Published on Friday, 26 July 2013 at 12:00:00 AM
A bilingual book written by June Injie was launched at Bellary Springs Aboriginal Community near Tom Price in June.
Titled Gurri Watharrigu Magaragu (The Girl is Looking for Her Little Brother), it tells the story of a missing girl in both Yinhawangka and English with the aim of making Ms Injie’s culture more accessible.
The book was a labour of love on behalf of Ms Injie, Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre and the IBN Group, who recorded, translated and compiled the story. According to Ms Injie—also known as Aunty June—it was a challenging task.
“Getting the spelling right and translating it into English was hard because we do not have our language written,” she said. “So it took nearly a month to produce.”
Ms Injie said the book came about after a suggestion from Wangka Maya’s outgoing senior linguist, Jessica Mathie.
“My Mum and I were working with Wangka Maya when Jessie suggested I put some words into a story,” she recalled. “So I remembered something that happened when I was a child, where this little girl went missing and people were looking for her everywhere. We thought it could teach kids little words, phrases and short stories like ‘they were looking under the bed’, ‘in the back of the house’, and ‘in the bedroom’,” she said.
“And because the phrases are easy for people to pick up, it helps my language, my country, traditions and stories to continue. That’s the most important thing for me.”
You can obtain a copy of Aunty June’s book at Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre www.wangkamaya.org.au or through Tom Price IBN Office on 9189 3706—the sponsor of the book. Cost is $20.00 including audio CD. Donation of copies may be available upon request.
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