Stan Grant (Wiradjuri elder)

Stanley Vernard "Stan" Grant, Sr. (born 1940)AM is an elder of the Wiradjuri tribe of Indigenous Australians from what is now the south-west inland region of the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Grant is one of the few people still living to have heard native speakers of his tribe's Wiradjuri language, having been brought up as a child around native speakers of his grandfather's generation, notably his grandfather, Wilfred Johnson. Johnson was arrested in the late 1940s after a policeman overheard him calling to his son in Wiradjuri - it was forbidden to use aboriginal languages in public - and detained overnight in a cell. From that day on, his grandfather refrained from speaking his native language in public.

He has been crucial to the reconstruction of the Wiradjuri language along with Dr John Rudder, with whom he travels among the Wiradjuri people, teaching their language. From a small base of anthropological records, they have rebuilt the spoken and sung language among both urban and rural tribal members. In 2005 they published "A New Wiradjuri Dictionary”, running to some 600 pages. In 2006 this work was recognised with the Deadly award of Outstanding Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education.

Grant is the father of Australian and international television personality and journalist, Stan Grant, who is currently indigenous affairs editor for the Guardian.

With Dr John Rudder:

Grant was named a Member of the Order of Australia on 8 June 2009 "for service to Indigenous education and the preservation and promotion of the Wiradjuri language and culture, as a teacher and author, and to youth" He was granted an honorary doctorate of Letters by Charles Sturt University in December 2013 in recognition of his work to the indigenous communities. The vice-chancellor of CSU, Andrew Vann" is quoted as saying ""[Grant] has made an outstanding contribution to Charles Sturt University's regions, especially to Indigenous communities … As an Elder, author and teacher, he has made an outstanding intellectual contribution to our communities. His deep involvement in the introduction of the University's new Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage program in 2014 is a clear demonstration of his work."

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