NGARLUMA ELDERS WRITE AND SING SONG IN LANGUAGE TO PROTECT SEA COUNTRY

Ngarluma Elders and communtity members perform ‘Ngurrugalira Yirraru’ in the Ngaarda Radio studio.

A group of Ngarluma elders and community members gathered this week in Ieramagadu/Roebourne to write a song about salmon.

The song ‘Ngurrugalira Yirraru’, or ‘Salmon Song’, is part of a collaborative project between the Ngarluma people, Parks Australia and the University of Western Australia.

It was performed live in the Ngaarda Radio studios by a group of project participants including Keith Churnside, Pansy Hicks, Violet Samson, Jean Churnside, Melanie O'Donoghue, Jesse Gordon and Jasper Dowding, and led by Patrick Churnside.

The project, funded by Parks Australia, aims to ensure Ngarluma people have input into the management Ngarlumatharndu Wagari Ngurra, or the Dampier Marine Park.

The song is in the Ngarluma language, which is at risk of extinction, with fewer than ten fluent speakers remaining.

Project manager Jasper Dowding said the song was only the beginning for the marine park project.

“We’re just starting something new,” he said.

“People in the community have been working towards this for quite some time, and I think what we’ve come to now is how to step forward, how to take it to the next step.

“We have pretty good ideas: we’ve got more songs in the works, children’s books in language, to get the language out there, get it used.”

Ngarluma broadcaster Camilia Samson spoke to Keith Churnside , Pansy Hicks, Violet Samson, Jean Churnside, Patrick Churnside, Melanie O'Donoghue, Jesse Gordon and Jasper Dowding about the project: