Preserving the Guugu Yimithirr language
Learn and help preserve the Guugu Yimithirr language through a beautiful song called Guujuwi Barrabarrawi – which means “Fishing in the Mangroves”.
Pama Language Centre is currently working with Indigenous first nations of Cape York Peninsula to revive and preserve the 149 threatened languages in the region.
In the second of our series on language preservation, we bring a song in Guugu Yimithirr a fragile language from the east coast of Cape York Peninsula.
Guujuwi Barrabarrawi is about fishing, something everyone loves to do.
It was written by Guugu Yimithirr language teacher Lillian Bowen OAM and sung in Guugu Yimithirr by Tammy Gibson and the students of Hope Vale School.
The following video was filmed with Lillian, Philomena Naylor and grandchildren on a beautiful morning at Elim beach, Far North Queensland.
Version with English subtitles.
Downloadable activity sheets to practice grammar and vocabulary from this song are found in the Guugu Yimithirr Living Library.
The illustrated songbook from the Guugu Yimithirr Songs on Country project, with guitar chords and full scores for 10 original children's songs, is available from the Pama Language Centre website shop.
Find out more
Guujuwi Barrabarrawi was produced by Songs on Country, a Pama Language Centre project funded by the Office for the Arts through the Indigenous Languages and the Arts program.
For more information, visit Pama Language Centre.