Connecting cultures, supporting Indigenous sovereignty

Acknowledging Country in our Mother Languages is a project led by Dr Elaine Laforteza through the Multicultural Women’s Network.

This project aims to meaningfully connect culturally and linguistically diverse communities with First Nations peoples and support Indigenous sovereignty. It honours stories of language loss, revival, survival, and strength, celebrating linguistic diversity on Aboriginal land.

Always was. Always will be Aboriginal land.

A woman in a floral shirt stands smiling in a corridor. Blue circle with text: "Explainer video - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language." UTS logo.

Explainer video - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Explainer video - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Speaker 1: 
“I’m Turkish Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 2: 
“I’m Pakistani, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 3: 
“I am Finnish, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 4: 
“I’m Croatian Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 5: 
“I am Vietnamese Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 6: 
“I’m Palestinian Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 7: 
“I’m Irish Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 8: 
“I’m Samoan living in Australia, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 9: 
“I’m Vietnamese Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 

Speaker 10: 
“I am Nigerian Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 11: 
“I am Sri Lankan Australian, and I Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 12: 
“We are Filipino Australian, and we Acknowledge Country”. 
 
Speaker 13: 
“Can you introduce yourself, and what you do?” 
 
Speaker 14: 
“Hi, I’m Aunty Glendra Stubbs, Yalahdumarang Gallindurra. That’s all I know of my language because we weren’t allowed to speak our language which is really sad. I’m the elder at UTS and it makes me really proud, when young ones come and talk to me, or of all cultures and makes me feel really happy, and we are a Country that values diversity and inclusion and that makes me really proud”. 
 
Speaker 13: 
“How is an AOC different to a Welcome to Country?” 
 
Speaker 14: 
“Okay so an Acknowledgement to Country anyone can do and people are encouraged to do it. So it just says the land that you’re on, the connection, and with things that are important to that Country. A Welcome can only be delivered by Traditional Owners of that land, and so they have to have permission to do a Welcome to Country. I think it’s really important because in my lifetime, there was a time where Aboriginal people weren’t acknowledged in this Country. They weren’t seen as the first people of this Country, and it, it’s a lot’s happened. So, when people found out that there was, the Aboriginal people weren’t Acknowledged, and the history that had happened, there was a Bringing Them Home Report which says the things that happened to our mob, and then 250,000 people walked across the bridge to say, we are sorry, we didn’t know this happened, and we’ll never let it happen again”. 
 
 
Speaker 15: 
“My name is Dr. Elaine Marie Carbonell Laforteza and I’m the Equity and Diversity Project Officer at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and I’m also part of the core committee of the Multicultural Women’s Network”. 
 
Speaker 13: 
“Why is it important to say an AOC in your mother tongue?” 
 
Speaker 15: 
“Well, in Australia we speak over 300 languages, but we do have a monolingual mindset. So when we’re asked to connect to different cultures, and even to consider or think about First Nations communities’ ways of being, doing, and belonging, we’re always encouraged to do so through English or Western whiteness. But what does this actually mean for people whose first language isn’t English? So this project, the Acknowlegement of Country Project ask people, okay how do you say an Acknowledgement of Country in your mother tongue, and I’m hoping that this will help people connect and care for Indigenous sovereignty and think about reconciliation on that deeper, more meaningful level. This project also asks for First Nations stories, especially about language loss, language revival, and strength. So the sharing of those stories is super important so that we can actually reflect and move together. So reflect on what that means to thrive together in terms of diversity, not despite it, and to Acknowledge the Country that we’re actually on”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
Original (Turkish) 
“Bu topraklarin, gökyüzünün ve su yollarinin Geleneksel Sahiplerini taniyor, ve geçmiş ile günümüzün Büyüklerine saygilarimizi sunuyoruz”. 
 
Translation (English) 
“We Acknowledge the Traditional Owners of these lands, skies, and waterways; and pay our respect to their Elders past and present”. 
 
Colourful speech bubbles with greetings in various languages, including "Hello," "Hola," "Ciao," and more, on a white background.

Audio library: Read and listen to an Acknowledgement in your language

We’ve provided examples of Acknowledgements in various languages in our audio library. 

Listen now
White text on a dark blue background reads "My Language My Country" with colourful doodles of waves, a house, and symbols. Logos of UTS Multicultural Women's Network and Impact Studios are present.

Podcast: My Language My Country

This podcast is a six-part series exploring our connections with First Nations ways of being through the many languages we speak.

Learn more

Why does it matter?

Our community shares why it’s important to them to conduct an Acknowledgement in their mother language.

Image featuring a smiling woman with a pink flower in her hair, wearing glasses and a red jacket. Text reads 'Samoan Gagana Sāmoa Amanda Moors-Mailei Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language.' UTS logo is present. Background combines blue and gray geometric shapes.

Samoan - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Samoan - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Speaker 1: 
Original (Samoan) 
“Talofa lava”. 
 
Translation (English) 
“Hello”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
“My name is Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei and I’m going to speak the Acknowledgement of Country in Samoan”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
Original (Samoan) 
“E ia te au le ava male fa’aaloalo e tatau ai e fa’atauaina ai eleele ma fanua fa’aleaganuu ma o latou tupuaga ma o latou faasinomaga i vaitafe, ma eleele, ma le siosiomaga ma e fa’aaloalogia foi le pulega a le au matutua ua fai i Lagi le folauga, ae maise lava i latou matutua o loo tausia le aganuu male agaifanua a le tatou Atunuu ile taimi nei, aua nei mamulu atu. Soifua”. 
 
Translation (English) 
“It is with humility and respect that I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and owners of this land and the significant enduring connection they have to their ancestors, heritage, and culture as well as their connection to waterways, lands, and environment and I pay my respect to Elders who have passed into the realm of the ancestors, and especially the Elders who today, continue to uphold and preserve the culture and traditions of the land today, enduring they are not forgotten. Soifua”. 
 
 
Speaker 1: 
“Speaking the Acknowledgement of Country in Samoan is really important to me because it reflects my heritage and the interconnectedness of Pacific peoples, Samoan people, and our connection to First Nations people. By offering the Acknowledgement of Country in Samoan I acknowledge that the Samoan language is a tool for cultural preservation and expression, and it also is a way to strengthen our ties not only with each other, but also with First Nations people here in Australia. I’m really proud to offer this Acknowledgement in my native tongue and I’m really proud to connect in different ways with First Nations Australians”. 
Image featuring a smiling person with glasses and a light blazer on a concrete background, alongside bold text reading "Turkish" and "Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language," with a UTS logo.

Turkish - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Turkish - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Hi, my name’s Nural and I speak English and Turkish.  
 
Acknowledgement of Country in Turkish: 
Bu topraklarin, gökyüzünün ve su yollarinin Geleneksel Sahiplerini taniyor, ve geçmiş ile günümüzün Büyüklerine saygilarimizi sunuyoruz. 
 
Translation: 
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of these lands, skies, and waterways; and pay our respect to their Elders past and present. We offer our respects to the world’s oldest continuing culture.  
 
I think it’s really important that we do acknowledgements in languages other than English to make it more accessible for lots of different communities and lots of different people to interact with. I think this allows us to have really honest and open conversations about Australian history, particularly about the impacts of colonisation and helps us to understand and value Indigenous knowledge and experiences in this Country.  
UTS logo and geometric shapes. Text reads: "Finnish Suomi, Timo Rissanen, Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language." Portrait of a person on the left.

Finnish - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Finnish - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Speaker 1: 
“Hi, I’m Timo Rissanen and I speak Finnish”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
Original (Finnish) 
“Tunnustan, että aboriginaalit ja Torres Strait-saarten asukkaat ovat tämän maan alkuperäiset suojelijat ja osoitan kunnioitukseni entisille ja nykyisille vanhimmille. Kunnioitan maailman vanhinta jatkuvaa kultttuuria ja kunnioitan sen jatkuvaa ja kestävää yhteyttä maahan, vesistöihin, taivaisiin ja yhteisöön.” 
 
Translation (English) 
“I acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the original custodians of this land, and I pay my respects to Elders past and present. I respect the world’s oldest continuous culture and respect it’s continuous and enduring connection to the Earth, water, skies, and community”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
“The reason I think it’s really important to be able to do an Acknowledgement of Country in your native tongue, in my case in Finnish. For me, it’s because I moved here in 1996 and I have been very fortunate to live and work on Gadigal Country since then, and to be able to say an Acknowledgement of Country in Finnish adds to me to the respect and reverence that I feel for this Country and for the ongoing culture here”. 
 
Smiling woman with long hair against a garden backdrop on the left. UTS logo and text "Vietnamese Tiếng Việt, An Le, Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language" on a blue shape to the right.

Vietnamese - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Vietnamese - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Speaker 1: 
“Hi, I have my notebook. So, my name is An and my mother tongue is Vietnamese.” 
 
Speaker 1: 
Original (Vietnamese) 
“Chúng tôi muôn tri ân nhũng Chù nhân Truyên thông cùa vùng dât, vùng tròi và vùng song nuóc, dông thòi bày tò lòng kinh trong cùa chùng tôi dôi càc Truòng lão trong quá khú và hiên tai. Chúng tôi bày tò sur kinh trong dôi vói nên vǎn hóa liên tuc lâu dòi nhât trên thê giói. 
 
Translation (English) 
“We want to pay tribute to the Traditional Owners of the lands, airspace and waters, and pay our respects to Elders past and present. We pay homage to the oldest continuous culture in the world. 
 
Speaker 1: 
“I think it’s so essential to be a part of the conversations which are so integral to the fabric of Australian society and Australian life, and I think it’s also a feeling of belonging and inclusion to feel like everyone, even if they come from a migrant background, has an equally valid part to play in the conversation around Indigenous reconciliation." 
Smiling woman with curly hair on a graphic featuring text "Sinhala" and "Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language" beside a UTS logo.

Sinhala - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language

Sinhala - Acknowledgement of Country in your mother language transcript

Speaker 1: 
“My name is Kumi de Silva and I speak Sinhala”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
Original (Sinhala) 
ආදිවාසී සහ ටොරස් සමුද්‍ර සන්ධිය දූපත්වාසීන් මෙම භූමියේ ඉඩම්, අහස සහ ජල මාර්ගවල පාරම්පරික අයිතිකරුවන් ලෙස මම පිළිගන්නා අතර, ලෝකයේ පැරණිතම අඛණ්ඩ සංස්කෘතියේ අතීත සහ වර්තමාන Elders- ලට මගේ ගෞරවය පුද කරමි. 
Translation (English) 
“I acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of the lands, skies, and waterways of this land, and pay my respect to Elders past and present of the world’s oldest continuing culture”. 
 
Speaker 1: 
“It’s important for me to say this Acknowledgement in Sinhala because it brings a certain difference in gravity to me when I say it, compared to when I do it in English, and I’m not sure why that is, it could be because for me this is an out of context language, I don’t speak it very often here and certainly not within my work day. So it brings that extra depth of importance when I say it”. 

Thanks to those who brought this project to life 

We offer our special acknowledgement and heartfelt thanks to the First Nations contributors to this project: Aunty Glendra Stubbs, Professor Lindon Coombes, Dr. Lachlan McDaniel, Dr. Mariko Smith, and Dr. Debra Dank.  

This project was made possible through the support and collaboration of the Multicultural Women’s Network, the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, Impact Studios, UTS Shopfront, and the Faculty of Design and Society.   

We would especially like to thank Dr. Elaine Laforteza, Leah Subijano, An Le, Masako Fukui, Sarah Gilbert, Jane Curtis, Regina Botros, Alexandra Morris, Thomas Ricciardiello, Marianna Longmire, Tiffany Dimmack, Claudia Taranto, and Marrickville West Public School.   

Finally, our heartfelt thanks to everyone across the UTS community – staff and students – who shared an audio recording, helped create our audio and video assets, joined us as podcast guests, or featured in the exhibit.