♪My island home My island home♪
♪My island home♪
♪is waiting for me♪
Yeah, it is.
Hello, Christine. I'm Leon.
Hi, Leon.
Hi. I'm Maila.
Hello, my name's Isabella.
Nice to meet you, Christine.
It is such a pleasure to meet you, as well, Isabella.
Thank you.
You're making me nervous.
Where are you from?
I was born in Cairns, and I was raised
in the Torres Strait Islands on a little island.
Like a pirate?
Did you know, we both come from an island
starting with 'T'?
No way. I didn't know that.
Are we both Islanders?
What island did you come from starting with 'T'?
Tonga.
Oh, awesome.
What does NAIDOC Week mean to you?
NAIDOC Week is such an amazing time
to look forward to, every year, because
we get to see each other in the community,
celebrate each other's achievements,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' achievements,
no matter what sector of the community we work in,
whether it's sports, whether it's education,
whether it's music and the arts.
We get to celebrate each other.
But more importantly, it's a moment in time
to allow non-Indigenous people to embrace
our culture a little bit more every time,
to make it Australia's own culture as well.
What's your school doing this year?
We celebrate NAIDOC with lots of energy,
and lots of craft.
So the whole day there's nothing but no work.
[laughs]
Well, mostly no work.
I want to come to your NAIDOC Week.
When did you first start singing?
I knew I could sing when I was both your age.
Yeah, I
Five?
Yeah.
Do you know "Taba Naba"?
Oh, I was wondering when this question
was going to come out.
Do I know "Taba Naba"?
Ready?
♪Taba naba♪
♪naba norem♪
♪Tugei pe neiser mi♪
♪dinghy ge nabatre♪
♪Mi ko kei miserer♪
♪em nebewem♪
♪Taba naba norem♪
♪Style♪
S T Y L E. Ta ta ta.
[laughs]
The latest version, I decided to put
my mother's language in there of Kalaw Kawaw Ya
The language part of the song "My Island Home"
is asking for peace and calm to come
to this great land of ours.
Can you teach me some words?
Oh I'd love to teach you some words.
If you can say welcome,
you say
Seu Ngapa
Very good.
Welcome.
Seu Ngapa
Do you know "My Island Home"?
♪ My island home My island home♪
♪My island home is waiting for me♪
Yeah, it is. Fantastic.
That's why it's my favourite song,
because I can sing it with you and
I can pretty much sing it to anyone
wherever I go. And it's so special
because it means something special for everybody.
And when I hear stories about what it means for people,
I say to myself, yeah, that's,
that's my favourite song.
How do you feel connected to Country?
I connect by connecting with the Elders in the community,
letting them know where I've come from,
sharing in a story and exchanging stories,
and
singing.
That's how I connect to Country,
is that I sing for my songs and I sing for my people.
Have you ever been treated the wrong way
about your skin colour?
I have throughout times, yes.
And did I feel sad about that?
Yes.
Did I feel hurt and angry?
Yes, of course I did.
But I also felt that there was also something wrong
with that person, and that I should give them a big hug.
Racism is not a very nice thing at all.
Being picked on because there's something
different about you whether it be
the colour of your skin, or a disability,
or because you look different,
and people say or do things
to make themselves feel good about themselves.
We probably need to feel sorry for people like that
and help them understand that it's not okay to do that.
No.
It's not okay to make somebody feel lesser
because it makes you feel better about yourself.
But we should be kind to them when we're also
trying to teach them not to say things
that are going to be
hurtful to people.
Is there anything you still want to achieve?
I'd like to achieve
teaching, getting languages into schools.
My language of the Torres Strait Islands,
because we're so far away from the rest of Australia
up in the Torres Strait, that there's not enough
of my culture being taught around Australia.
I'd like to achieve and accomplish
having our languages being taught around Australia.
If you had one wish for the future, what would it be?
Um. Probably,
I want to see a dinosaur.
When I grow up, I want to be a singer,
just like you.
Really? When I grow up, I want to be
just like you, as well.
My wish for the future would be,
everybody would be nice to another.
Don't treat them the wrong way about their skin colour,
and that we're all safe together.
That everyone would be happy,
and they would play and allowed to dance
and sing, and get together
and sing lots of songs in one big yarn.
One big yarn. I love it.
One big yarn for the future.
Can I teach you a word in Torres Strait?
How to say goodbye? Okay so.
Yawo
Yawo Yawo
Come here. Don't be shy, I don't bite.
So who's got the first question?
No.
[laughs]
Can it be you?