Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD), celebrated yesterday in schools across the state, provides a window into the rich world of First Nations peoples through storytelling. It’s also an important opportunity for our community to reflect on its progress in closing the gap across the educational divide.

This year’s ILD focused on celebrating stories and language, serving as a reminder of the importance of a connection to language, heritage, and literacy for Aboriginal communities.

Fortunately, the revitalisation of indigenous languages has eagerly been taken up by people across the region, with the popularity of language courses at an all-time high.

Indigenous language teacher Aunty Beth Wright says that after years of the language ‘sleeping’ after old government policies prohibited First Nations languages from being spoken, it’s a beautiful thing to witness to language waking up. 

Aunty Beth has played a crucial role in languages taught across the region, including dialects of Wayilwan, Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaaraay and Wiradjuri nations.

 “Language is more than just language. Language is identity. The old people say language is your soul. Now we have the opportunity to awaken it and bring it back,” Aunty Beth said.

 After being so well received across the region, with over 150 students attending language courses each week, local Indigenous languages are being implemented across schools in the area.

“At our first graduation ceremony in June, the school kids came and sang We Are Australian in Wayilwan, which was very empowering.”

The language is beginning to be taught as early as pre-school, with students learning to sing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in native aboriginal languages.

According to Aunty Beth, the biggest threat to closing the education divide is the disruption in local communities. 

“There needs to be more stability in High Schools. In Walgett we have principals coming and going, there’s no longer the passion that was there when I was growing up,” she said. 

One of the biggest factors, Aunty Beth says, are the drugs that are overtaking regional towns and “having too much influence on the community, the people, and the kids going to school”.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, Aunty Beth says that watching “the oldest language being taught on the most modern medium” is an amazing thing to see. 

“We need to promote Indigenous Literacy Day more, we need to get it out there. I’m so proud of all the students who are learning all the different languages, the culture, and the people out there who are implementing it.”

National efforts in Closing the Gap have seen a number of Aboriginal initiatives, such as the Connected Communities Strategy, which works with 15 selected schools to create generational change, including schools in Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble and Walgett. 

Despite the language beginning to thrive, there is much more work to be done in closing the gap and achieving equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This year, new data will be released to indicate the success of the initiative.

From 2011 to 2016, Indigenous students who had attained a year 12 or equivalent qualification rose from 51.8 per cent to 63.2 per cent, leaving 15 years to achieve the national target of 96 per cent by 2031.

Meanwhile, non-Indigenous students reaching the same level have hovered above 80 to 90 per cent since 2001, indicating the significant educational divide in Australia.

Indigenous Literacy Day is an important reminder of the work that is being done and the progress that needs to be made to better support Indigenous Australians.