Yuṯa Gonydjuy: The ‘new wax’ Warramiri Yolŋu parable as transculturation literature and Lonydju’yirr literacy at Gäwa

Yuṯa Gonydjuy (The New Wax) is a children’s story written by Kathy Guthadjaka, an Indigenous Elder from Gäwa, Elcho Island, northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Yuṯa Gonydjuy has been illustrated and published in both Warramiri and English via the bilingual Literature Production Centre at Galiwin’ku, in 1998. There is also a digital, interactive version of the story, and it is available online (as alphabetic text only) as part of the ‘Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages’ (2015). Yuṯa Gonydjuy is an allegorical parable with both traditional Yolŋu and Christian themes, and considering the transculturation history and ontological priorities of the Warramiri Yolṯu, Yuṯa Gonydjuy is a most appropriate text. Furthermore, the potential for Yuṯa Gonydjuy to be utilised within a Lonydju’yirr (aligning side-by-side) multiliteracy approach at Gäwa is compelling and offers fresh insight into a generative, ‘bothways’ Yolṯu pedagogy.