1. Alphabet
2. Animals
3. Fish
4. Glossaries and vocabularies
5. Hairy men
6. Indigenous languages
7. Literacy
8. Marine animals
9. Marsupials
10. Wildlife
11. Yuin people (S67) (NSW SI56-13)

‘G is for gugunyal’ is an alphabet book designed to introduce young people to the land and marine animals of Dhurga Country. It is also designed to help new speakers pronounce the 24 sounds used in the Dhurga language. The book’s QR code gives readers an opportunity to hear the book’s Dhurga sounds and words spoken by a Yuin Elder.

The striking illustrations feature strong colours and often include Aboriginal designs in the background scene or on the particular animal highlighted. The featured animals include the fish, wombat, stingray, a Hairy man peering around a tree, porpoise, octopus, kookaburra, turtle, toad fish, mosquito, seagull, fly, black cockatoo, mud crab, fish hawk, snake, big frog, great white shark, goanna, spider, kangaroo, bandicoot, black duck and platypus. Images and backgrounds fill the single or double page spreads with bold colours. These often include additional Aboriginal designs in either backgrounds or on the animal featured. Each scene is highlighted with a white frame around each page, making each image appear closer to the viewer.

This picture book is intended to highlight for children the Dhurga language which is presented in the book for adults, ‘The Dhurga Dictionary and Learner’s Grammar: A south-east coast NSW Aboriginal language’. (Aboriginal Studies Press, 2020) Dhurgah is one of four traditional languages of the south coast of New South Wales. It was spoken by Yuin (Yuwinj) people between Nowra and Narooma, and as far inland as Braidwood and Araluen.

Leanne Brook is a proud Murramarang Yuin woman living in Ulladulla, New South Wales. As a contemporary artist, illustrator and author, she uses her art to connect with her culture, land, people and language. The Dhurga language is one of the four south coast languages in New South Wales.

1. Radio 102.7FM, 3RRR Digital interview 23 May 2022 by Vanessa Morris with Leanne Brook, author and illustrator of ‘G is for gugunyal’ https://www.rrr.org.au/on-demand/segments/g-is-for-gugunyal-a-dhurga-alphabet-book
2. Together for Humanity Organisation ‘10 Bilingual Indigenous Picture Books from around Australia’ https://togetherforhumanity.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Ten_Bilingual_Indigenous_Picture_Books.pdf
3. Indigenous Literacy Foundation ‘5 Reasons Why Kids Deserve Access to Books in First Languages’ https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/news-events/5-reasons-why-kids-deserve-access-to-books-in-first-languages
4. Daly, Nicola and Kathy G Short ‘Preservice Teachers’ Encounters with Dual Language Picture Books’ in Australian Journal of Teacher Education, vol 47, no 7, 2022 This article concluded that interactions with dual language picture books offer an effective resource for inviting preservice teachers to develop critical language awareness for their future practice. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1375111.pdf