First Nations artist Cassie Leatham was startled when she heard her blue budgie – which she impulsively bought for $35 from an East Gippsland pet shop amid pandemic lockdowns – chirp in Taungurung language.

“Wominjeka daungwurrung Biik, Mr Beaky” (meaning ‘Welcome to Taungurung country my name is Mr Beaky’) is one phrase the bird squeaks. “Ngun Godjin” (thank you) is another. A third is “Yanggurdi Biik” (walkabout on country).

“I went ‘nah this is not right’,” Leatham said. She then figured the bird must’ve picked up a few words after overhearing her First Nations art lessons over Zoom.

“No one believed me, so I recorded it.”

After convincing others, Leatham and the talkative bird became a travelling roadshow, crisscrossing Victoria, stopping off at primary schools to teach hundreds of kids about First Nations languages, culture and identity via her children’s book An Important Message from Mr Beaky. As Leatham reads aloud, Mr Beaky joins in by saying phrases from the story. The pair will hold book readings for the NGV Kids Summer Festival at the Ian Potter Centre from January 17 to 19.

Unpacking Indigenous identity in her book was particularly important for Leatham, who saw parallels between Mr Beaky – coloured blue while other native budgerigars are yellow and green – and herself.

Leatham, who regularly explains to curious school children why she doesn’t have darker skin compared to other Indigenous Australians, said one of the phrases Mr Beaky squeaked, in English, was: “Just because I’m not green doesn’t mean I can’t be seen.”

“Mr Beaky is saying that just because he’s not green, doesn’t mean he’s not native to Australia,” she said.