DEG produced a 16-page (reduced to 12-page in 2008), A4 colour monthly community magazine - Yundiboo, which was distributed monthly by hand and by post to any Walgett Aboriginal community member who requested it, schools in the region, and libraries. It promoted the aims and work of the DEG’s programs and its costs were shared by those programs.
The revival of the local Yuwaalaraay / Gamilaraay language is promoted by the Dharriwaa Elders Group, for its life-giving benefits. Yundiboo taught language and literacy by presenting cultural matters alongside community news, and coverage of the activities of the Dharriwaa Elders Group.
Yundiboo also passed on information to the Walgett Aboriginal community about its Aboriginal cultural values maintenance programs and how the organisation works to protect and advocate these values. Activities reported on includes site surveys, conservation activities to repair or protect sites, and advocacy activities involved in protecting places of significance to the Walgett Aboriginal community. As many involved in community development appreciate, it is important that our community receive regular information about the DEG's activities so they know how the Commonwealth Government is receiving value for its funding from DEG, and also keep updated about what we are actually doing.
Yundiboo also enabled the Dharriwaa Elders Group to inform the Walgett Aboriginal community of its thinking about issues that affect us here in Walgett. In this way it provided the only community reporting on government and other initiatives for Walgett like the "Rivertowns" Shared Responsibility Agreement project, the COAG trial and the current "Closing the Gap" RSD program, the Walgett Community Working Party, the Walgett Interagency, various committees working in Walgett eg the CDAT (Community Drug Action Team) and the Youth and Domestic Violence Subcommittees of the Interagency. The DEG always hoped that government and NGA agencies working in Walgett would recognise the value of Walgett community media and support its continuation by using it to publish their won community promotions - but this never eventuated. During the recent RSD discussions, the need of the community for more information about services in Walgett, and the need for education campgains, were discussed. Yundiboo will be re-activated when and if Walgett services recognise its value for these purposes.
We produced the eleventh volume of Yundiboo in 2010. The first was produced in 1999 to present the outcomes of the first Dharriwaa Walaay. After producing its second issue after the second Dharriwaa Walaay in 2000, the DEG was so impressed with the magazine as a way of spreading through the community what the Dharriwaa Elders Group were learning and teaching, that the Group decided to make it a regular publication from January 2001.
A full set of the Yundiboo magazines are currently being prepared to be lodged with the University of Technology Sydney Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Digital Archive for safekeeping. They are also available for viewing upon appointment at the Dharriwaa Elders Group Centre in Walgett.
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