Welcome Mandy!

Mandy Davis

Can you please introduce yourself?

I’m a Birrbay woman from the Mid-North Coast of NSW living on Warrimay country, my language is Gathang.

Can you tell us a bit about your language journey? Or about the language work you’ve been a part of?

I grew up knowing only single words of Gathang and my language journey has been both emotional and healing. There is always a feeling of sadness knowing that our old people were told to stop speaking Language and now through our revitalisation journey, Gathang is being spoken and heard again through story, song and dance. I have been involved in the revitalisation of Gathang since the initial community consultation stages in 2008 with linguists from Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture Co-operative who published our dictionary in 2010, to now teaching Gathang.

My passion to keep learning and teaching Language is driven by my vision to see generations of Warrimay/Birrbay/Guringay speaking Gathang and having deadly yarns in our language.

What are your hopes and aspirations for working at Living Languages?

I love hearing other languages and connecting to people through shared stories of their language journey. There are many communities who need support with their language and being a part of the Living Languages team, I hope to share my own experience and support others on their language journey.

You’ve done a range of different work – is there something you’re most proud of? Or could you share a few highlights?

I think highlights for me are when I teach Gathang in schools - seeing how Language strengthens our kids’ identity and being involved in their learning experience are moments that I love and am proud to be a part of.

What is one word you love in your language, or one thing that you love about your language and why?

I love Gimbay, it means friend or totem, males and females have a Gimbay and it’s a good sign if you see your Gimbay. The one thing that I love about Language is that it holds cultural knowledge.