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Yaegl Country

Yaegl Country. Town Signage Project. GooriE IT Class 2004 -2008. Daddy, what does Ilarwill mean?. Bernie Francis with his daughters Casey and Caitlin In the beginning…

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Yaegl Country

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  1. Yaegl Country Town Signage Project

  2. GooriE IT Class 2004 -2008

  3. Daddy, what does Ilarwill mean? Bernie Francis with his daughters Casey and Caitlin In the beginning… It was the year 2004. The first Goori IT class was being held at Maclean TAFE campus. Teacher Bernie Francis had just purchased his first house at Ilarwill near Maclean. And one day his two daughters asked their father Bernie “Daddy, what is the meaning of Ilarwill”? Well, Bernie didn’t know and told them he would ask the Yaegl Elders. In class the next morning, Bernie asked the Elders “What is the meaning of Ilarwill”? The Elders weren’t sure either and decided that if anyone would know it would be local Yaegl Elder Joyce Clague. Aunty Muriel Burns rang her sister Joyce and said “Do you know the meaning of Ilarwill”?

  4. Joyce said to her knowledge one of our late Yaegl Elders, Aunty Annie Randall said to her years ago Ilarwill was wet lands and full of black coots and ducks and Ilarwill means black ducks. Of course this created much interest as to the meaning of other town names in the Clarence Valley area. Consequently, the ‘Yaegl Town Signage Project’ was born. This superimposed image created by Denise Paten in 2005 gave us the idea of how the Ilarwill sign could look.

  5. North Coast TAFE Signage Yurhayguwaw, Adyingarraangigu Place to teach Place to learn These words are on the Aboriginal sign that was unveiled by the Yaegl Elders at the Maclean TAFE campus on Thursday 4th September 2008. Aunty Muriel Burns welcomed everyone on behalf of the Yaegl elders and thanked and acknowledged Brother Steve for the translation of the words used on the sign. The Director of TAFE NSW-North Coast Institute, Ms Elizabeth McGregor, addressed the gathering along with Tony Dreise, Director of TAFE NSW-North Coast Institute’s North Coast Aboriginal Learning Partnership. Mr Dreise said “the signage project was a commitment to acknowledge Aboriginal people as traditional custodians of their lands and Maclean is the first of 17 North Coast campuses to have these signs installed”. The Elders, Ms McGregor, Mr Dreise and Brother Steve Morelli then gathered around and Aunty Muriel unveiled the sign.

  6. The North Coast TAFE Signage unveiling was followed by Elsdon Charlton singing a beautiful song tittled My Dreaming Place. Elsdon wrote this song about the Maclean TAFE Campus and dedicated it to Campus Manager Lyn McGuire. There are also 15 smaller signs, each depicting an animal with their name written in Yaegl language that are erected in and around the campus.

  7. The ‘Town Signage Project’ and the ‘TAFE Signage Project’ would not have been possible without the knowledge, drive, determination, dedication and endless research of ‘Muurbay Language Centre’ and its members, particularly Brother Steve Morelli (Linguist), Anna Ash (Co-ordinator/Linguist), David Prosser (Linguist), Gary Williams (Linguist) Michael Jarrett (Linguist). Brother Steve researched meanings, translations and pronunciations’ extensively and derived many translations from recordings of interviews with Uncle Sandy Cameron (Yaegl Elder) along with police records dating back to the early 1900’s. Many, many thanks to Murrbay Language Centre. Anna Ash David Prosser Brother Steve Morelli Gary Williams

  8. Signs to be installed in the Clarence Valley early December 2008. Ilarwill – (Black Duck) Angourie – (Noisy Ocean) Ngaru – (Water) Ulgundahi – (Shape Of An Ear) Wooloweyah – (Big Cedar Trees) Yamba – (Plenty Of Shell Fish) In addition to the opportunity for sense of place expression by the Aboriginal community, the project offers other potential benefits to the Clarence Valley through value adding to visitor understanding, changing community awareness and education in relation to local Aboriginal Culture and Heritage.

  9. This project proudly sponsored by: Muurrbay Language Centre North Coast Computer Project

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