Shaun Davies (activist)
Shaun Davies is an Aboriginal Australian language activist, linguist, radio personality, and actor. He is known for his advocacy work with the Yugambeh language and culture, as well as appearances in various media.
Shaun Davies | |
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![]() Davies in shopping centre signage at Redbank Queensland, 2021 | |
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation | Linguist |
Known for | Advocating for Yugambeh language and culture |
Board member of | Yugambeh Land Enterprises |
Early and personal life
Shaun is a member of the Yugambeh people, an Australian Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.[1] Davies is the great-great-grandson of Julia Ford née Sandy (c.1860-1896), an Aboriginal woman who has the sole tombstone in the Deebing Creek Aboriginal Cemetery;[2][3] Julia was a native Aboriginal woman from the Southport area of the Gold Coast and married Arthur Ford (c.1866-1954) at Nerang in 1883, Arthur was an Aboriginal man from the Murwillumbah region in northern New South Wales.[4] Shaun grew up and has spent the majority of his life in Logan City, an area his family had lived in before the arrival of Europeans.[5] As a child, he was taught Yugambeh dreamtime legends from his Elders, such as that of the janjarri (the Yugambeh Yowie), a spirit that guards the region from trespassers.[6][7] As creative, Davies uses stories passed from his family line to increase awareness and appreciation for his traditional culture and language.[8]
While in tenth grade Shaun attended a career expo at the Brisbane Showgrounds, becoming fascinated with a booth set up by Youth For Understanding Davies subsequently did a 3-month student exchange program in France where he discovered his passion for endangered languages, like Galician. Upon returning to Australia and informing his grandmother Joan and her sister, they implored him to learn their lingo.[9][10] Shaun learnt his Yugambeh language from his maternal grandmother, who was from the Beaudesert area, while his maternal grandfather was from Tweed Heads.[11] Davies has recorded talk in conversations with the linguist Margaret Sharpe,[12] his grandmother grew up with Joe Culham,[13] who Sharpe (then Cunningham) had recorded language from in 1968.[14]
In his spare time, Shaun enjoys the Star Trek: Discovery series, finding the show's Xenolinguistics and other themes thought-provoking.[10]
Career
Shaun is a linguist and the Language Research Officer at the Yugambeh Museum Language and Heritage Research Centre,[15] where he has been since 2015.[16] Describing social media as the new "campfire" and technology's central importance in keeping Indigenous languages alive for future generations, Davies has worked with Snapchat,[17] aided the development and expansion of the Yugambeh App,[18] and the creation of Google's 'Woolaroo' – an open-source photo-translation platform.[19][10] He has written/translated songs for the Yugambeh Youth choir.[20][21] and provided Yugambeh interpretations for Ellen van Neerven's poetry.[22] Davies is an activist for Aboriginal language, and has advocated for the use of Indigenous place names over their contemporary English names, calling for Burleigh Heads and Mt Warning to be known by their Yugambeh names, Jellurgal and Wollumbin. This was opposed by Australian senator Pauline Hanson, while the Member for Burleigh, Michael Hart, was in favour so long as it was solely landmarks. Hanson subsequently featured the discussion on her Please Explain YouTube channel.[23] Shaun hosted Learn the Lingo on ABC Gold Coast - a radio show discussing Yugambeh language and other cultural subjects from 2015 to 2017,[11] and in 2019 appeared in the State Library of Queensland's Spoken exhibition discussing his personal history with the Yugambeh language.[24] Alongside Cameron Dick in 2018, Shaun opened Siemens' Fusesaver facility in Yatala, delivering a Welcome to Country.[25]
In 2020, Davies had a voice over role in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Yugambeh language series Languages of our Land,[26] as well as appearing in Disney's Spread the Word.[27] The following year, he appeared in the ABC documentary series Back to Nature where he guided the hosts through the Yugambeh language and stories associated with the Springbrook area.[15] Shaun is involved in protecting Yugambeh cultural heritage and land, being part of the consultation for the Gold Coast Light Rail construction's at Jebbribillum Bora Ring and a Cultural Heritage Coordinator,[28] he is also the treasurer of the Yugambeh Land Enterprises, and elected Representative for the Birinburra clan[29] and Native Title applicant.[30] In late 2021, Davies was announced as an ambassador for the Proud City of Logan campaign, a local government initiative featuring six local champions, chosen to represent the diversity of people and lifestyles in the city.[31] He was part of the official opening of Screen Forever 36,[32] and Tourism and Events Queensland's annual DestinationQ Forum in 2022, where he conducted the Welcome to Countries.[33] Shaun denounced the Morrison government's 2022 High Court challenge to the precedent established in Love v Commonwealth that Aboriginal Australians (understood according to the 3-part test in Mabo v Queensland (No 2)) are not within the reach of the Commonwealth's "aliens" power, Davies called the Government's actions a step backwards for Australia that undermined the foundations of Aboriginal identity.[34] Following the 2022 Australian federal election, Shaun praised the newly elected Albanese government's decision to dismiss the case, allowing Love to remain precedent.[35] Later that year he guest starred in an episode of No Offence! on the ABC.[36]
In March of 2023, Davies appeared weekly on Radio National Awaye's Word Up!, each episode featuring a different Yugambeh word and its history.[37][38][39][40] Shaun returned for a second consecutive year to perform the Welcome to Country for Screen Forever 37.[41] Davies was quoted in local news article criticising the failure of NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service to engage with the Murangburra clan of the Yugambeh people, condemning the closure of Wollumbin National Park and ensuing public controversy, which was done without the involvement of the local families.[42][43] Shaun has conducted additional linguistic work on the Yugambeh–Bundjalung languages and collected good evidence that previous classifications of the dialect chain have over differentiated between the varieties. [44]
Filmography
Radio
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015-2017 | Learn the Lingo | Co-Host | ABC Gold Coast [11] |
2022 | Classic Breakfast | Himself | Interview |
2023 | AWAYE! | Guest | Episodes: Mibuladululbay,[37] Wayjang,[38] Nyliah,[39] Yugambeh[40]
Word Up! Segment Radio National |
Television series
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Spread the Word | Himself | Episode 2: Garu-galen [27] |
2020 | Languages of our Land | Voice Over | 10 episodes [26] |
2021 | Back to Nature | Himself | Episode 1: The Green Cauldron [45][46] |
2022 | Language and Me | Himself | ABC Special [47] |
2022 | Gardening Australia | Linguist & Language Research Officer | Credits for Oh Christmas Tree (Yerrbill with Clarence) [48] |
2022 | No Offence! | Himself | Episode 3: Yugambeh [36] |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Gold Coast Film Festival 20th Anniversary | Voice Over | Mini-Documentary, A Gold Coast Film Festival production;
Also First Nations Linguist [49] |
Bibliography
- Davies, S. (2022, 27 May - 3 June). Token Politics: The Semiotics of Yugambeh-Bundjalung Ethnonyms [Conference presentation]. Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Summit 2022, Noosa, Qld, Australia.
- Davies, S. (2022, 8 July - 10 July). Your language is dead: Go learn Bundjalung — Those who said Yugambeh [Conference presentation]. Australian Languages Workshop 2022, Dunwich, Queensland: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. pp. 1–19.
Citations
- Manning 2021, pp. 20:43ff.
- Riga & Murray 2019.
- Moore 2019.
- Anderson 2017, p. 64.
- LCC 2021.
- Manning 2021, pp. 23:30ff.
- Salleh 2021.
- Screen Forever 2022.
- Logan City Council 2022.
- Frostick 2022.
- Webber & Davies 2019.
- UNE 2017, pp. 2:35ff.
- First Languages Australia 2018.
- Cunningham 1968, p. 1.
- Kelly & Ringland 2021, pp. 4:10ff.
- Logan City Council 2021.
- Zaunmayr 2022.
- Hinchcliffe 2015.
- Google Arts & Culture 2021.
- Gold Coast Sun 2017.
- Kruger 2017, p. 57-60.
- van Neerven 2018.
- Nine News 2018.
- State Library QLD 2019.
- Siemens 2018, pp. 00:10ff.
- ABC Kids 2020.
- Disney 2020.
- Cansdale 2021.
- Drescher 2021, pp. 17.
- Hinchcliffe 2022.
- Logan City Council 2021b.
- ScreenForever 2022.
- Tourism and Events Queensland 2022.
- Faa & Byrne 2022.
- Karp 2022.
- Fischer 2022.
- Bremer 2023.
- Bremer 2023b.
- Bremer 2023c.
- Bremer 2023d.
- Screen Forever 2023.
- Condon 2023.
- Condon 2023b.
- Bowern 2023, pp. xci.
- Manning 2021, pp. 20:00ff.
- Mediaspy 2021.
- Fischler 2022, pp. 06:00ff.
- ABC 2022.
- McGregor 2022, pp. 03:39ff.
References
- ABC Kids (2020). "Languages of our Land" (PDF). Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- ABC (2022). "Acknowledgements". ABC Classic.
- Anderson, John (9 January 2017). "'Appendix N: Julia Ford nee Sandy: Notes from Michael Aird on 27 November 2016' in 'An Independent Report for the Future Use of Deebing Creek Aboriginal Cemetery Reserve'". Pi-CaTS Pty Ltd. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- Bowern, Claire (19 June 2023). 'The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages'. Oxford University Press.
- Bremer, Rudi (4 March 2023). "Mibuladululbay". AWAYE!. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- Bremer, Rudi (11 March 2023). "Wayjang". AWAYE!. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- Bremer, Rudi (18 March 2023). "Nyliah". AWAYE!. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- Bremer, Rudi (25 March 2023). "Yugambeh". AWAYE!. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- Cansdale, Dominic (21 September 2021). "Jabree Limited's light rail process sparks concern amongst some in Indigenous community". ABC Gold Coast. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- Condon, Matthew (14 May 2023). "Hikers resort to summit 'protest'". The Australian. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- Condon, Matthew (14 May 2023). "'Who is Wollumbin Consultative Group?'". The Australian. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- Cultural Institute (2021). "Woolaroo Launch".
- Cunningham, Margaret (1968). The Yugumbir dialect of Bandjalang. University of Queensland.
- Disney (2020). "Spread the Word". Disney Australia and New Zealand.
- Drescher, Joy (7 May 2021). "Joy from Joy". Beaudesert Times.
- First Languages Australia (2018). "Shaun speaking Yugambeh". Wikitongues.
- Faa, Marianne; Byrne, Elizabeth (5 April 2022). "Government to challenge High Court ruling that Indigenous people cannot be considered aliens". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Fischler, Rami (Producer) (15 April 2022). "Language and Me" (Television production). Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Fischer, Rami (Producer) (16 December 2022). "No Offence!" (Television production). Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Frostick, Josh (17 March 2022). "SHAUN DAVIES, LINGUIST AND HISTORIAN". The Weekend Edition Brisbane.
- Gold Coast Sun (3 November 2017). "Burleigh Bora ring to host memorial service for Gold Coast's Yugambeh and Aboriginal servicemen".
- Hinchcliffe, Jessica (10 July 2015). "Language app helps preserve Queensland's Indigenous voices and culture through touch screens".
- Hinchcliffe, Joe (23 April 2022). "Deebing Creek: Aboriginal protesters near former mission threatened with eviction as development looms".
- Karp, Paul (28 July 2022). "Labor drops Coalition bid to overturn high court ruling that Indigenous Australians can't be aliens". The Guardian.
- Kelly, Fran; Ringland, Holly (10 August 2021). "'Back to Nature' takes you on a journey through Australia". Radio National Breakfast, ABC.
- Kruger (2017). "In The Bora Ring: Yugambeh Language and Song Project - An Investigation into the Effects of Participation in the 'Yugambeh Youth Choir', an Aboriginal Language Choir for Urban Indigenous Children" (PDF). Griffith University.
- Manning, Jane (series producer) (10 August 2021). Back to Nature - The Green Cauldron (Television production). Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- Logan City Council (15 November 2021). Proud City - Shaun Davies (Interview). Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- Logan City Council (15 November 2021). "PROUD CITY CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES". Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- Logan City Council (2021). "PROUD CITY - SHAUN". Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- Logan City Council (31 January 2022). "LINGUIST AND YUGAMBEH MAN SHARES HIS PEOPLE'S STORIES". Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- Marciniak (24 July 2017). "UNE lecturer declared a 'champion' of Aboriginal language". Armidale: University of New England.
- McGregor, Neil (director) (6 May 2022). Gold Coast Film Festival 20th Anniversary (Mini-Documentary). Gold Coast, Australia: Gold Coast Film Festival.
- Moore, Tony (22 February 2019). "Ipswich mega-city developer warned as Aboriginal grave issue emerges". The Brisbane Times.
- "Back to Nature". MediaSpy. 15 July 2021.
- Nine News (April 2018). "Pauline Hanson Rubbishes call to rename Gold Coast iconic landmarks". Pauline Hanson's Please Explain - YouTube. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
- Riga, Rachel; Murray, Lucy (19 January 2019). "Deebing Creek mission protest to halt housing development gathers momentum". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Salleh, Anna (21 September 2021). "An invitation to understand country". ABC Science. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ScreenForever (28 March 2022). "Official Opening". Broadbeach, Queensland: Screen Forever.
- Screen Forever (2022). "Speaker Details". Broadbeach, Queensland: Screen Forever. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- Screen Forever (2023). "Day 1 Wrap Up". Broadbeach, Queensland: Screen Forever. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- Siemens (17 September 2018). "Siemens Fusesaver facility opening". Yatala, Queensland: Siemens AG.
- State Library QLD (2019). "Spoken: Celebrating Queensland languages".
- van Neerven, Ellen (2018). "Gibam Garandalehn (Full Moon)". The Red Room Company.
- Tourism and Events Queensland (2022). "DestinationQ Forum 2022 Journey to 2032: Building on our strengths Program" (PDF). Queensland Government.
- Webber, Matthew; Davies, Shaun (2019). "Learn The Lingo - ABC Gold Coast". Yugambeh Museum Language and Heritage Research Centre.
- Zaunmayr, Tony (21 February 2022). "Snapchat adds four Indigenous languages to users' lens platform". National Indigenous Times.