 I believe that even as children we were beginning to start to understand the notion of dislocation, displacement. It's estimated that our people spoke over 250 languages. Today, there are now only about 20 that are flourishing. In the space of a generation, my language was lost. I was lost. I felt a sense of loss. One of my earliest memories is listening to old people talk language. Grandfather, great grandfather. Around my nens, fire. What is it they're saying? Our intrigue is there immediately, historically. Aboriginal people were forbidden from talking language, so what ends up happening is you lose connection. You lose a sense of vision. You lose a sense of optimism. So we grow up with this sense of loss. Then you can understand why the importance of this language now and the value of this language is so powerful. People said there were recordings of our old people talking. So I got older these tapes and to have the ability to push a button and hear their voices, it woke something in me. It was like a gift from the past. I didn't just want to know who they were or what they were saying. I knew I had to understand it fully. I had to get somewhere where I felt I could connect to it. In some ways, I went back to the fire to listen to my grandfathers and to make sense of those sounds that I could hear in between words. That's what I heard. That's what was drawing me back into that place. And so what I've been able to do with those tapes is go okay. So these old people held on to this language and story and culture and it's important because they continue to hold the DNA that connects us. And to have these historical accounts now at my hands, I've been able to reconstruct my language and broaden my cultural knowledge. I now have the opportunity to share the gift of language with the next generation of my people. What we try to do here at the Wallatuker Institute is to work with each of the students who come here to take a personal interest in their lives. We build a relationship with each other. Traditionally we call this word kipara. The program here that we're teaching for language recovery at the Wallatuker Institute is called Muya Barangi. And it literally means a flying breath. By teaching students indigenous languages, we are reconnecting them with their culture and empowering them to be the leaders within their own communities. I've taken on the role of language teacher with my grandchildren. They want them to have a sense of their own identity. I get the greatest satisfaction. It's hard. It really... No, it doesn't. See, it reminds me of my grandparents. So to get the gift back, to get the gift back, it is just so enriching. I'm not going to go to school anymore. I'm going to go to school. I'm going to go to school. And I'm going to be a teacher. I'm going to go to school.