First Languages First
Gary Williams, Shelley Ware & Kirli Saunders
Hosted by Daniel Browning
Can you say hello in Gadigal?
There are over 150 Indigenous languages actively maintained by community groups in Australia, and a growing movement to preserve, revitalise and promote Indigenous language.
Live in-person event | Utzon Room | Talks & Ideas
COVID-19 safety information
The health and wellbeing of everyone attending the Opera House is our top priority. We’re committed to making your experience safe, comfortable and enjoyable, with a number of measures in place including regular cleaning of high-touch areas, air conditioning systems that maximise ventilation, and hand sanitiser stations positioned in all paths of travel. We encourage you to wear a mask in indoor settings or when physical distancing can’t be maintained, and please stay home if you feel unwell. If you need to discuss your ticketing or booking options, contact our Box Office team on 02 9250 7777.
Pre-sale and on-sale information
Multipacks
Insider Member Priority – 9am, Tuesday 28 June
Single Tickets
Insider Member Priority – 9am, Tuesday 28 June
What's on Priority sale – 9am, Wednesday 29 June
General public on sale – 9am, Friday 1 July
Sunday 11 September 2022, 2pm
Session runs from 2pm - 3pm
Standard tickets from $33 | $8.50 Booking Fee applies per transaction Save up to 15% with a festival Multipack | Livestream tickets from $15
| Ticket | Unreserved Seating |
|---|---|
| Standard |
$33 |
| Insider (Save 20% on this performance) | $26.40 |
| Multipack Buy 3 - 4 events and save 10% | $29.70 |
| Multipack Buy 5+ events and save 15% | $28.05 |
| Livestream | $15 |
| Livestream festival pass | $55 |
| Babes in arms | $10 |
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection. Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times
The authorised ticket agency for this event is Sydney Opera House and Vimeo. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the FAQ below.
Enjoy a selection of talks online with a Festival Pass ($55), or purchase an individual livestream ($15). Purchase here.
This talk runs for approximately 60 minutes (no interval)
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
“It is through their own languages that Indigenous nations maintain their connection with their ancestors, land and law”
National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair Anne Martin
Celebrating the resilience of First Nations languages
Language can preserve history, customs and traditions, express thoughts and build a future. There are 7000 languages in use worldwide - but many Indigenous languages are falling out of use. What does Australia need to do to preserve, revitalize and promote Indigenous languages? From bilingual education to the adult discovery of heritage, what are the myriad positive outcomes we can expect from a flourishing of Indigenous language acquisition? What do we want to ask/demand from our politicians, our bureaucrats, and each other?
Join us for what promises to be a visionary and agenda-setting conversation, full of personal stories and testimony, presented with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in this first year of UNESCO’s Indigenous Language Decade. Hosted by ABC RN presenter Daniel Browning, and featuring language revivalists Uncle Gary Williams from the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Cooperative, poet Kirli Saunders and broadcaster Shelley Ware.
Proudly presented by Indigenous Literacy Foundation in collaboration with Sydney Opera House
Speakers
Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning writer, artist, and consultant. An experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, gender, racial equality and LGBTIQA+ rights, Kirli was the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year (2020). In 2022, She received at OAM for her contribution to the arts and literature, her books include The Incredible Freedom Machines (Scholastic, 2018), Kindred (Magabala, 2019), Bindi (Magabala, 2020), Our Dreaming (Scholastic, 2022) and Returning (Magabala, 2023). Her writing features in magazines and journals including among others, Vogue, Overland and Kill Your Darlings. Her debut play, Going Home was supported by Playwriting Australia (2022). Her art has been commissioned for public art and regional galleries. Kirli's Solo Exhibition, RETURNING was supported by Ausco (2022). She was a collaborating artist for Vivid Live, with TRACES alongside Kamsani Bin Salleh, Google and Magabala at Sydney Opera House.
Gary Williams is the CEO of Muurrbay, a Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung man who grew up in Nambucca Heads in his mother’s country. He realised the importance of maintaining cultural knowledge and spent as much time as he could learning from Elders such as Tiger Buchanan and Uncle Charles Moran. He went to the first Gumbaynggirr classes at Muurrbay and has worked on Gumbaynggirr language reclamation for over twenty years. Gary managed Koori Broadcasters in Nambucca Heads and has presented a ground-breaking language program on ABC radio with Fi Poole.
Along with Dallas Walker and Gugs, Gary made up the team whose in-depth research led to the publishing of the Gumbaynggirr Dictionary-Grammar and the Collected Stories. Gary also worked closely with researcher Ian Sim to bring back his valuable records of Gumbaynggirr Elders.
When Muurrbay expanded into a Regional Language Centre in 2004, Gary played a central role as a regional language researcher, supporting the revival of seven languages, including Bundjalung, his father’s language. Gary’s language and cultural knowledge and his deep understanding of linguistics underpin Muurrbay’s support of NSW coastal languages.
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Shelley Ware is a proud Yankunytjatjara and Wirangu woman from Adelaide, South Australia, who currently lives in Melbourne.
For the past decade or so, Shelley has worked in the media as a radio and television presenter on both local and national AFLM and AFLW football news shows. She is a member of the Outersanctum Podcast Show and Broad Radio and writes an AFL column fortnightly for the Koori Mail.
She is a member of the Carlton FC RAP committee and a VIS board member. Shelley has become one of the most respected and recognised female presenters of AFLM and AFLW football in the country. Announced the 2019 Essendon Women’s Network ‘Football Woman of the Year.’ Shelley is a well-sought-after MC and keynote speaker.
Shelley has co-written the national curriculum through Culture is Life and ABC Education for the Australian Dream and Archie Roach - Stolen Generation. For the second year in a row, she has written the national primary curriculum for NAIDOC week with SBS Learn and this year writing both primary and Secondary.
Shelley is a teacher who currently works on writing a national curriculum for teachers at Culture is Life. She is passionate about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history being embedded into our national curriculum
Daniel Browning is an Aboriginal journalist, radio broadcaster, sound artist and writer. Currently, he presents The Art Show on Radio National and is the ABC’s Editor of Indigenous Radio. A visual arts graduate, Daniel is also a widely published freelance writer on the arts and culture. He is a former guest editor of Artlink Indigenous, an occasional series of the quarterly Australian contemporary arts journal. He is the inaugural curator of Blak Box, an award-winning, architect-designed sound pavilion commissioned by Urban Theatre Projects, the multiform arts company based in western Sydney. Daniel is a descendant of the Bundjalung and Kullilli peoples of far northern New South Wales and south-western Queensland.
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Venue Information
Performances are being sold to 100% capacity in line with the NSW Public Health Order. This includes all shows in the Concert Hall, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Studio, Playhouse, Drama Theatre, Utzon Room and Forecourt. Please note that you will be seated directly alongside other ticketholders.
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars. Please remember to maintain physical distancing whilst consuming drinks in our foyers.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer consistent with COVID-safe rules.
Transport options
- We encourage you to use private transport options to minimise crowding on public transport (in line with NSW Government advice).
- The Sydney Opera House Car Park, operated by Wilson Parking, is open and available to use. Wilson Parking offer discounted parking if you book ahead. Please see their website for details.
- Please check the Transport NSW website for the latest advice and information on travel and COVID-19 safety measures. You can catch public transport (bus, train, ferry) to Circular Quay and enjoy a 6 min walk to the Opera House.
What safety measures have you implemented?
Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of everyone on site, and we are closely following NSW Health guidelines and advice. The Sydney Opera House is registered as a COVID Safe business with the NSW Government. For detailed information about our COVID-19 safety measures and what’s required of you when visiting, please see our plan your visit page.
What am I required to do as an audience member?
Face masks are strongly recommended for all patrons while inside our theatres and foyers, including during the performance. Please bring your own mask.
As you move around the Opera House, practise physical distancing (1.5 metres whenever possible) and follow the guidance provided by our staff and signage.
Within venues, always take your allocated seat.
For detailed information about our COVID-19 safety measures and what’s required of you, please see our plan your visit page.
Do I need to be vaccinated to visit the Sydney Opera House?
The Sydney Opera House no longer requires patrons to show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Am I required to wear a mask?
Face masks are strongly recommended for all patrons while inside our theatres and foyers, including during the performance. Please bring your own mask.
How are you managing contact tracing?
Contact information is required when making a booking with us and upon arrival at the Opera House, as set out in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events and our Customer Privacy Statement.
As the ticket purchaser, you are responsible for recording the contact details of your guests. Contact information will only be used for the purposes of contact tracing, if required, and will be deleted at least 28 days after your event.
What time do I need to arrive before the event?
Ticket purchases and collection at our Box Office is discouraged and eTicket or postal delivery methods should be used, wherever possible. However, if you are collecting your tickets from the Box Office, we recommend doing this at least 60 minutes before the event starts. If you have already received your tickets, the venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Please take your seats as soon as you arrive.
If you are late, we will seat you as soon as we can and, where possible, in your allocated seat. However, to reduce movement in the venue as well as minimise disruption to the performance and other patrons, ticketholders may be seated in an allocated latecomer’s seat. Please be aware that some events have lock-out periods. In these cases, latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance. On occasions, this may not be until the interval, or at all where there is no interval.
Details of our right to refuse admission can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Events.
Will there be bag checks, and is cloaking available?
In accordance with our venue security procedures, Opera House security will be scanning and checking bags under the Monumental Stairs, prior to entering the building. Bags will be scanned by an x-ray machine, and staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling your belongings, such as gloves. Cloaking facilities will be open 60 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 60 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. However it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly to minimise contact and queuing. Any bags larger than an A4 piece of paper will need to be checked into the Cloak Room.
What safety measures do you have in place?
The health and wellbeing of everyone attending the Opera House is our top priority. We have a number of safety measures in place including regular cleaning of high-touch areas, air conditioning systems that maximise ventilation, and hand sanitiser stations positioned in all paths of travel. We encourage visitors to wear a face mask in indoor settings or when physical distancing can’t be maintained. Please stay home if you feel unwell and read more about our flexible ticket options here.
Does my child need to wear a face mask?
Children under the age of 12 are not required to wear a face mask.
Who are the authorised ticket sellers for this event?
The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller, you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. RESALE RESTRICTION APPLIES. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
What if I can't come to my performance?
Please contact Box Office on 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend. If you can no longer attend because you are unwell, or have been in contact with someone displaying COVID-19 symptoms, the Opera House has introduced flexible ticketing options to help you, find out more information here.
Will there be food and beverages available for purchase in the venue?
Foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
The venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances.
Please bring a credit or debit card for any on site purchases to enable contactless payment. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues. Opera Bar, Opera Kitchen and Portside are also available for you to enjoy.
Will there be pram parking at kids performances?
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to the foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres consistent with COVID-safe rules.
Can my baby sit on my lap?
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times. Babies aged 0-2 years old at the time of a performance may be seated on an adult’s lap. Children 2 years and older will need to hold a standard ticket.
Can I smoke at the Opera House?
- The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Sydney Opera House is our top priority. In line with this commitment, the Opera House will become a smoke-free site from Saturday 1 January 2022.
- By becoming a smoke-free site, the Opera House seeks to reduce exposure to harmful second-hand smoke, as well as minimise the impact of smoking on the environment, including litter and pollution of the surrounding marine environment.