Lillian Bowen, Ancestral Language Teacher

You know when you turn off the vehicle, that's a bad sign. But back this way, number 90, you can see it, but it's facing the other way. My name is Lillian Bowen, Nii Wai Bow. I'm from Hopeville, a little community a little north of Cooktown. I've taught in the school for so many years, and I have been teaching Cook Yimdir, and I have the passion to keep doing, bringing Cook Yimdir into the school. At the age of 14, I started work at school, with the education as a teacher aide. And I worked there for so long before I got married. When the opportunity came to school teaching Cook Yimdir, way, way later, I was right into that. Now, today, I think it's very, very important, I keep saying to the children, you need to listen and take this into your head. Because we don't want our language dying like other places, and they regret it now, because it's all gone. I've got a very deep passion for Cook Yimdir, and I will do anything to keep it continuing. And I think in me, there's nothing that I don't know about Cook Yimdir speaking. First of all, I start teaching the pronouns, like ngaiyo, nollo, tanna, nango, and then I'll teach them kungar, nakka, tipar, kuwa, the directions of the area, maybe the direction from the school, spot from the school. Some of the children you're talking to, they think it's just a foreign, to them, you can see in their face that it's like a foreign language to them. And I will say, you know, Nundu, you're looking at me like that, your grandfather, your grandmother used to sing in the church over there, sing top voice in Cook Yimdir. Every day, I suggest this to the children, that I want to see them, like myself, at the front, teaching Cook Yimdir, you know, have the passion for Cook Yimdir, and teach it according to the book, so they know how to spell it, read it, write it. I said, one day, maybe you might have a friend overseas, from here, you're going to write him or her a letter in Cook Yimdir. I want one or two, three, or maybe all of you, to be one day Cook Yimdir teacher. Yeah, my dad was born in Salem. All your kids... We're all born here, and only one is three years old. You said it was raining, Danny. Yeah, this is our hideout on Christmas holidays. Our children come from Cairns, where they do schooling, Mosman, Townsville, and we all gather here at Christmas holidays. So we got this tradition from way, way back, when I was a child, and I've been taken out on the beach like this for holidays, by my two parents. We had an old shack here, just one little space, a room size, made of irons. Then we gradually worked on getting this done. Who helped you with this one? Oh, hopefully George Gibson helped him with this one. And we've been here since. And we sort of planted our coconut trees around the area, and we love it here. It's like home away from home. The grandfather often have time with the grandchildren while they're here, showing them how to make spear, woomera, and yeah, and the children, and we talk to the grandchildren, talk in Kuki Imdir, you know, get them to know Kuki Imdir and the way of survival out in the bush, out on the beach. When I was small, my dad used to sing out of a Kuki Imdir hymn book when I was only 6 or 7 years old. Get out that book and we'd sing together. And then he would talk in the house, almost Kuki Imdir to us. Besides, we had an uncle, Timmy Confin staying with us, and he was very fluent in talking Kuki Imdir. He used to stay with us. Whenever we'd go anywhere, he'd leave the house to him, he'd look after it. A good man. He looked after each one of us. While mom would go into hospital to have another child, he would look after the rest of us siblings. Very fluent in Kuki Imdir. I can say I got a lot from him, as well as my dad. Now you're carrying on. And now, yeah, I think I'm carrying it on because from there, speaking fluent. It's half dying out now. Yeah, and that's why we like to keep it alive. You hear none of our kids, or even teenagers, talking Kuki Imdir. They just talk English. That's what I said one day. We must just talk Kuki Imdir all the time at home. So our grandchildren, when they come around, they can talk Kuki Imdir. But I think just English all the time. There's only a couple of us our age, that speaks fluent. That's why I'm strongly, you know, having children to learn this Kuki Imdir in the school. The children got to know the language. I'm really proud of my daughter Lillian. She's interested in her Kuki Imdir, and that's why I'm so proud of her. So I know she'll keep on talking all the time. We really don't want our Kuki Imdir to die out. Because it's our Kuki, you know, we must carry on with it. She only carries Kuki Imdir. Outwardly, and in school, I think she's doing the best for the children. But they got to cooperate with us, you know. We're forgetting about our language. But we old people, we might go this way, that way. I've written five or six different stories, but actually one had gone through and got published, which I'm so happy about, and I am not going to let it go that far. I'm going to keep going, and I think this will bring the message out through the children to their parents, to keep up the Kuki Imdir. It is very important. We don't want our language to die. We need to keep our mother tongue going. Going out, it'll come in late tonight. Part of it's, you know, connected to your land, your future, your survival out in the bush, and it's historical. That means fresh water. It means fresh water running, everlasting. My great fear is of the Kuki Imdir dying out. I think as long as I live, I want to teach this, keep following this up and make sure there's someone up there like me could get up at the front and teach. Kuki Imdir be binal kor alal. And matu wawu warka bitukur Kuki Imdir miinu. Kor ngay wawu mldana Kuki Imdir dupinu.