Wurundjeri woman Mandy Nicholson is currently a PHD Candidate at Deakin University. The focus of her studies is "Connection to country, when off country."
She says she didn’t grow up learning her language - her language journey started when she was 18-years-old.
"Learning my language completed the void I had in my life."
Mandy worked as a cultural officer at Galeena Beek Living Culture Centre in Healesville and found a book which featured the writing of the Woiwurrung language. She started to learn a few words and from there, language become part of her life.
When starting her talks in language she pays her respects to her ancestors - and this respect shines through in how she teaches her children and other family members in respecting their culture, traditions, themselves and others.
"Learning my language completed the void I had in my life," Wurundjeri educator Mandy Nicholson tells NITV Radio.
More on the people of the Kulin Nation and the Tanderrum Ceremony
Tanderrum revives an ancient ceremony that celebrates the people of the Kulin Nation
That was the start of her journey and this continued when she completed her degree in Archaeology and then won a role at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages.
"From that moment it’s opened up all the possibilities," she says. "The cultural knowledge embedded in language."
"Culture is the tree and language is the roots of the tree. If you chop the roots off then culture dies."
"We’ve created a brand new song for Djirri Djirri the Willy Wagtail, it’s full of the cultural connections of this spiritual bird."
Listen to the full podcast in the player above to hear how Mandy Nicholson learned to speak her first language.
Mandy Nicholson and other women and girls from the Kulin Nation performing the Tanderrum Ceremony. Melbourne Festival 2016. (Tiffany Garvie) Source: Tiffany Garvie
