G'day, my name is John McGuire. 
I'm a Nyoongar man from the 
Baladong region of Western Australia, which is out through 
the Avon, Northam, York, Beverly, Brookton. I think language is 
the key to anyone's culture. My view is that if you don't 
have a language - you don't have a culture. Now the Nyoongar language
for me - we didn't have classes as such, we sat 
around with family groups and talked, and the old people 
talked in language and that's how we learnt. But if you 
don't have that language you generally lose your culture. 
Now, language is beautiful. It doesn't matter whether it's 
French, or Greek, or Italian, or Indonesian. Language is beautiful.
And particularly the Nyoongar language. I was lucky enough to learn it
and retain it, and these days I often get asked to do traditional 
welcomes to country and I think that is becoming very much a part of 
the wider community as well. They recognise the importance and they 
recognise that the Nyoongar people particularly here in Western Australia
and the metropolitan area were the original inhabitants of this great land.