The Importance of Embracing Noongar Language: An Interview with Dylan Collard

Dylan Collard is a Wadjak-Ballardong Noongar man and Noongar language teacher. Recently, Dylan kindly spent some time sharing Noongar language with our Executive Volunteer Team. Noongar is Australian Aboriginal language that originates from the south west region of Western Australia. 

At TLG, our Executive Team is comprised of around 50 young volunteers who work in intern-style roles each university semester. The team contributes to the overall operation of our organisation, in areas like marketing, logistics, and finance. This semester, we have worked to give back to our volunteers by providing them with professional development opportunities during our weekly ‘townhall’ meetings. Our volunteers have been extremely receptive to this, especially the learning of Noongar language, as taught by Dylan. Our first of two classes with Dylan included learning the Noongar words for native birds as well as communicating emotions. 

Dylan is the founder and owner of Kalyakoorl, which offers Noongar language and culture sharing through school and organisation incursions, and community classes. Dylan explained that Kalyakoorl, means “for forever and always” in Noongar. He says that the primary focus of what he does is teaching the youth and revitalising Noongar language.  

Dylan originally studied a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law at The University of Western Australia, sharing that “a lot of my family had a lot of negative experiences with the criminal justice system and that’s why I wanted to get into it”. Following his graduation, Dylan went on to complete his Masters in Teaching at Deakin University with Teach for Australia. He taught at Balga Senior High School, where one of his Aunties was a Noongar language teacher. She encouraged him to do the same, mentoring and supporting Dylan through his transition to become a Noongar Language Teacher. Although Dylan loved this role, he wanted to spread his language even further, which inspired him to open his business. He shares, “once I got into that, I was like, this is all I want to do now”.  

Dylan says that he would love it if Australia got to the stage where all Indigenous Australians could be proficient in at least some aspects of Noongar language. He shares that it is really important for Indigenous Australians to be able to reconnect with their own language. He believes that in order to do so, we need everyone to “buy into it”. He suggests that all Australians can start to incorporate some Noongar words into their conversations, like the ones that he taught our executive team, in order for Noongar language to become widespread. He suggested using the Noongar words for names, places, and things like birds. He shares: 

“Some of these beautiful animals we've got… instead of calling them red tailed black cockatoo we call them ‘Kaarak’, and instead of carnaby's cockatoo, it's ‘Ngoolark’. By using these words we can make a start. It'll be a long journey, but yeah, I'll contribute as much as I can.” 

He also shared the pain that Western names can bring to Indigenous Australians, with many of our landmarks and places being named by colonisers. He suggests replacing these with their original Noongar names, that hold so much more meaning and can help in the healing process. 

“Bringing back our names - there's a significant meaning behind it and it can allow everyone to connect to country. Cause I think, ultimately, we all want to connect with the place that we live. So, what better way to do it by learning and using the language of the land?” 

Dylan says that Noongar language is the language of all Indigenous Australians, with some dialect differences across different areas of the country. Therefore, it is something that everyone can get around.  

Dylan moved around a lot as a child and went to many primary schools. He says that he was lucky because he was naturally quite good at school and one of his Aunties taught him a lot, which meant that he was often ‘ahead’ of his schoolwork. Dylan also enjoyed going to school to hang out with his mates, as he was a very sociable child. When he was in Year 10, Dylan received a scholarship to board at Guilford Grammar School, and moved to Perth. 

Upon reflection Dylan shared “I had a lot of family and a lot of Aboriginal friends that were not quite as strong academically and I could see how the system doesn’t suit a lot of us.” He advocates for a change in the education system that caters for Indigenous people and recognises the role of TLG in doing so. 

We asked Dylan for advice for our volunteers, on remaining culturally sensitive when we work in Indigenous communities and when tutoring Indigenous students. Dylan shared:  

“The key to the success of any sort of program working with Indigenous people is relationships, and forming them, and having that reciprocal relationship. It’s not just sort of one-sided, take-take-take, but it’s learning from each other and it’s working on things together for the benefit of both parties as much as possible.” 

He advises that as volunteers, who are primarily from the Perth area, it is important that we are aware and respectful that we are visitors, and try our best not to “impose”.  

 Dylan shared that his favourite bird is the Kaarak (commonly referred to as ‘cockatoo’ in English). He says that he has a soft spot for them because they are endangered, and also because they are beautiful birds.  

We would like to thank Dylan for his time teaching us, and for sharing his story. If you would like to get in contact with Dylan about his programs click the link below:

https://linktr.ee/kalyakoorl?fbclid=IwAR3nIi7OhGjJ_yUvFDh6g4RRGJFuAlybCExSemr7gL95qGCCMJWgmnibT3U

This post was written by Alice Muir