20 years ago, Nhaya Nicky Hatfield, a proud Darumbul woman from Central Queensland and her husband Trevor took a vow they were no longer going to speak their language in secret. They wanted to use it not only to preserve their culture within their family, but bring the wider community of Australia together. It’s their ethos of inclusiveness and sharing of ideas across cultures that has made Nhaya, or Aunty Nicky an icon in Rockhampton.

In this episode Aunty Nikki talks about what reconciliation means to her- and how language is central to how it will work. It’s also her story… of growing up on country, and the passion she has for teaching as well as her community and the lands in which she lives. We also talk about how she’s turned her experiences of racism on their head and the fact that despite eating it for most of her life, she still finds cooking with beef mince irresistible.