The Mother of all Projects: Calling for Decisive Government Action on First Languages

FAITH BAISDEN

Faith Baisden is the Manager of First Languages Australia (FLA) (1) , the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. She is a member of the Queensland Indigenous Languages Advisory Committee and has a strong interest in the production of resources for language programs and the use of new technologies to help with language teaching. Her language is Yugambeh from south-east Queensland.

GEOFF ANDERSON

Geoff Anderson is a powerful advocate within the schools and the whole community of Parkes in central-west New South Wales, helping to teach people of all ages. He is a committee member of First Languages Australia, and a member of the Parkes Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and the Wiradjuri Council of Elders.

First Languages are reverberating across the country’s sightlines and airwaves at an exciting, unprecedented rate. During 2019 - the UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages - acclaimed hip hop musician and dancer Baker Boy blasted Yolnu Matha into the lives of a new generation of Australians. He delivered his acceptance speech for Young Australian of the Year in both English and Yolnu Matha from north-east Arnhem Land.

Meanwhile, around Australia, Elders are working with municipal councils to rethink public signage and rename cultural festivals; State libraries are signing up to First Languages collections strategies; schools and cultural centres are offering classes in local mother tongues, and media outlets are broadcasting stories in and about Indigenous languages across all platforms.

For almost a decade, First Languages Australia (FLA) has been at the forefront of the work of raising national and international awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. In addition to rolling out an ambitious national marketing strategy that included the formation of multiple media partnerships, we have represented over 30 language centres to lobby state and federal governments for funding, curriculum reform, policy and legislation. We have coordinated significant language conferences, backed the development of teaching resources and technologies, and coordinated research and community consultations to inform our research, strategic advice and organisational priorities.

Although great progress has been made on many of these fronts, a pervasive lack of long-term vision around the protection of First Languages has resulted in ephemeral policies, piecemeal funding and until now, an ad hoc approach to the training and development of language workers, interpreters and teachers – the cornerstone of this work. We are confronted by the stark reality that our precious First Languages – the oldest living languages in the world - are on the brink of extinction. Of the many hundreds of original First Nations languages, only about 120 are still spoken in Australia, and only 13 traditional Indigenous languages are still spoken by children (2016 Census). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have an unequivocal human right to control and access education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. This is defined by the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007, Article 14). (2)

As the national peak body for First Languages, we are calling on the Australian Government to take responsibility for protecting these rights. There is no single solution, quick fix or straight-forward pathway to achieve this. There are, however, several potential approaches that could warrant further consideration.

We propose a national strategic framework that could bring together existing national programs and policies in a more coordinated, cohesive and cost-effective manner. Currently, in the absence of overarching frameworks or aligned legislation, Indigenous language policies are too often produced and promptly dispensed with whenever a government changes – or even just a key public servant. FLA’s public knowledge bank, Jarrak 3 , overviews language policy and programs developed in Australia since the 1970s. Among other things, it demonstrates the extent to which language policies across federal and state governments have historically been constrained by siloed, highly localised approaches, and short shelf lives.

A national strategic framework building on the New South Wales Aboriginal Languages Bill 2017 (4) could lead to law reform that would raise and align standards across the country. A precedent for this approach can be found in the introduction of uniform Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislation, the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (5). This was enacted in response to disparate and inconsistent laws across jurisdictions, and the need for a more cohesive, comprehensive approach to protecting the rights of workers. It was achieved through a National Review into Model OHS laws which the Workplace Relations Ministers Council then used to create model legislation (the Model WHS Act) (6). This was then adopted by Commonwealth, state and territory governments. The same approach could be applied to bring about a similar alignment in languages policy, using the New South Wales Bill as a model starting point that could then be adopted by other state and territories.

First Languages Australia contends that all government departments should take responsibility for considering First Languages within their portfolio. Under the current system, First Languages has been relegated to an Arts/ Communication/Culture portfolio. This argument has recently found a response from the federal Department of Education and Training, which will this year engage FLA to scope the development of a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language workforce training strategy, in a project jointly funded through the Indigenous Languages and Arts stream of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

A critical goal of the project will be to achieve a consistent nation-wide commitment to developing and funding culturally appropriate training pathways to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages education.

In the Employment, Skills and Business portfolio, we need to see the shoring up of these education strategies with clear government-funded careers – such as for teachers, researchers and translators – supported by a fair industry award. It is the strongly-held position of First Languages Australia that one of the best ways to protect First Languages is to invest in the next generation of learners and teachers. That means providing two-way education and viable, secure employment.

In the spheres of health and justice, it would mean mandating language training for all staff working with Indigenous peoples whose primary language is not English, and investing in and expanding translation services. Too many Indigenous peoples in highly vulnerable situations currently lack access to assistance in their own languages, and this can literally be a matter of life or death. In the case of health and social services, extensive research by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has also shown that connecting to traditional language is critical to Indigenous people’s health and wellbeing. (2014 AIATSIS NILS) (7) .

Other government agencies spanning tourism, foreign affairs and environment would also be enriched by policy commitments that would mandate a commitment to First Languages. There are striking examples emerging of the power of Indigenous languages to invigorate tourism projects and this is something that should be supported at all levels, particularly by local governments. Within the fields of science and the environment there is a growing awareness of the depth of knowledge relating to all aspects of this land that is held nowhere but within the first languages of the land.

Fundamentally, our position is that greater bipartisan political action on First Languages as a cultural right could be attained by the Australian Government through ratification of UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. (8) The UN’s definition of ‘safeguarding’ in this context encapsulates the active and multi-pronged nature of this work as: “identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non-formal education, as well as the revitalisation of the various aspects of such heritage.” Parties to the Convention are expected to adopt a series of common-sense measures including an integrated policy and community-directed educational and training programs, and these align with FLA’s advocacy mandate. Although ratifying UN conventions does not guarantee political action, law reform or consequences for failure to adhere, it could provide a framework and catalyst to amending current federal legislation, such as acknowledging Indigenous intangible cultural heritage as a right under the Australian Copyright Act 1968.

There is more research to be done, and much to be gleaned from progressive international legislation on Indigenous languages. For example, in Taiwan, a country with a comparable overall population to Australia, a similar relative Indigenous population and context of endangered Indigenous languages, national legislation in 2017 was introduced aimed at promoting and preserving the languages of Taiwan’s Indigenous tribes. (9) Among other things, the new laws designated the country’s 16 Indigenous tribal languages as national languages; required the government to invest in research and teaching materials; and mandated improvements in public signage featuring Indigenous languages.

It is heartening to note that in the absence of human rights charters, binding federal laws or long-term national frameworks, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have achieved so much through grassroots activism and community-driven initiatives to protect, revive and promote their languages. This positive activity urgently needs to be consolidated and built upon, and it is the responsibility of all levels of government to introduce cohesive national frameworks and legislation to support the best of this work, in a way that reflects the wishes and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

There is a lot at stake when faced with the looming threat of losing tens of thousands of years of wisdom held in these precious mother tongues. Equally, there is so much to be gained from reviving and protecting these languages. These are our cultural heritage, and we have a right to learn, speak, protect, document and pass them on to the next generation and, where communities consent, to share these languages and enrich the lives of non-Indigenous Australians also.

Language advocates gather for the launch of Jarrak: Our languages journey, a timeline and knowledge bank of milestones in language advocacy: www.jarrak.com.au

Photo: Yale Macgillivray

FIRST LANGUAGES AND WELLBEING – GEOFF ANDERSON

You can miss your culture even when you haven’t experienced it. It’s so hard to explain. You have this void inside you and you don’t know what it is until you stumble across it. I knew there was something missing, I just didn’t know what.

I hadn’t left the house for four years. I’d had a breakdown – depression, agoraphobia. The turning point was when a Gamilaraay lady came into my house and asked if I wanted to go and listen to Stan Grant Senior giving Wiradjuri language lessons. I said yes. Just being asked that question, I could feel in my being what was missing all my life. I’d lived with this big black void and I’d tried so many things to squash it: grog, drugs, anything I could find. As soon as I walked into that Wiradjuri language lesson, I thought - this is me, this is where I belong.

Stan taught us to sing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree and that became like a mantra for me. I learnt to block out the rest of the world when I sang it, I was able to take my old black dog for a walk, and from then on, everything changed. I went around to Parkes East Primary School one day and I was asked if I could teach the kids how to sing Heads and Shoulders in another language. They were blown away when I taught it to them in Wiradjuri, and that started everything off. Then the teacher rang me saying we need more. That was late 2005.

Some of us who went to Stan Grant Senior’s classes ended up really bonding, we’d meet once a week, we moved from meeting at my house to meeting in a classroom. Then some of the primary schools started asking us about teaching Wiradjuri language. So we were teaching language at the same time as we were still learning, it’s the best way I’ve found. I’m still learning! Now, Wiradjuri is taught to about 1300 students a week; every primary school student here in Parkes learns it, and this year we’re reintroducing it at the high school too.

I’ve known so many other people who’ve had their lives changed by connecting with language. One student started out really shy, the late Ron Wardrop and I taught him Wiradjuri in school, and then he came along to the adult Wiradjuri classes that I ran. He was keen as mustard, joining in, learning the words of his mother tongue. From there, he ended up becoming school captain, got scholarships, went to university and he’s now a qualified lawyer in Sydney. He always says that without learning his language, he wouldn’t have had the confidence to do any of that.

There’s another young woman who I’ve been mentoring as a Wiradjuri teacher. She started last year on three days a week, and the principal was so happy with her work he’s put her on full time this year. She had been a real homebody, had a few health problems, but now she’s got so much cultural pride. I know exactly how she feels, that hollow piece inside of you being filled in with the language. You can see it in her face every day. She’s finding herself through the words. To see her come out of her shell like that in just 12 months - you can’t tell me language doesn’t work, that it doesn’t have these profound effects.

1. https://www.firstlanguages.org.au

2. ‘United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wpcontent/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf

3. ‘Jarrak: Our languages journey’: https://www.firstlanguages.org. au/resources/jarrak-our-languages-journey

4. ‘Aboriginal Languages Bill’: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3446

5. www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2011-018

6. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/guide-model-workhealth-and-safety-act

7. Additional research from the Office for the Arts also attests to the wellbeing impact of language maintenance and revival. (Culture and Closing the Gap).

8. ‘Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage’: https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention

9. Indigenous languages development act takes effect; Taiwan Times. https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=2&post=116946