Busking For Change: Aussie singers back fundraiser to preserve Indigenous languages
Renowned First Nations musicians have joined singer Josh Pyke in his plight to get schools Busking For Change, a fundraiser aimed at preserving ‘severely endangered’ Indigenous languages.
Award-winning musician Josh Pyke is on a mission to champion Indigenous language the best way he knows how: through music and song.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation ambassador is calling on primary schools across the country to join the Busking For Change fundraising campaign, where students learn a song in English and Kriol while raising funds.
These funds enable the ILF to help more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote Communities access and create books in their native languages.
Pyke said they hoped to surpass last year’s successful pilot program — which involved five schools and raised more than $16,000 — by registering 100 schools in the country, with a fundraising target of $100,000.
“For me, as a white Australian, I have always been passionate about the idea of bridging the gap and the injustice that has fallen on Indigenous Australians over the years,” Pyke said.
“Literacy for me has been something that’s changed my life, not just reading books, but being musically literate, being able to engage in words and art has been incredibly powerful.”
The idea for Busking For Change began as pub gig in 2009 and evolved when Pyke’s children started school.
“It goes beyond just raising money for the ILF, it’s an opportunity to discuss things in terms of Indigenous issues, learning about our history while giving the opportunity to be inclusive with music,” Pyke said.
All registered primary schools receive the tools and resources needed to make their Busking for Change a success, including: the song, charts, lyrics and translations.
Registrations close on June 30 and schools have until Indigenous Literacy Day on September 6 to rehearse and prepare their Busking Day performance.
This year’s anthem, “Words Make The World Go Around”, was created by Pyke and fellow ILF ambassadors Justine Clarke and Deborah Cheetham, in conjunction with Gawura School students in Sydney.
Four renowned First Nations musicians, DOBBY, Jeremy Marou, Tilly Tjala Thomas, and Aodhan have put their support behind the campaign.
Australia’s Indigenous languages have been classified as severely endangered.
Only 123 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages remain in use, a drastic decline from the more than 250 distinct languages pre-colonisation, according to a AIATSIS 2018-19 survey.
Of the remaining language, only 12 maintain relative strength and are being passed down to children.
The UN has declared 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in response to a global crisis facing native languages.
“It’s aligned in such a beautiful way because every year there’ll be a new song and will include a different Indigenous language soby the end of UNESCO’s decade of First Nations language, we’ll have ten different songs with potentially ten different Indigenous Australian languages included,” Pyke said.
“There’ll be this beautiful catalogue of songs and language documented and recorded that will have been part of kids’ lives throughout their whole primary school experience.”
ILF CEO Ben Bowen, a proud Wiradjuri man, said: “A scary thing for us is if we ask anyone around in Australia, to say ‘hello’ in a different language and people can recite 20 or 30 different ways, international languages.
“But f you then ask them to say “hello” in an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language, you usually have silence.”
He said ILF receives no government funding so fundraisers were critical to its success.
“Language is community driven and when governments do get involved they can put barriers to which languages should be funded, whereas we can actually work with community to work on any language they like,” Mr Bowen said.
He said many of their communities could speak anywhere from four to 16 different languages and the ILF worked with them to deliver bespoke resources.
“Within our program we run, there’s a book supply which goes out every year and that supports about 120,000 books that are culturally relevant, selected by community to go out to communities,” Mr Bowen said.
“We have book bars, which is for 0-5-year-olds, which is a real fun, engaging book kit that goes out to about 103 communities now.
“The third program is the community publishing, which works with communities to write the books of the stories they want to tell and have them illustrated and entirely driven by the communities, and can be either in language or bilingual.”
To register before June 30, visit buskingforchange.ilf.org.au
Registered schools will receive the following five books published by ILF for their school library:
No Way Yirrikipayi! by children from Milikapati School with Alison Lester.
No Way Yirrikipayi! is the story of a hungry crocodile that goes searching for food on Melville Island. Along the way he encounters both land and sea animals. Written in both Tiwi and English, this delightful, humorous book is beautifully illustrated and will appeal to all ages. It was written and developed in workshops lead by Alison Lester, ILF Ambassador and the former Children's Laureate. rrp: $22.99
Hello Hello written by remote community schools at the Spinifex Writing Camp.
A family is walking home on a very dark night. It’s hard to see clearly – what is that shadow? And what is that noise??? Turn the pages of this intriguing and atmospheric book and join the family as they discover what the dark night is hiding. rrp: $24.99
Jarrampa written and illustrated by Marshia Cook with additional illustrations by Tamua Nuggett and Cazarus Baker
Jarrampa are cherabin – they are very tasty to eat but a challenge to catch because of those claws. One old woman had a clever way of catching them – she put meat between her toes and then put her feet into the billabong. When the jarrampa started to nibble at the meat, she quickly gathered them up in her skirts and put them in a bucket. Later the whole family sat around the campfire to share in a delicious meal of jarrampa. rrp:$24.99
Tudei en longtaim (Now and Then) written by Stella Raymond with illustrations by the Binjari Book Mob.
Stella Raymond lives in Binjari, which is located near Katherine in the Northern Territory. Move back and forth in time in Stella Raymond’s fascinating book comparing how life is lived now in Aboriginal communities to how it was lived in the olden days. Written in English and Kriol, Stella’s home language, this book not only is an insight into Aboriginal life now and then, but also to a language that is widely spoken across the top of Australia. rrp:$19.99
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I Saw We Saw by Yolŋu students at Nhulunbuy Primary School with Ann James and Ann Haddon
A delight to read and explore with the opportunity to learn some Yolŋu Matha words, the authors' first language. This books provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Yolŋu students at Nhulunbuy Primary School. rrp: $24.99
Note: Books are also available for purchase with all proceeds from sales supporting ILF’s publishing projects that work with remote children and community across Australia. Purchase from: shop.ilf.org.au
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