Great Dividing Range: Acknowledgement of New England Range country [video]
Dhanggana.
My name’s Dave Widders.
I'm a proud Anaiwan man.
I come from the New England Ranges, but, growing up, probably didn't get to see a lot of our language, didn't get to speak a lot of our language. And in recent years we've formed our Anaiwan Language Revival group, which has been really exciting, teaching kids and adults our language that has been, I suppose, lost and hidden for a while rather than totally lost.
So it's given me a lot of pride to see that more of our mob are speaking our language here on Country. So we'd like people to learn our language that comes onto Country, people that surround us, our neighbours, Kamilaroi, the Bundjalung, the Dhanggati, the Gumbaynggirr and I think, more importantly, we want kids, black and white, who are on Country here, to learn our language, acknowledge our Country in language, so at school gatherings and forums.
We'd also love government people to learn our language and do that, I think, as a mark of respect for our language, and we want it to be revived but also to grow and develop and make people proud of our language and our Country and our culture.