In 1974, linguistics student Diana Eades travelled to Nambucca Heads to record conversations with Harry “Tiger” Buchanan, one of the last fluent speakers of Gumbaynggirr. A decade later, a group of Gumbaynggirr Elders living on Dunghutti Country approached local priest Brother Stephen Morelli with an urgent request: help save their language. He agreed—and began studying linguistics to support their efforts. Gumbaynggirr Barrwayay tells the remarkable story of how the Gumbaynggirr language was reclaimed and revitalised. Across six episodes, you'll hear from Elders and community members who worked tirelessly to ensure their language would survive for future generations, building on the foundations laid by those who came before them.
Now, the Gumbaynggirr Language is heralded as an inspirational success story across Australia. The language is taught across most schools in the region, it was the first in NSW to be taught to HSC level, it has been featured in songs and TV shows, and it is taught in the first Indigenous bilingual school in NSW. The future is promising, but that doesn’t mean the community can relax. All First Nations languages in Australia are still under threat, and communities need to stay vigilant.
22 Jul 2026
Muurrbay
Soon after the Elders had started working on the revival of language they knew they needed the work to move from Dunghutti Country to Gumbaynggirr. This happened when ATSIC purchased the old mission church in Nambucca Heads and gifted it to the group. From this moment, Muurrbay Language and Culture Cooperative was born. Building a cooperative, and developing systems to share a language took strategy and an ability to work within government systems.
15 Jul 2026
Sharing Language in Community
Once the Gumbaynggirr language was built back to create a dictionary, and a few people had some language, the language group decided it was time to start sharing the language further. They began with TAFE classes and community workshops. The desire to learn was strong, and classes were full. It took time to train enough teachers so the language could be shared widely.
8 Jul 2026
Working for the future
In 1986, a small group of Gumbaynggir Elders living on Dunghutti Country enlisted the help of a local priest to save their language. From this group, the revitalisation began. This began with the mammoth task of categorising and understanding the language to build the first dictionary.
1 Jul 2026
The Elders Before Us
The Gumbaynggirr Language was able to be revitalised because of language recordings from the past. Elders chose to share language with linguists, and those recordings were the basis of the dictionaries that exist today. One of the Elders who shared a lot of language was Harry (Tiger) Buchanan who sat with linguists for hours in the 1970’s. This episode was made with the support of representatives of the Buchanan Family.
24 Jun 2026
A Quiet Language
There are more than 250 First Nations languages in Australia, some people say there are up to 800. Colonisation has damaged all of those languages in different ways. The Gumbaynggirr Language is spoken on Gumbaynggirr Country, on the mid north coast of New South Wales. This podcast is the story of the revival of this language. But to start that story, we need to explain how it was almost lost. This episode touches on issues of Stolen Generations, forced removals, and damage to language. This episode features: Clarence Skinner, Gary Williams, Dylan Berger, Dr Barry Morris, Pauline Hooler, Lisa Kelly
17 Jun 2026
Gumbaynggirr ngaawa yidaa barrwayay - Gumbyanggirr Language is Still Growing
In 1974, young linguist student Diana Eades travelled to Nambucca Heads to record conversations with one of the last fluent Gumbaynggirr speakers, Tiger, or Harry, Buchanan. Ten years later, a group of Gumbaynggirr Elders, living at that time on Dunghutti land, approached a local Priest, Brother Stephen Morelli, and asked if he would help them save their language. He not only agreed, he began to study linguistics. From there, Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Cooperative was born, and the first dictionary was produced. Now there are songs in language, it has been part of TV shows, and there is a bilingual school where children learn Gumbaynggirr alongside English. This is Gumbyanggirr Barrwayay, a six-part podcast series about the story of a community’s resilience and patience in the process of saving their language. Bringing to life the positive impact that the work has had on the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and reminding us about the importance of language.
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