ELL: Re: Scotsman article re BBC Radio 4 series

[Alan D. Boydell]

Hi there,

Could someone please tell me how and where I can subscribe to the Gaelic
News list?

Thanks a lot,
Ally
----- Original Message -----
From: "Emily McEwan-Fujita" <e-mcewan at uchicago.edu>
To: <endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 1:05 PM
Subject: ELL: Scotsman article re BBC Radio 4 series


> This article from the Scotsman newspaper website was posted to the Gaelic
> News list. (Apologies for cross-posting to Gaelic News list members on the
> ELL.)
>
> Emily McEwan-Fujita
>
> >When these two sisters die, a whole language will die with them
> >http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/opinion.cfm?id=1073282002
> >Gavin Esler. The Scotsman. 27th September, 2002.
> >
> >WHAT follows is about wombats. How to catch and cook them, to be more
> >precise. It contains probably every piece of information you will ever
want
> >to hear on the subject of hairy-nosed wombats.
> >
> >They live across vast swathes of the Australian Outback and the man who
> >instructed me how to shoot them is an aborigine called Warren from the
> >Wirrungu people of South Australia.
> >
> >Where Warren lives is two hours from the nearest small town, miles from
> >anywhere. I have been in Australia for a Radio 4 series, produced in
> >Glasgow, about disappearing languages. There are currently about 6,000
> >languages around the world and 3,000 are thought to be about to die out
> >within the next 50 years. Wirrungu is one of these. It is spoken by just
two
> >people, elderly aboriginal sisters called Gladys and Doreen Miller. When
> >they die, so does the language.
> >
> >I had spent much of the day with Gladys and Doreen, talking to them about
> >what the loss of their native language and culture will mean and whether
it
> >is inevitable that English will sweep the world. Their extended family
> >decided to invite me for dinner, and we drove even further out into the
> >bush, where they had prepared a fire and a pit.
> >
> >In the pit were nine kangaroo tails gently baking in the hot embers.
While
> >waiting for the kangaroo tails to cook, I started to wander off into the
> >bush, and Warren came after me. I think he feared I might get lost, but I
> >was drawn to huge holes in the red earth, some as big as a metre across.
> >
> >"Wombats," Warren said. I looked down the holes, but could see nothing.
> >Hairy-nosed wombats are about the size of a spaniel, though they look
like
> >giant guinea-pigs. "Very tasty," Warren told me.
> >
> >I was slowly getting used to what aborigines call "Bush Tucker" - any of
the
> >food they can eat from the wild. I had been instructed how to lick the
> >underside of leaves for the sweet casts left behind by a type of fly, but
> >was dreading the prospect of witchetty grubs, a kind of fat maggot that
> >aborigines love.
> >
> >Warren was explaining to me how they roast wombats in the fire, rather
like
> >the kangaroo tails, and he promised to show me how he shot them.
> >
> >We climbed into his pick-up truck and headed even further into the
Outback.
> >He found another clump of wombat holes almost big enough for a small man
to
> >climb into. Warren said aborigines nowadays put a mirror into the wombat
> >hole and use it to look around to see where the wombat is sleeping, then
> >they put their shotgun or rifle inside and shoot it.
> >
> >I noticed he had a rifle on the side of his truck, and for a moment I
> >thought he was going to give me a demonstration. Warren laughed. "We
don't
> >shoot them at this time of year," he said. "They are too thin. Not much
to
> >eat. All bones. We leave it till they are fat after the rains."
> >
> >The kangaroo tails turned out to be a real local delicacy. Kangaroos
steaks
> >taste like the best venison, and are sold to top-class Australian
> >restaurants, but the tails are not liked by white people and remain
mostly
> >an aborigine treat.
> >
> >Each tail is broken in a couple of places to stop them bending out of the
> >fire. There is a long fatty strip down the back of each one, a lot of
bone
> >and a little bit of very gamey meat.
> >
> >I was handed my tail after one of the women doing the cooking brushed off
> >the ashes with a few twigs. I peeled back the skin and - well, it wasn't
> >bad. I wouldn't eat it every night, but it was quite tasty.
> >
> >The only problem was that the fat stuck to my hands as if fused by a
> >chemical bond. I drove two hours out of the Outback towards my hotel,
> >sticking to the steering wheel of my Toyota Landcruiser as if with
> >superglue.
> >
> >The Wirrungu language will be dead within a few years, and the
traditional
> >way of life of the aborigines has already had to adapt to white farmers,
> >sheep in the Outback and the English language.
> >
> >But even those of us who have no intention of eating kangaroo tails or
> >speaking Wirrungu must recognise that when this way of life goes, all the
> >world will be the poorer.
> >
> >Lost for Words is on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesdays at 11 am.
> >
> >Gavin Esler is a presenter on BBC News24.
> >
> >
> >
> >========================================
> >If you have news of Gaelic events, courses or campaigns in
> >your area,  and you'd like to share it, contact; David Wilson
> >[Gaelic-News Listowner] at; djj.wilson at virgin.net  =====
> >==== http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gaelic-News/ =====
> >========================================
>
>
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