As the first area impacted by Australia's colonisation from 1788, east coast regions have suffered significant loss of Indigenous cultures and languages through disease, displacement, massacre, banning of language, and... [ view full abstract ]
As the first area impacted by Australia's colonisation from 1788, east coast regions have suffered significant loss of Indigenous cultures and languages through disease, displacement, massacre, banning of language, and forcible removal of children from their families (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992). These children are called 'the stolen generations', and ongoing removal of children into out-of-home care has been referred to as 'a new stolen generation' (Lavarch, 2017).
This paper describes a research project carried out with members of the Gamilaraay community in north-west New South Wales. Written materials from the nineteenth century exist but there is little twentieth century data and there are no fluent speakers in current generations. However, among many members there is a commitment to the revival of their language and the project is based at an Aboriginal Child and Family Centre where there is strong support for Gamilaraaylanguage teaching and learning.
The research has taken an ethnographic approach to explore individual and community language revival goals with children (pre-school, primary, secondary) and adults. Interviews were carried out to explore community members' understandings of language learning; what they want to achieve, what can be achieved, and how it can be achieved. Initial findings were discussed and adjusted in an iterative process to develop a social psychology model of second language acquisition for the revival of Gamilaraay in this context, meeting community goals of cultural revival with language at its heart. The model highlights the importance of cultural and spiritual dimensions which determine how the attitudinal components of the self are realized for the learning of Gamilaraay. This has significant implications for the effective development of resources to support ongoing language revival efforts.
Commonwealth of Australia. 1992. Language and Culture: A Matter of Survival. Report of the Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language Maintenance.
Lavarch, M. 2017. A new stolen generation? Flinders Law Journal 19(1): 1-18.
