Learning Country Through Language with Dylan Collard
Over the past months, the UDLA team had the privilege of joining Dylan Collard of Kalyakoorl for a series of Noongar language lessons – a wide-ranging linguistic journey that moved through greetings, emotions, seasonal indicators, landscape features, and local species.
Dylan is a generous teacher, and the sessions were as much about truth-telling as they were about language. The two are inseparable – learning Noongar Country through its language means learning the stories, knowledge systems, and histories embedded in it.
Kalyakoorl is dedicated to revitalising and celebrating Noongar language, and for a practice rooted in landscape and place, these sessions were a reminder of how much deeper our understanding of Country can go. Language is one of the most direct pathways into that knowledge, and we're grateful to Dylan for sharing his with us.
We’re looking forward to continuing to learn.
Some resources:
9 language lessons hosted by Dylan Collard and Kelsi Forrest: https://rtrfm.com.au/podcasts/kalyakoorl-waangkaniny/
A website showcases the Noongar music, song, dance, and language: https://www.mayakeniny.com/language-list
An interview with Dylan by Brooke Collard: Dylan Collard’s journey to reclaiming Noongar language, for kalyakoorl, the future | SBS NITV Radio
