Soon after that, Minister Stirling Hinchliffe went and spoke at the state Parliament. SBS Dinka interviewed Minister Stirling Hinchliffe in February and this interview was kept to be broadcast in March. In a statement released by the State Parliament, Minister Stirling Hinchliffe great everyone in Dinka in order to honour the International Mother Language Day.
‘We ca muɔ̈th wedhia'. Good morning to you and my colleagues in the Dinka language of some of our Queenslanders of South Sudanese background. I draw to the attention of the House that last Thursday, 21 February was the United Nations International Mother Language Day, as the Premier has mentioned. International Mother Language Day was approved in 1999 at the UNESCO General Conference and has been globally observed since 2000. The date of 21 February acknowledges the day in 1952 that several people were killed fighting to have the Bangla language recognised.
International Mother Language Day promotes linguistic diversity as a vehicle for understanding, appreciating difference and preserving cultures. To highlight this point, last Saturday I was a guest, along with the member for Ipswich, at the 2019 Dinka Bor community event, where mother language, dance and food were shared to celebrate their traditions and encourage and include their Queensland born children in their cultural heritage.”
