Jasmine Seymour:
Warimi budyari nhaady'unyila yagu. Hello, it is good to see you here today at ABC Education Story Time. Ngaya giyara Jasmine Seymour. My name is Jasmine Seymour and I'm going to read to you today, Open Your Heart to Country. It is a book that was written and illustrated by me. It is about Dharug language and Dharug people. I hope you enjoy it.
Open your heart to Country. Let place soothe your lonely feet. Ngiyini Ngurrawa. You are on Country. In this picture, we see my family and down the bottom we have all the names of the people in my family, Yarramundi, Maria Lock, John Lock, Hannah Lock, Elsie Morley, Laurel Douglas, Stephen Seymour, and me. Welcome home lost children to land singing you back home. Walama ngurragu. Return home. Listen to its language. Learn how to speak its song, Ngara Ngurrangai dhalangu. Listen to the language of Country. Now as we are reading this beautiful book, we're hearing it in two languages. We are hearing it in English and we're hearing it in Dharug. And when you hear the Dharug, you will hear a different way of thinking. Let it wrap you in a bed of bark, back where you came from. Ngiyini, Ngurrabirang. You are of Country. Your skin might have many names. You might be far from home. Warami. Buyari naady'unya, Where are you from? Good to see you. Long-ago-stories will cover you. Listen. Love. Learn. Dabuwamilyi Ngurragu. Paint up for Country. Now, dabuwamilyi means to paint up and when we paint ourselves, we're telling stories.
Move through the smoke, let it cover you. Garrimalyi gadyalaa. Cleanse yourself with smoke. Have you ever been to a smoking ceremony? Have you walked through the smoke? You're cleansing yourself in that beautiful smoke. I love the colours that it puts in the sky. Dance with bare feet on the ground. Dhangurraya!, Let's dance!
Open your heart to Country. Sleep in its emu Milky Way. Mariyanga yudibanya burawa. The emu will guide you across the sky. Have you ever gone outside and looked up into the Milky Way? You should try it, especially around May. You'll see this beautiful big dark outline of an emu in the stars. Swim in its river of stars. Banga baranyiin baribugu. Paddle from yesterday to tomorrow. Now Dharug is what's called a sleeping language. And that means we're doing the really hard work of trying to learn and research about our language and we want people to speak it again. And so sometimes it's like paddling upstream. On Country where you belong. walamagulang ngiyini ngurragu. To return to your home. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you've enjoyed Open Your Heart to Country. And I wonder if when you go back to the place where you live, if you can find out something about the Aboriginal language that belongs to place. All Aboriginal communities are doing the hard work of revitalising their languages, of waking up sleeping languages, and you can help by learning about them. Nhaabawunyila. See you later. Yanu.