TIME IS NOT OUR FRIEND Our children need to see things, to be involved in things and to do things at a very young age
“As a young fulla I used to like sitting just listening to those old people in the bush camps talking, and how they talked. Just like English we had our big words too!”. Jerry Mission 1990’s In the old days children were surrounded by a lifestyle in the bush with family. Learning never stopped because that is the way things were done. Now life in a modern world is different and as adults we need to make an effort to teach our children and for them to be involved in cultural activities. Sometimes we do not realise that our children and grandchildren are watching and listening to what is going on around them and they are learning things themselves without the help of adults. Now sometimes we need to remind both ourselves and children that we do not live on forever and that these days father time is not our friend.
This is the same with speaking a language. When we are surrounded by adults all talking English and go to schools where the local language is not spoken it is hard to learn. Nowadays English is the main spoken word and our children do not hear Kokoberra, Yir Yoront or Kunjen and Olkol. The days are gone of the camps where everyone spoke their own language and children learned from the day that they were born to hear the sounds of the language that everyone spoke. There are few speakers of any of the main original languages of Mitchell River country now. As some know it is not easy learning from a book. The spelling sometimes confuses people when they see their written language without hearing the sounds of the word. Elders and people of all ages are passing away and so it is urgent that we realise that truly time is short to save our languages and the cultural heritage that goes with it.
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