Narrandera’s Dr Stanley Grant Senior AM has won the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award for 2022.

Dr Grant is an elder and a warrior of the Wiradjuri people who grew up in Griffith and spent time with his grandfather Wilfred Johnson (known as Budyaan) who spoke seven languages and taught Dr Grant the Wiradjuri language.

Together with his brother the late Pastor Cec Grant OAM and Dr John Rudder the trio have been crucial to the reconstruction of the Wiradjuri language, travelling and reteaching their language from a small base of anthropological records, rebuilding the spoken and sung language for urban and rural community members.

Their collaboration for more than three decades has seen the production of many resources, including a dictionary, children’s books, song books and university texts.

Through Dr Grant’s efforts, Wiradjuri is a living, changing language and people who are now speaking this language are directly connected to the people who have spoken this language for thousands of years.

The NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates someone who is a legend in the community, recognising them for their tireless and longstanding advocacy and support of those around them.

Uncle Stan’s status as an inspirational role model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian community is unprecedented.

He is recognised to have transformed many lives across the nation by dedicating his life to revitalising the Wiradjuri language and reorienting people according to the values of the Yindyamarra: giving honour, going slowly and taking responsibility for generations to come.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 7 July 2022.