Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir is an Elder and Traditional Owner of Boon Wurrung Country. She is the senior linguist at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages in Melbourne. Aunty Fay is working with her own Boon Wurrung language, recording and putting language into the database for future and present generations. Aunty speaks to Gman on Big Brekkie 3KND. Aunty presents language-related workshops to community members who are reclaiming their languages, as well as universities and TAFEs that are interested in understanding the many and challenging aspects of language reclamation. She also goes out to schools to educate the students about language and culture and to teach language. Nganga is her first children's book.
Sue Lawson writes fiction and non fiction books for children and young adults. Her books have won and been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Family Therapists Award, the Prime Minister’s Literary awards and the Children’s Book Council of Australia awards. Her latest young adult novel, Freedom Ride, was short-listed for the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and long-listed for the Davitt Awards. Respect is the first title in the ‘Our Place’ series of four children’s picture books which welcome and introduce children to important elements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
Respect whispers a soft and heartfelt message about the basic cultural principle that informs all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations throughout Australia. Respect is about a way of life that is older than flickering stars, about stories that shimmer through tall grasses, and redgum leaves that tumble to a parched and red earth. It teaches children the importance of family who show the way and how we need to listen, learn and share. This eloquent and delicate story shows young and old alike, what Respect looks like for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.