The wisdom of deep listening

Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening’. In Ngan’gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri.

This Reconciliation week, we meet renowned Aboriginal elder and Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann. Dr Ungunmerr-Baumann advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being.

Miriam Rose is also a groundbreaking leader in remote Indigenous education, and a celebrated painter, activist, and speaker. Back in 1988, she established the ‘Miriam Rose Foundation’ to help young Indigenous people ‘walk in two worlds’.

Now, she’s calling on all of us to really listen to Indigenous people, and pay proper attention to the land we live in. Miriam Rose spoke to Meredith Lake from Nauiyu, her community on the Daly river in the Northern Territory.

 

Click here to play the interview (opens in new window)

 

From the remote community of Nauiyu, we turn now to Australia’s biggest city – where a new exhibition has just opened at the Australian Museum, called ‘Unsettled.’

Curated by Laura McBride and Dr Mariko Smith, ‘Unsettled’ tells stories about ‘the denial of Indigenous sovereignty, devastating frontier wars, separation from families and homelands.’

Confronting stories, but as part of the program, visitors can also listen and reflect in a process of Indigenous-led mediation known as Winhangadurinya.

Winhangadurinya is a Wiradjuri word for deep listening and reflecting, and to learn more about it, Meredith Lake speaks with one of the facilitators of the healing space, Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis.

The ‘Unsettled’ exhibition runs until the 10th of October, 2021 at Sydney’s Australian Museum.

Duration: 54min 6sec
Broadcast: Sun 30 May 2021, 6:05pm
Presenter: Meredith Lake
Producer: Hong Jiang

Further Information

---

Source
Image Source