00:00The conversations have been flowing thick and fast here at Garamilla Darwin on Larrakia
00:08Country and it has been amazing.
00:11We've even had renditions of songs like A Country Down Under, Sung in Language, performances
00:18from groups like the Deaf Indigenous Dance Group otherwise known as DIG.
00:25It's all happening here at the Palima Conference.
00:28But of course, we're also interested in those really powerful stories of community organisations
00:35that are delving into their language and culture and sharing that with so many others.
00:40And so I'm delighted to be able to pick up one of those stories which we were hearing
00:43a little bit about, Gujica Foundation, which is in La Perouse, and we're joined here with
00:48Claire Woolley who is a consultant with Gujica.
00:52And Claire, it's just been a really beautiful opportunity to hear about how this all got
00:55started and the importance of this for community.
00:58Just what is the story that got Gujica going there at La Perouse?
01:02So it actually started in the 90s, mid to late 90s, a group of the old aunties and some
01:10of our grandmothers got together and started going into archives, state library, recording.
01:16They grew up immersed in language and culture and that was the stepping stones for us to
01:22be able to start incorporating language resources in our child care centre at, sorry, Gujica
01:31child care centre at La Perouse and then Gujica Foundation started in 2019.
01:36We have quite a number of employees now, we're a non-for-profit organisation, we teach in over
01:4540 early years services and primary schools within our cultural boundaries and it's been
01:51amazing.
01:52We get to go out and teach our Dharawal language on country and we do a lot of cultural immersion.
01:59We do quite a bit of everything and it's quite an amazing opportunity to be able to do that
02:06and be a part of an organisation that's doing things for the right reasons.
02:10So it must be so amazing to be able to tell that journey of the evolution, I suppose, from
02:17those early days to now seeing young people, you know, early education.
02:21I mean, how important is it for young people to be able to tap into this?
02:24It's extremely important, I think being, I used to be an educator myself, I understand
02:31the importance of teaching language within schools, it creates young, confident, strong
02:39leaders and that's what we want and obviously, you know, connection to culture and your language
02:44is such an important, it's a vital thing to have so, you know, being a part of it and being
02:50able to do that and teach it, teach it to our younger generation, it's very rewarding, so.
02:55And La Perouse, I mean, not too many of us would probably realise this sort of work is happening
03:00in the heart of urban settings like Sydney, but of course that would also come with certain
03:07challenges. You talked there about having to go back to the archives and that sort of work
03:11to get things going. So, you know, are you able to share with us what it has been in terms
03:16of that story for La Perouse to be able to do this work?
03:20Yeah, so it's extremely important for us as, you know, traditional owners of coastal Sydney.
03:27We have to go out now and sort of teach the correct history. Obviously, being in an urban
03:31setting, there's so many different cultures, so many mob from all over that have moved into Sydney
03:37and done amazing work in, you know, all these changes that have happened over time. But obviously,
03:46for La Perouse, it's extremely important because we're still here, we're still teaching our culture
03:52and we're teaching our language and we're not going anywhere. And yeah, it's, you know,
03:56we're just creating more stepping stones for our younger generation to come up as young,
04:00confident leaders and that's what we're doing.
04:02So, can I ask for you personally, you know, because this is something that you can see
04:09from lots of different perspectives as a community member, as someone who works in early education,
04:14and now through Gujuga Foundation, you know, for you, what does it mean to be able to do this work,
04:20to be able to speak Dharawal?
04:22It's extremely rewarding. My grandmother and great-grandmother were a part of the language
04:29revitalization in our community and it's several generations now and it's extremely sentimental
04:34as well and important. You know, I feel connected, connected to culture, connected to my old people,
04:42and I'm so happy to be a part of reteaching that and helping our younger generation not have to question
04:51their connection to culture and their connection to mob. I want to be able to help create confident young
04:57leaders, so yeah.
04:59Well, Gujuga Foundation is certainly setting a very firm foundation. Claire Woolley,
05:03thank you so much for speaking with us and sharing that story.
05:05Thank you so much.
05:07Thank you so much.
05:09Thank you so much.
05:13Thank you so much.
05:21Thank you so much.
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