vowel:
e is like e in pet, eh is like ere in there
(in Australian pronunciation).
Just as in English, a can sound like o,
the sound of a in what if it is next to
w or another ‘back’ consonant (like k,
g, ng).
And a can sound a bit like e in pet
or a in cat when next to a palatal
consonant, like y, ny or j/dj.
A few more examples, as most of us
grasp things better that way.
Yarm Kwanga should be pronounced
with no hard g in kwanga. It’s
kwong-a I went hunting for yarm.
The various pronunciations of the
local language name:
Two clues: In a neighbouring
language it was pronounced
Nganyaywana, with the stress on
nyay. Hence the Narwan Football
team.
Most people pronounce it ann-i-wun,
but it was probably anáywan, with
the stress on the second syllable. But
it was also recorded as an-ée-wun. All
this suggests that Frank Archibald’s
pronunciation as Nganyaywana
picked up that the consonant was ny,
not n before the stressed vowel. That
could account for the form Aneewan
(in one list): the ny was heard as
making the following vowel a long ee
sound.
Oorala Aboriginal Centre
20 The Oorala Aboriginal Centre Newsletter
www.une.edu.au/oorala