Uncle Wally Cooper is a Yorta Yorta Elder.

Uncle Wally’s story talks about the land, language and culture of the Yorta Yorta people, and how his grandfather taught him about his traditional heritage to pass onto his children.

Further Information

TRANSCRIPT

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My name is Baranjuk. In my language-- the Yorta Yorta language-- it means "musk duck." When I was a boy, my grandfather gave me that name. My non-aboriginal name is Wally Cooper.

This is Yorta Yorta land. Since the creators brought the people here and showed them the land, it has been Yorta Yorta land. When the Yorta Yorta were brought here, they were given a language and told that the language belonged to them. And it belonged to the land, and they must care for it.

I grew up around this land here-- all through this forest. It's part of my heritage. It's part of what my grandfather taught me. We walked through these forests looking for different types of food. This is part of my heritage around here.

And we looked around, and I learned all about the dancing, the songs, the art, and the special dances-- like our spiritual dances, our traditional spiritual heritage dances. Those are the things that I hold very close and very dear to myself. It's something that I'm going to share and show to my sons.

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This is my land-- Yorta Yorta land. This is where my grandfather taught me the dances, the songs, and special language songs as part of our traditional heritage. And this is where he gave me the stories to hand to my children.

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