| Summary |
"Parrjarnarnapulaka, pulanyju muwarr wirrirnipulu, muwarr mirlimirlingi kalyarralu. Parrjarnarna ngalypa; ngaju karramarnarna, ngajulu ngurnipali wirrilamarna muwarrpa yarntarnarna mirlimirlingi. Marrngupa nyirrirnikartijanga parrjalapiyi muwarr, palajun. Muwarr pala yarntarnarna Nyangumartalu, wunyjurru wanikinyiyi walangkarrangu nganarnamili kurlumarniny. Munumpa ngaju English-ku yarntanaku, Nyangumarta yarntarnarna muwarr nyungu, nyungu Marrngumili muwarr, palajun." :"I saw what my kalyarra, Billy Dunn and Jack McPhee, had written, when they wrote their stories down in books. I saw that it was done well and I thought, perhaps I should put what I've written of my own story into a book also, then the younger people coming behind us could read about what had happened. So I wrote the story in Nyangumarta, how our old people, our forebears, used to live. I didn't know enough English to write in English, so I wrote it in Nyangumarta. This is a marrngu story." :-- Minyjun (Monty Hale) :Monty Hale is one of the quiet achievers of Indigenous Australia, and one of its greatest intellectuals. Coming from the deserts of Western Australia, he was part of one of the foundational movements of Indigenous economic independence associated with the strike from sheep and cattle stations in the Pilbara in 1947, culminating in the establishment of Strelley and other communitiies in the 1970's. He was a key person in the establishment of Strelley School, fiercely independent of governments and missionaries, and dedicated to a 'two-way' approach, teaching in Aboriginal languages (such as his own Nyangumarta) and recognising local indigenous culture alongside English and western skills. :An autobiography by an Indigenous person, written by that person (not ghost-written) in their traditional language, and translated into English, is a rare event to be treasured. His choice of language is not simply a result of the fact that Monty's fluency in English is not perfect, on his own admission. It also flows from his immense pride in Nyangumarta and its expressive ability which encodes unique ways of looking at the world and social relations (such as in frequent reference to kinship terms and the 'face' section system used in a wide region). |
