First Nations elder honoured for work to promote Wiradjuri culture

Wiradjuri elder Aunty Gail Manderson, 72, was honoured with a Local Achievement Award by Wagga MP Joe McGirr at the fourth annual seniors forum this week.

Presenting the award to Ms Manderson at the International Hotel on Thursday, Dr McGirr praised her for being a "tremendous leader" in the First Nations community.

Dr McGirr recognised her work teaching the Wiradjuri language to children in schools across Wagga and producing books - including a Wiradjuri dictionary - to help students learn the language.

"[Your books are] a fantastic way of transmitting the language to young people," he said.

On learning of the surprise award, Ms Manderson said it was somewhat of a shock.

"It was a complete surprise to me," she said.

Adopted by a white family as a baby, Ms Manderson grew up with little connection to her First Nations heritage.

Then, more than 60 years later, she learned her native language through courses at both Charles Sturt University and TAFE NSW, and came to value the Wiradjuri culture and language with a hope to pass it onto future generations.

In 2019 Ms Manderson published a Wiradjuri dictionary in collaboration with students at Turvey Park Public School, who drew the pictures to go with the words.

Explaining more about the language, she said Wiradjuri only has 13 letters in its alphabet and that the dictionary she created goes through these, featuring pictures alongside Wiradjuri words, but with no English equivalent.

Ms Manderson said her grandchildren were the reason she became involved in educating the next generation about the language and culture.

"If people can understand more about First Nations people and their culture, they are not going to be scared by it, and we can all learn from each other. We're a multi-cultural city," she said.

Ms Manderson hopes by her work in the education space, to create greater understanding across cultures.

"My dream is to have a big yarning circle with people from all different nationalities," she said.

"[I hope that] we would all bring our own food along, sit down and have a chance to learn about each other's cultures.

"If we could do that, imagine what the world would be like."