AustLit

'The Waterfall is a part of our people, the Yalangi people.It’s a sacred river waterhole for our people. It’s a waterhole for our Rainbow Serpent to live. It’s like an institute; it stores things for us and looks after things for us, but it can take things away and may retaliate if we don’t respect it. It is dreaming for the Yalangi people.'

'Can a language truly survive unless it can adequately convey its immediate world and the feeling of those living in its context? Can it travel without its full swag of voices? For people on the move, it’s the jokes, poems and songs that evoke all that the language can carry and keep it resonant anywhere. Its constant, vital use maintains the community that moved with it.'

'The emu used to drink at this pool. And even in the dark, kangaroos and people used to drink there too.There used to be about five or six Aboriginal people come there with spears and boomerangs, and hitting sticks, whatever they can get. One day, while the emu was drinking water they decided they wanted to get a emu.'