The content on this page and other DCITA document archive pages is provided to assist research and may contain references to activities or policies that have no current application. See the full archive disclaimer.
Song and dance: Indigenous communities fight to preserve their languages
By Tricia Fitzgerald
Indigenous communities around Australia are getting creative in their efforts to protect and strengthen their languages. They see language as a measure of how healthy their culture is. But even communities where language has traditionally been very strong are now getting worried about the survival of their languages.
Around 250 Indigenous languages being spoken when Europeans arrived in Australia were almost stamped out. Languages and dialects that had flourished over the centuries began dying.
Now, only around 80 native languages are still being spoken and many of them are endangered.
The chair of the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Forum, Lester Coyne, believes language is the thread of life for oral Indigenous cultures.
'We have had a very disastrous period here where there were all sorts of barriers to language being passed on and, being a completely oral culture, the loss of our languages is a gaping wound in many communities,' said Coyne.
Now, communities are trying to turn the tide around.
Many are turning to music, dance, and storytelling as a way of making learning language more attractive to their younger generations, to get them talking fluently and confidently in their native tongue.
In Port Hedland, Western Australia, the Nyangumarta people are pushing hard to make sure their language stays strong.
The Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre in South Hedland is working with Western Desert elders to pass on language through storytelling and culture programs.
They are using digital technology to record traditional dances and songs so the ceremonies can be used in an interactive CD ROM to teach young students at the South Hedland Primary School.
'The older women wanted to use traditional storytelling as a way of teaching,' said Wangka Maya linguist, Albert Burgman.
'The women suggested we film the traditional Turtle Song and Dance, as that was an important ceremony for them, which could be performed in public.
'The women said it hadn't been sung for a while and they want it recorded so that it would survive into the future,' said Burgman.
The land of the Nyangumarta people covers Eighty Mile Beach, north of Port Hedland, and stretches east into the desert. Turtle hunting is an important part of community life.
The Turtle Dance tells of a hunter who sees the full moon reflected in the shell of a mighty turtle swimming off Eighty Mile Beach. He calls other hunters and they follow the turtle's tracks in the sand when it comes ashore. The hunters kill it and the story tellers explain that the turtle dies facing its homeland, the western ocean.
Elders, Ada Stewart and Winnie Coppin, sang the ancient song and local children were filmed dancing the story on the beach.
The Ngarla people of the Pilbara region are also recording songs to pass on their traditional language and knowledge. Ngarla elder, Alexander Brown, has had songs that were passed on to him published in a book Ngarla Songs, which was short-listed for the Western Australian Premier's Award for poetry in 2004.
This significant collection of traditional songs reflects the Ngarla people's view of the history of the early twentieth century. He's also recording his songs digitally with Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre and on CD ROM so they'll now be accessible in written and audio form.
In western New South Wales, Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay people are also using songs, music and even karaoke to revive their language.
Two elders from Lightning Ridge and Walgett were recorded in the 1970s speaking in language and, from those audio tapes, elders and community have put together a dictionary and teaching materials in Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay.
John Giacon, a Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay language teacher in Walgett, says language studies can be heavy going so the community is using music and song to lighten things up.
'Song is a good way to get people relaxed and enjoying the language-you get a lot of value from it,' he said.
The community has been composing songs for years but they've now gone a step further and produced a high-quality CD of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay songs, as well as a karaoke CD.
The CD features nine-year-old Kelsey Strasek-Barker, a Yuwaalaraay girl from Lightning Ridge, and brings together Indigenous musicians from western New South Wales, like Ross McGregor and Roger Knox.
Kelsey performed songs from the CD at the last Tamworth Country Music Festival. John Giacon says the CD is proving to be a good way to promote the Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay language, which many non-Indigenous people from the region have never heard spoken.
All of these efforts are now paying off. The Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay language revival is gathering momentum with a first year university course in the language to be launched in Sydney this year.
Programs supporting Indigenous languages were previously delivered by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS). Under new Australian Government arrangements, the Indigenous languages program will be delivered by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
The Indigenous languages program will support Indigenous language revival and maintenance projects and a vibrant network of 21 Indigenous language centres. The program is also supporting the operation of FATSIL-the peak national Indigenous body for language groups and the development of a national Indigenous languages policy.
The program's national survey of Indigenous languages is already underway and should be completed by early next year. It will be a vital gauge of the state of Indigenous languages in Australia.
For more information, visit the website: www.dcita.gov.au/indig
Inset top left: South Hedland Primary School dancers perform the Turtle Dance on South Hedland Beach
Far left: South Hedland Primary School dancers check turtle tracks
Above: Community members prepare dancers