Words by Yaliilan Windl
Feature image by Alysha Menzel
My dear Elder,
I want you to know that I cherish and adore you, I am thankful for all that you do for me, and all that you teach me in life. I know that there is still so much for me to learn in my lifetime and that I only have knowledge which is deemed as a tiny tear drop in a massive ocean. I also know the reality is I will never know everything there is to know, and that is why we each are picked to carry the knowledge that we do and did.
My dear Elder,
You are always patient and loving, firm but fair with me. You always have time to listen and to teach. Yarning with you is and has always been one of my absolute favourite things to do. I carry your personal stories with me everywhere that I go, keeping them each close to my heart. You are always giving the gentle nudge in the right direction, ensuring that I do take up the opportunities presented to me. Connecting me to people who assist to make me a better person, who can teach me and nurture me.
My dear Elder,
I will be forever grateful to you for fighting for our basic human rights –basic human rights that should have always been afforded to each of us. I am forever grateful for the sacrifices that you have made for our people to be afforded the privileges that people like me enjoy every day. I will be forever grateful that you found ways to teach and pass knowledge down so that we could still retain what we have regarding our traditional practices, Languages, song-lines, songs, art and much more.
My dear Elder,
Your wisdom guides me and I carry it with me every day. I walk with and carry myself with Yindyamarra every day, because you taught me how to do so. Your love and support in all that I have done and continue to do means the absolute world to me. To be able to honour you, thank you and show you the time you have invested in me is not wasted; in fact has made a better yinaa of me. Your wisdom and lessons have allowed me to carry myself in the footsteps of our Ancestors—for that achievement, I thank you.
I promise to always act with Yindyamarra, to honour your wisdom, your time, your lessons and your belief in me. Ngurrbul your Bub girl.
More from Blak Out
Blak Out Interview: Amy Pfitzner
In this interview, Yaliilan yarns with Amy Pfitzner who is a tutor in the Aboriginal Tutorial Program provided by Wirringka …
Review: Which local animal are you?
Words by Dylan Muldari Ko:rni Peisley, Tabitha Lean and Yaliilan Windl Feature images by Emma Horner This country is home to …
Review: In My Blood It Runs
Words by Yaliilan Windle ‘In My Blood It Runs’ was released in 2019 as a documentary by producer Maya Newell. The documentary …