A truly collaborative effort between students, staff, parents, community Elders and Koorie engagement support officers has created outstanding outcomes. They are united in their enthusiasm and commitment to explore the stories of the past and work towards a positive future.
In 2017, the school's Student Attitude to School Survey achieved the 88th percentile for sense of inclusion. This is in no small way due to the Koorie education program's success in teaching principles of understanding, empathy and pride.
The school has also achieved positive academic outcomes. There are notable improvements in literacy and numeracy benchmarks since the Koorie education program began.
As a result of this, Bruthen Primary is deeply proud of its Koorie culture and language program, which it puts at the core of all student learning. They also share the program's success by working with other local schools to help establish their own culturally inclusive program.
It was great to be a part of a small school in a community where my Uncle and Aunty who first started me on my Language learning teaching and passion for our languages lived, my only regret that my Uncle Albert was not around to see this. Uncle Albert would have been so proud and all of my other Aunties and Uncles who were part of our Yirruk-Tinnor Elders Language Reference group. They guided us on what was to be taught, how it was to be taught and how it was to be shared with the wider community. We have parents and community who support the program at the school.
We call it the Yirruk-Tinnor because the language went from Wilson's prom to Genoa/Mallacoota. Because of colonisation, there was not enough for just a Gunai language and it is a language incorporating the whole of Gippsland and we had the missions which had many peoples form many different places across Victoria.
The language being used has been called Gunaikurnai or the Ganai or Gunai for the language program but it has words of the people from the lands on which we live, which is the Gunai peoples of the five groups from Gunaikurnai and the Monaro/Ngarigo and at times Bidawell thus covering our total lands of the Gippsland area.
When you speak and use language it is important to use the words that belong to that particular place, that piece of land, you cannot use a word from Bundjalung which is from New South Wales to represent land and items in the country of Gippsland as we have a different word which is used for that particular item.
Another misconception people have is that language stayed in one place, our Aboriginal languages are living and thus they live in the people, in the country and thus move with the people, they are shared and as people moved up and down the coast into the high country for Bogong moths celebration and festival that language was there and used and people from other areas liked some of the words and then took them back to their lands to use.
Some of Gippsland words are found in other languages across Victoria.
If we look at the languages we speak today in English we use many language words from other countries and they are part of our vocabulary, for example these are some word English has stolen from other languages across the world
In French
“Cafe” comes from the French word for “coffee,” but it’s also very similar to other words related to coffee in many other languages.
A croissant is a type of pastry or bread that is light and flaky. “Flaky” means the croissant leaves lots of little crumbs on your plate when you eat it.
In German
A delicatessen (abbreviated “deli”) is an informal restaurant where you can get sandwiches, coffee and other small foods. This comes from the German word Delikatessen, which means “fine/fancy foods,” but in English it just describes the place where you can buy those foods
Kindergarten Translated literally, this word means “children’s garden.” It’s a common type of school in many parts of the world. Children often go to a year or two of kindergarten when they’re 5 years old before they start elementary school. (german word)
In Spanish Macho This word describes a person who is very strong or masculine. It can also be used to describe a person who is arrogant about his manhood. It’s also been used in the name of a professional wrestler and a popular disco song from the 1970s.
In English, “patio” generally describes an area outside a house which often has a table and chairs, but no roof.
A plaza describes a public open area in a city, which can sometimes be called a “square.”
A siesta is another name for “nap,” but it’s generally a nap that one takes in the middle of the day, especially after eating or while taking a break from work.
In Japanese
You probably know what karaoke is. It’s when you sing along with the tune of a popular song while reading the lyrics from a screen. There are karaoke bars in many countries, including the US and the UK, but it’s most commonly associated with Japan.
Like karaoke, you probably recognize this word. It describes a popular martial art that originated in Japan. There, the word “karate” means “empty hand,” since you don’t need any special equipment or weapons to do it.
Ninja This word means “spy” in Japanese, but in English it’s used to describe a person who can move and attack silently, without being seen. People also associate ninjas with fighters who wear masks and all black clothing, even though that may not be historically true.
Origami is the art of folding small pieces of paper in order to form them into interesting shapes. Some origami can be really detailed and incredible!
Native American Language
Depending on who you ask, you will probably hear different ideas about what a moccasin is. But at least everyone will agree that it’s a type of informal shoe.
In Chinese Language
DimSim Dim sum is a style of food that’s common in southern China (specifically in and near Hong Kong). So it’s actually from the Cantonese dialect of Chinese
Tofu
This is a word that originally started in Chinese (as “dou fu“). But before it was adopted into English, it passed through Japanese and became “tofu.”
In Chinese, “dou” means “bean” and “fu” means “rotten” or “sour.” It sounds gross when you put it that way, but it can actually be pretty tasty! If you’ve not tried it, you should.
Italy
“Paparazzi” is actually the plural form of the Italian word paparazzo. It’s used in English to describe a photographer or a group of photographers who take pictures of celebrities. Then they sell the photos to magazines or newspapers.
Finally Aboriginal Language words
Many people speak our Aboriginal languages in everyday conversations as you have borrowed our words and use them in English
Australian language uses about 500 Aboriginal words. ... A survey of newspapers in July 2007 found that the most common Aboriginal word is 'kangaroo', followed by 'wallaby' (which might be influenced by the rugby team of the same name), 'waratah' (also a rugby team), 'koala', 'billabong', 'kookaburra', 'dingo' and 'wombat'
Learning a Language gets your brain to think, and hear sounds that are sometimes not particular sounds used in the language you use everyday, so start learning another language you will enjoy learning not only to speak that language, but also about understanding the people, the land and the culture of those particular people, language cannot be separated into just learning words that is not learning language.
Learning Language is my greatest asset that my family and Elders have passed onto me I grew up hearing it spoken by my Aunties in Orbost, far East Gippsland and then they have asked me to pass it on and to look after it for out future generations,
I have been reviving, reclaiming our languages for over 30 years now and I intend to be doing it for a lot longer. My family learnt English as their second language and whilst that is not possible now I will make sure that our families and others interested speak language on country, value and respect it and use it, and then I have fulfilled my promise to my Uncle Albert that I would still keep passing on knowledge about our Aboriginal language.
There was not one language but over 750 different ones that were on different countries across this great big land.
