The FATSIL NEWSLETTER MARCH, 2003
THE FEDERATION OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LANGUAGES CORPORATION
VOLUME 24
Kimberley Elders ttaking youngs ones back to Country
Frank Sanpy, Stan Brumby, Barbara Sturt, May Butcher, 6 year old Bonnie Sturt, Bonnie Deegan and Doris Ryder, members of the Jaru language group, who are keen to take the young members of their community back to the bush to learn traditional ways, traditional language.
The Australian Council of Social Service, in its December 2002 Budget Priorities for Indigenous Australia, has called on the Federal Government to allocate an additional $5 million to language retrieval and maintenance programs in 2004-20005.
THE Queensland Government has undertaken the development of a comprehensive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language Policy for the State, to ensure that rights through language heritage are appropriately addressed across all Government departments and programs.
A NUMBER OF GOALS identified through consultation and community feedback have been incorporated into the FATSIL 2003-2005 Strategic Plan, which was endorsed at the Governing Committee meeting in December 2002.
The Strategic Plan and the more task specific 2003 Operational Plan, are proving useful for the committee in setting action plans and achieving record outcomes through Governing Committee meetings.
Bonnie Deegan with Bonnie Sturt, holding ngurnungurnu, a plant that smells like apples when the leaves are crushed.
A community language project aimed at the sustainability of language and traditional ecological knowledge in the East Kimberley, WA.
By Janelle White
IT'S 43° C and we're sitting in a riverbed under the shade of malarn (red river gums) and lambu (paperbarks). Stan Brumby is preparing a barndu (water monitor) for lunch and the women are fishing.This is Stan's home, he grew up on Lamboo Station, just south of Old Halls Creek.
Dr Andrew Refshauge opens the new language centre which is being supported by funding of $1.2 million over four years
BARELY two years after the proposal to develop a State Aboriginal language policy was put to the New South Wales Government, the new language centre which was funded as a result of the policy commitment has been opened by the Deputy Premier, Dr Andrew Refshauge.
BRUCE THOMAS is a traditional Mangala man. He grew up with Nyangumarta people. Nyangumarta is one of nearly 30 languages in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. The traditional country of the Nyangumarta people lies along the Eighty Mile Beach area north of Port Hedland, and inland about 350 Kilometres to Telfer.
The Writer, Peter Edwards, is a translator, teacher and conservationist
BY coincidence two programs on SBS last August showed how the languages of marginalised peoples were deliberately and cruelly suppressed. The programs were 'The Celts' and '500 Nations-The Story of the Native Americans'. Recently, too, `Letter from Scotland' appeared in Voice of the Land, referring to the situation of Gaelic.
