Djaadjawan Dancers and its artistic director Sharon Mason recognised for their ongoing work to revive traditional language

The seven day language festival hosted from October 22 and 29 was brought about by the Aboriginal Languages Trust, with the aim to shine a spotlight on the ongoing work being done in communities to revive traditional languages.

On the South Coast there are several Indigenous groups, Aboriginal corporations and individuals that have dedicated years if not lifetimes to the preservation and revival of their ancestors languages.

From the Yanda Birtaj language group, to the Djinama Yilaga choir, to dance groups from Duurunu Miru, to the Gulaga Dancers and the Dwaadjawan Dancers - to name a few of the many who have been working with Indigenous language over the years.

Among those who have shown continued efforts to reclaim their language is Yuin dancer and songwoman Sharon Mason.

Known for her years of dedication in reviving traditional cultural practices across the South Coast, Aunty Sharon applied for funding from the Aboriginal Languages Trust Community Investment Program.

"We saw the opportunity and with the help of Katungul in Narooma we thought we'd put in an application," she said.

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By late July 2023 Aunty Sharon received news that her dance group, the Djaadjawan Dancers, had received $25,000 in funding for the proposed language programs and ideas that she and her daughter Ashweeni had put forward.

"I was just over the moon when we found out because it meant we could find a different way to share our language, because not everyone can go online, in TAFE or universities to learn," she said.

The Djaadjawan Dancers application for funding had been one of 58 successful community organisations that received funding in the $3.9 million boost to revitalise Aboriginal languages in NSW.

"We're super excited to have the opportunity to give people more chances to engage with it because the community is just screaming for it," she said.

With the funding in hand Aunty Sharon said the next move was to use the funding to allow opportunities for more people to access the Certificate I in Dhurga Language taught at Moruya TAFE by Brinja Yuin Elder Trisha Ellis.

Adding on from that though Aunty Sharon said the funding would also allow the Djaadjawan Dancers to host a language group for community who couldn't access linguistic studies.

"I thought it would be deadly to make a community group where we could teach them language in the Koori way," she said.

Having completed the Certificate I and II for the language course at TAFE, Aunty Sharon said she'd be encouraging her dancers and community to take on the course at the campus on Mondays, while also providing access to learning the language to those who might not be able to study in TAFE or universities.

"There's different ways of teaching languages, if I was a linguist I would teach them in that way but I'm a community person with language so I'm going to teach it in a simpler way," she said.

"It makes me so excited because we've got two things happening at the same time, on the one hand we've got groups of people who can learn through TAFE and then groups who can learn in community."

Once the language training was underway Aunty Sharon said she would be organising a trip to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies' (AIATSIS) National Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Centre in Canberra.

"We'll have a field trip to AIATSIS in Canberra so the group can learn how to research their language and get some materials for their own personal use so they can dig into their language as much as possible," she said.

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Aunty Sharon said the process of learning and discovering her mother tongue had been an empowering and exciting experience for her, which she was hopeful would be the same for those joining the language group.

"When I first started learning my language, I couldn't get my head out of it. I started translating everything, from the things I looked at to translating my name and it's how I began to teach myself to sing and write my own songs," she said.

"Language feeds into stories, song and dance and it strengthens and empowers us."

Growing up Aunty Sharon said she used to get upset seeing other cultures speaking their own languages around her, when she felt like she couldn't speak her own freely.

"But now that we've been having yarns and learnt the language we can share again, sing and it's an incredible feeling, it's very powerful," she said.

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Aunty Sharon said she'd started learning her language 13 years ago and has many memories of community members coming to her asking to understand new words they'd come across.

"I had people from up and down the coast ringing up all the time, saying 'hey Shaz can you tell me the meaning of this?' or they'd be calling up about making a sign and wanting to know the meaning of certain words," she said.

Aunty Sharon said in the times the community came to her to learn and ask about language she felt proud, proud of her knowledge and stoked to be able to pass it on.

"It's important and special that we share our language because we never had a written language but now we do and it's a good opportunity for us advance our culture," she said.

Aunty Sharon said there were still many projects and ideas in the works that would come about with the help of the funding.

"I just want to say thank you, to the Aboriginal Languages Trust for giving us this grant and also to Katungul Aboriginal Medical Service for their continued support and the Djaadjawan Dancers of course, for being so committed in all of this," she said.

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