Learning language with Aunty Irene

It’s story time at the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy school in Hopevale and Aunty Irene Hammett is armed with her Guugu Yimidhirr language books.

She wrote them based on her and her family’s childhoods. They tell tales of adventures on country - through the bush, and at the beach.

The class gathers on the mat in front of Aunty Irene and listen intently.

Irene is a long-time teacher and reader at this Hopevale school and is a passionate advocate for the speaking of her mother tongue.

“Language is something that no one else can take away from you,” she says. “It’s in your heart and in your mind.”

Produced by Gemma Deavin

This video was originally contributed to the ABC Open Mother Tongue project, which invited Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to share a story about their mother tongue.