Hi Nonnie,

I'm a white fella living amongst the Badulgal people of Badu Island, Torres Strait. The main everyday language is Torres Strait Creole (also known as "Brokan'.

Up here, Creole is the main language. People under 25 speak Creole mainly, but can speak English too. Over this age, they can speak Kala Lagaw Ya (KLY) to varying degrees as well as Creole and English. KLY seems to be related to Aboriginal languages whereas the other Torres Strait indigenous tongue (Meriam Mer) is closer to Papuan languages. It is the language of choice in people over 60.

KLY is in big trouble. It appears that transmission to children stopped when white teachers came to the Torres Strait and the schools adopted an English-only policy.

As far as language revival activities, there is not much happening,,,,,,,yet.

But, I believe things may be changing. I have applied for MILR funding for this year. Together with some interested people we hope to start an after school language nest involving young children with at least one parent who speaks KLY. Interestingly the new pan-Torres school has expressed some interest in helping with some sort of cultural activities though will not be integrating it into the curriculum yet. They will be offering use of facilities after school for cultural activities and may be paying a dance teacher this year.

I know that in the future, linguists like yourself will be helping stop the slide towards extinction for Indigenous tongues. How is the course so far? I'm good mates with Patrick Whap who did one of the Batchelor College linguistic courses and is a local community linguist in the Western Torres Strait.