Aboriginal Language Custodians Call for Urgent Action to Save Indigenous Languages

A group of more than 30 Aboriginal language custodians is calling on communities and governments to step up efforts to ensure the survival of Indigenous languages.

After years of work, the delegation of Northern Territory language custodians this week released the Top End Strong Languages Statement.

The four-page report sets out a road map of how communities want language revival and survival efforts to be prioritised and implemented across the NT.

It touches on topics including bilingual education and prioritising language knowledge-sharing within communities.

Among the statement's calls are more funding for language services such as language and culture centres, for services like clinics to build capacity for language understanding, and for repatriation systems to return archived materials.

The document also calls for a strengthening of bilingual education, calling on Western education systems to work with communities to drive language programs and curricula.

'Language is life'

The efforts to create the statement have been led by Rarrtjiwuy Herdman, a speaker of Dhaŋu, an Arnhem Land language with just a few speakers left.

The language is one of a number represented in the statement that have previously been described as endangered.

"For me, it's about acknowledging that of the places we interact with in our communities, often in an organisational setting, [it] is through English," she said.

"I want to be able to support and build the capacity of young adults and the next generation of people who will work in community … to deliver services to Yolŋu in my community in our language."

Since starting to work with the Top End Language Group, Ms Herdman has also created a pilot program to teach young adults Dhaŋu through the Djalkiri Foundation.

"We are focusing on community-accredited first-language literacy and we're using that as a base to then explore different ways of learning," she said.

About 100 people gathered at Charles Darwin University on Monday afternoon to hear the Top End Strong Languages Statement delivered by Ms Herdman and other Aboriginal language delegates.

Galiwin'ku delegate Ian Gumbula said the statement was an important representation of NT communities.

"It's a really important day today to celebrate the [Top End Strong Languages] statement," he said.

"It's very important to lay it out like that, because everyone wants to see how we feel and it's seen in the statement. Not only from people's minds but people's hearts."

Paul van Holsteyn, the NT Education Department's acting deputy chief executive for early years and school services, said the department supported the teaching and learning of Aboriginal languages.

"The department supports schools to develop and incorporate local curriculum and align it with the Australian Curriculum," they said.

"Aboriginal languages are taught in more than 50 schools in all NT contexts.

"All schools are able to direct funding to implement bilingual and two-way learning approaches according to their local context and community priorities."

'Abysmal' language loss

In 2022, the United Nations launched the International Decade of Languages (IDIL) Global Action Plan, in response to the thousands of international Indigenous languages it said were disappearing at "alarming rates".

At the time, a research paper led by the Australian National University found Australia had one of the worst records in the world for language loss.

Recently appointed IDIL Australia executive officer Samuel Daniels applauded the efforts of the Top End Language Group to start community-driven language restoration.

"You do see these [efforts] from community; it would be really nice if you started to see action on the government side as well," he said.

"We do have an abysmal record of language loss in Australia.

"Those languages have unique knowledge systems, connections to country in Australia that traverse back thousands of years of time in memoriam."