Connecting to First Peoples through language

Around 350 languages are spoken in homes across Australia, yet we see ourselves as an English-speaking country. And we tend to understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures primarily through English and Western concepts.

My Language My Country is a six-part series that asks what changes when we approach Country through the many languages we speak.

Listen to all episodes

Episode 1: Acknowledging Country in Our Mother Languages

What happens when we say an Acknowledgement of Country in our mother languages instead of English, the language of colonisation? Does it change the way we connect to First Nations peoples and cultures? 

Guest speakers: Violet Laforteza Kennedy, Maria Eleanor Carbonell, Nema Madnani, Carmine Gentile, Esita Sogotubu, Students at Marrickville West Public School, Aunty Glendra Stubbs, Lachlan McDaniel

 

Episode 2: Multilingual homes 

How do multilingual poets use the language to disrupt, to heal, and to imagine a different, more ethical way of belonging in Australia? 

Guest speakers: Esita Sogotubu, Nadia Niaz, Anne Casey, Prankqueans

 

Episode 3: Listening to Country

How has English dominance marginalised First Nations knowledges? And how can we learn to listen to Country?

Guest speakers: Carmine Gentile , Debra Dank, Leah Subijano, Odette Subijano

 

Episode 4: Waking up languages

How are languages that have been dormant being revived by First Nations peoples? And why is language revitalisation important to non-Indigenous Australians?

Guest speakers: Lachlan McDaniel, Lindon Coombes, Alexandra Grey, Violet Laforteza Kennedy

 

Episode 5: Learning together

Saying an Acknowledgement in our mother languages inspires us to learn more about First Nations histories and culture. How can we work together to educate each other?

Guest speakers: Nema Madnani, Sukhmani Khorana, Mariko Smith, Nik Armstrong, Ruth Bradfield Ling, Students at Marrickville West Primary School, Violet Laforteza Kennedy, Evan Laforteza Kennedy

 

Episode 6: Ethical belonging

What does it mean to be colonisers on colonised lands? What can we all do to foster a more ethical sense of belonging?

Guest speakers: Amanda Moors-Mailei, Fainu'ulelei Unasa Moors, Mayu Kanamori, Mariko Smith, Benjamin Oh

 

Production team

My Language My Country was produced on the Lands of the Gadigal People, the Cammeraygal People, the Darug People, and the Guringai People. This series is hosted by Dr Elaine Laforteza and created by the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network, with production by Masako Fukui.

Special thanks to An Le, Lucie Vayriot, Leah Subijano, Melissa May, Tiffany Dimmack, Claudia Taranto, and Jane Curtis and Sarah Gilbert of UTS Impact Studios. Tile design by Alex Morris.

My Language My Country is the first season of UTS Impact Studios’ Change the Story podcast.

The Sydney Opera House is illuminated at night with vibrant red and yellow Indigenous flag art projections. Blue laser beams radiate into the night sky.

Learn more

This podcast sits within the broader Acknowledging Country in our Mother Languages project, featuring an audio library of Acknowledgments in 40+ languages, as well as videos and stories highlighting why this practice matters.