Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee: Aboriginal Languages in South Australia

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (11:27): I move:

That the report of the committee, entitled Aboriginal Languages in South Australia, be noted.

I would like to speak on the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee's report on Aboriginal languages that we conducted recently. Before I launch into the substance of that report, it was a great pleasure to host that standing committee, of which I am a member, in my electorate. They came and visited me down in Narungga and we had a bit of a tour around, including stops at the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association.

We visited their site at Moonta and had a look at the work they have done on languages. That particular group has done a tremendous job putting together a number of books, outlining the Narungga language, and doing their best to preserve that language going forward by translating and offering those books to different schools and different groups so that information will not be lost and will be available for future generations to grab and use. The Wanganeens have really done a great job there, in addition to Lee Tremayne, who works there, and Cathy Glazbrook, who has started there recently.

I note at this juncture that they are doing their best on that site in Moonta to cobble together some fundraising to attempt to build a cultural centre, which they think will become a wonderful tourism destination for the Copper Coast. They will be able to display those language references they have put together, they will be able to display some artwork from the local region and they will be able to educate visitors and tourists about the Narungga culture, what it means to the area and tell the wonderful stories they have.

It is pleasing that the committee came down and met with them and we also hosted them in Parliament House, where they gave evidence to this report and helped in the formation of it. It was wonderful to see the wideranging impact of this work and the committee was inspired to open an inquiry as a result of that visit. We visited them prior to the opening of this inquiry and saw the wonderful work they had done, and resolved thereafter to open this inquiry and get stuck into investigating the benefits that the preservation of language has on the Aboriginal community. It was especially pertinent given that 2019 was also the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages. It became an extremely timely endeavour.

In honour of this and in acknowledgement of some of the amazing work being carried out among various Aboriginal language groups, the committee opened the inquiry to look at how language activities are being carried out in South Australia and what potential benefits such activities might have. The committee was particularly interested in how language groups develop and share resources, how language acquisition might be beneficial to education and health outcomes and how being able to speak the language of your country may contribute to individual and community leadership development.

South Australia is privileged to be home to some 46 different Aboriginal languages, the vitality of which varies greatly. Four South Australian Aboriginal languages are deemed to be strong. Strong languages are those that are spoken by all generations as the primary means of day-to-day communication. Eight of our local languages are deemed to be frail, languages with only a handful of speakers left, unfortunately.

Eleven languages in South Australia are categorised as revival languages, those that ceased to be used on an everyday basis in the 19^th or 20^th centuries. Revival activities rely on the interpretation of archival records and the linguistic analysis of compiled materials. These languages are extremely weak and require technical linguistic experts to interpret and unpack the remaining language artefacts. A further 23 languages are considered dormant or sleeping. This means they are no longer spoken and may not even be remembered—most unfortunate and something that the community is wonderfully working to ensure does not happen to any more.

Arguably, the most successful revitalisation of a once dormant language is the Kaurna language, the traditional language of the Adelaide area. The reviving language can be encountered on local signs, in Welcome to Country ceremonies and in our public buildings. The revitalisation of the Kaurna language has not only enriched the Kaurna community but the wider community of Adelaide. Here in this chamber, we regularly hear from Lewis and Mickey O'Brien, who both spoke to the committee about what their language means to them.

With such a rich and diverse heritage, there are huge variations in the needs of languages and the community goals for different groups. In spite of these diverse technical needs, what the committee learned from the inquiry is clear. The report we put together shows that language is very closely tied with connection to country, cultural identity and community and kinship relationships. The power of languages to improve Aboriginal lives is evident. In fact, this report demonstrates that investment in Aboriginal languages has the potential to improve Aboriginal lives by addressing and meeting six of the seven Closing the Gap targets established by the federal government.

Those who work in fields relating to Aboriginal languages and indigenous languages elsewhere in the world see definitive positive outcomes in mental health, physical health and general wellbeing. Some of these outcomes are associated with the cognitive impact of learning a language and others are associated with the social impact of public recognition, cultural knowledge sharing and the community building that occurs in parallel to language activities.

Of the 16 submissions we received, all submissions made the link between language support and community development and capacity building, suggesting important implications for reconciliation, mental health and wellbeing, community cohesion and cultural wellbeing. One of the reasons for this, according to the Mobile Language Team, is that language initiatives often target the most vulnerable people in the communities, the young and the elderly. Submissions also identified the important connection between language learning and cultural transmission.

Language revival programs provide training and employment pathways for Aboriginal people, such as Anangu educators and language teachers, tourism operators and workers in parks and wildlife, museums, libraries, public galleries and other areas. Programs also provide community members with opportunities for leadership roles. This is particularly true for language programs that interact with other programs and organisations in the community such as health, education and land services.

Supporting Aboriginal people to learn, speak, teach and have their languages publicly recognised is an action that is crucial to a healthy Aboriginal society. I would like to thank all the people involved in the 16 submissions the inquiry received. The committee was fortunate to hear from a variety of perspectives, including Aboriginal language custodians, teachers and education specialists, local language groups and internationally recognised academics. The committee has been impressed by the passion and dedication of all these contributors and thanks them for their insights.

In particular, I would like to pay my respects to the Mobile Language Team at the University of Adelaide. For 10 years, this group has been promoting Aboriginal language revival and maintenance initiatives with over 20 of the Aboriginal languages within our borders. The wealth of knowledge held by the people there has been fundamental to the production of this report, so thank you very much. I also wish to acknowledge, of course, the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association for their inspiration for this inquiry and the painstaking work they engage in to try to improve their community.

Before I conclude, I would also like to touch quickly on the benefit of language. I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Environment and Water. Recently, we had occasion to visit what used to be known as Innes National Park, which has now been renamed in recognition of the Aboriginal heritage of that site. It is now under the co-management of a board with representatives of the Aboriginal community and, even better than that, there are now representatives of the Aboriginal community who are employed as rangers in that park. In my view, it is a tremendous initiative, utilising one of South Australia's great national parks.

Co-management boards allow for the Aboriginal people to have a strong say in the future of that park and what it looks like in the running and maintenance of it. In addition to that, there are boots on the ground from the local Aboriginal community, helping to manage that park and look after it, so it is a tremendous initiative. Well done to the Minister for Environment and Water in ensuring that got off the ground. Congratulations to Doug Milera, who coincidentally enough was the Labor candidate for Narungga at the last election, who is now, I believe, chair of that co-management board. He will do a fantastic job. He is an exceedingly competent man. I am really looking forward to seeing how that national park progresses going into the future.

In my speech, I mentioned Anangu educators. I had occasion to visit the APY lands throughout this term of parliament and drop in on a school or two whilst we were up there. It was really noteworthy to me, having come from quite a sheltered background—I can openly acknowledge that—to see the difference it made having an Anangu educator in the classroom.

We visited classrooms where there were only Department for Education teachers trying to teach the class, but in the ones in which they had local people speaking the language and communicating with the kids they were clearly more engaged. There were clearly going to be better outcomes as a result of that and it was a really good initiative. It really seemed to me, in the brief time that we spent there, to be a valuable and worthwhile endeavour to continue to do. I would like to pay my respects to those educators who continue to aid in those classrooms up there and ensure that those kids get access to the best education they can and provide the easiest way to deliver that education.

I have one more plug for the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association. I feel that at the start of this speech I glided over the contribution they have made to preserving the Narungga language a bit too briefly. I have copies in each of my offices, both here and in the electorate, of the books they have put together. They are really detailed and it becomes evident how difficult revival of a language is.

Even for the word 'Narungga', after which my seat is named, there are a number of different spellings. I have had the experience of a person visiting my office and informing me that the electorate of Narungga is misspelt. There should be an 'h' after the 'n'. We got the book out that the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association put together as a reference point and I showed them that there were a number of different spellings provided in that book. I do not know if confusion is the right word, but there was some difference of opinion about the proper translation for Narungga, so it is clear that the revival of a language is exceedingly difficult.

The more work we can do now to ensure that those languages do not fall into the revival sector and especially not the dormant sector is valuable work. We need to continue to ensure that happens because the impact it has on the community is undeniable. The evidence we saw of Aboriginal people who had such a strong connection to their language and the strong benefits that flow from becoming reconnected with it was undeniable. Long may that work continue, and congratulations to those who have done such a good job in revitalising the Kaurna language.

As a final point, I would like to sincerely thank my fellow members of the committee, including the Hon. Kyam Maher from the other place. Throughout this report I believe it was the Hon. John Dawkins, who was chairing this committee; the Hon. Terry Stephens from the other place; the Hon. Tammy Franks from the other place; the member for Giles; and currently the member for Colton. Preceding him, I think that it was you, Mr Speaker. To all those who have contributed to this report and to the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, thank you very much. A final emphatic thank you to our research officer, Dr Ashley Greenwood, for the wonderful work she does in contributing to the committee and to the formation of this report. Thank you very much, Dr Greenwood.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (11:39): I would like to add my thanks to everyone involved with the Aboriginal lands committee for this exciting report, which I hope to have a look at very soon. I was on the Aboriginal lands committee many years ago. It reminded me that about 20 years ago, when Dorothy Kotz was the minister and Sir Eric Neale was the Governor, along with the Florey Reconciliation Taskforce, we painted the language names of each group on a talking stick.

I do not know if you remember, Attorney. We brought them into the house in a coolamon, put them in the display area and then we took them out about a month later in great ceremony with the Governor to the language centre, which was then on Churchill Road, which is gone. But I have no idea where those language sticks are, so perhaps I can come to see you and we can do some work on trying to locate them because, as you said, language is such an integral part of it all.

Such a lot of work was done by the early settlers, the Germans in particular, who were up on the lands and recording languages. I saw a very interesting program on TV late one night where a language group in New South Wales was busy trying to record the words. There was only one speaker of that language left alive and he had dementia. As you know, you can regress with dementia, so they were following him around, recording all the words he was saying and pointing to objects to get the names of the words. Somehow, they are recording that language so that it will not vanish and I think it is marvellous.

As you said, Uncle Lewis O'Brien is a very wise man, as is Uncle Dookie out our way. He is also working with us and the Minister for Environment and Water. He is obviously doing a lot of very good work. We are working with him on the Dry Creek Linear Park, which we hope will have Aboriginal performance spaces and interpretive tracks as well. That is something exciting, and I think language is at the bottom of it all, so I thank the Aboriginal lands committee for their work in this area.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (11:41): I rise also to support this report. The Aboriginal lands committee does very important work across our state. There are some members who have been on it for a very long time and others who have come and gone. I think that is a very positive thing because you get a tranche of experience that continues through but also some new and different ideas.

I remember very well in 2010, when I was first elected to this place, at the same time as the then member for Norwood and now Premier of our state, we were looking at different committees we would be interested in being on. He said straight away, 'I want to be on the Aboriginal lands committee.' He has had a very strong, deep and genuine interest in this area of work for a long time, before he got into this place and he was on that committee for quite a few years.

In fact, now as Premier, having full discretion over which members of his government would have which portfolios as ministers, he took it upon himself to be the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. He was the shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs as leader of the opposition and he has retained that quite deliberately.

One of the things that he has been very clear to us in government about is that he is not looking for soft words, he is not looking for statements that sound nice and would make people feel better. He is actually looking for actions and concrete outcomes and he is looking for them in the short, medium and longer term. It is probably fair to say this is my summarising. I am not speaking on his behalf, but he is looking for some smaller outcomes quickly and some medium-sized outcomes in the medium term and some much bigger outcomes in the longer run. I think that is a very sensible way to go.

Looking at this work the committee has done into Aboriginal languages is incredibly important and, of course, I respect the fact that the parliamentary standing committee reports to the parliament, not to the government. It has its own will, its own life, its own choices and its own reports and recommendations to make.

But as it happens, what we are here discussing today is very much complementary with what our government and our Premier, our Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, are doing, and that is multifaceted. It is recognising languages, encouraging language and the use of languages that are alive today, encouraging the study of languages—and it might be a poor choice of words—that are essentially dead today because they are not being used actively, and everything in between. It is incredibly important for the retention of culture, for the respect and recognition of culture, and also, as I mentioned, on the more academic side of things, even just for learning.

It is very sad to say that there are traditional groups of Aboriginal people—whether the right word is clans or tribes or nations, there are half a dozen words that are used regularly—that are not with us today, quite a number of them. They were here in South Australia for tens of thousands of years, but they are not today. It is important to try to understand their culture. As a personal view, I think the living cultures are probably more important, because that is where the people who are with us today can benefit the most, but the others are certainly important as well.

The cabinet meets on a regular basis—I do not say it is frequently; I think it is three times a year—with the South Australian Aboriginal Advisory Council that the Premier set up, a group of a dozen or so key Aboriginal leaders. They do not represent any one group or nation individually. They are from one and sometimes two or three groups, depending on their family background, but they are not there to represent their cultural group or their part of the state.

They are there to give advice directly to the Premier, to the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division within the DPC, and also directly to cabinet, face to face to cabinet, on broad, statewide issues affecting Aboriginal people: what the government can do better and what the government is not doing well enough. The government also has the opportunity to ask this group of people how it can help the government. I have to say that we have very respectful, very friendly and very direct engagement with this group of people. The cabinet and this council are together in one room and we talk very openly.

The chair of that group is a very capable and intelligent person and, in my experience, she has always—and I expect will always—come in with a very clear list on behalf of the council overall, saying, 'Look, these are things that are going well, these are the things we appreciate, these are the things we want to encourage you to continue. And here is the other list. Here are the things we think you've dropped the ball on, here are the things we think you may not have considered or the things we would like to influence and ideally adjust how your government is dealing with them.' It is a very collaborative and productive way of working, and I thank them for that.

I am also pleased to say it is the only group that meets with cabinet on a structured, regular basis. As I said, it is not every week or anything like that—I think it is three times a year—but no other group exists with which we have that structured engagement. That speaks incredibly well of the way the Premier wants to give importance to the broader issue of Aboriginal affairs. Of course, that means a thousand things in those few words, but he wants our government to be engaging on country and he wants our government to be engaging in the cabinet room. He wants our government—our state, in fact—to be engaging with ways of making the improvements people deserve in this area at all levels of government, of community, of society, of all walks of life.

One of them is recognising language and another is supporting the recognition of language, supporting the bringing back of language, supporting the greater use of language. I had the great pleasure of being at Wilpena Pound with key leaders of the Adnyamathanha nation about three months ago. It was an absolutely outstanding event for the launch of a book—a book that was about 30 years in the making in regard to research—by Mr Terrence and Mrs Josie Coulthard.

It was a fantastic event. There were young people, there were babies, there were old people, there were those of us beyond halfway but who still like to consider ourselves in the middle. It was just an outstanding event. It was not just a celebration. There was a mini workshop, in fact, that dealt with this issue, where a whiteboard was brought out, and we talked about different pronunciations and different ways of doing things and the complicated task of trying to bring language back not only verbally and orally but also in the written form.

It was a tremendous, fascinating afternoon. I have a copy of that particular book in my ministerial office on the coffee table as an important reminder to me of one of the several Aboriginal groups that have traditional custodianship over parts of the electorate of Stuart, which I represent. I also had one of those books signed that day by Josie and Terry and gave it to the Premier as a gift, and he has it in his office.

We are incredibly respectful of the work that Aboriginal people and the parliamentary committee and a range of others are doing in this space. It is important. I will say this as a person who clearly does not have the capacity to do this myself, but you can learn as much as you like about culture, you can learn all the stories and do all the different things that are all very important, but there is nothing you can do better to support, to enjoy and to share your culture than to speak in your culture's language. When your speak in your culture's language with other people who can do the same, you are living it, you are expressing it, you are sharing it and you are honouring it. Aboriginal language is incredibly important.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (11:51): I just wish to briefly contribute to this and thank the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee for the work it has undertaken in delivering this report on Aboriginal languages in South Australia. Of all the worthy projects this committee has done over the years, I think this is one of the most important, and I will briefly indicate why.

As a child I spend a lot of time in the Northern Territory. For 50 years, my grandmother operated an art gallery and bookshop and promoted Aboriginal art and culture. Included in that was the publication of an enormous number of books on languages of the central desert people. They were huge sellers internationally, and they were very important. She was also very active, being of German descent herself, in supporting the publications that followed Professor Strehlow's work in the publication of Aboriginal language established through the original connection with his family through the mission work that was undertaken.

I am so pleased that after so many years this topic is now being recognised. It is not to say that the previous state government had not started to support projects that were to develop into the accumulation of and ultimately publication of Kaurna language, but we have many other languages in South Australia, and I think it is very important that this work is done, bringing to the attention of the parliament how critical this is. Every day, there are obviously areas facing a loss of capacity to collate this, and we do need to act fairly urgently on it.

I also want to acknowledge Lewis O'Brien's dealings, especially in relation to the Kaurna people's language, in that we actually have an accumulated digest in relation to language for our Indigenous groups in South Australia, as has been developed over many years in the Northern Territory. I think we have learnt from that. We are really pressed for time to do this while people who are able to contribute are alive. I commend the work of the committee.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome) (11:54): I, too, would like to speak on this report from the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee. I will be very quick. I think it is very important that we retain the language of the Aboriginal people because there are unique languages across all of Australia.

The Attorney-General indicated something about her travels. I have travelled to the APY lands and I learned a lot when I was minister in the previous government. I listened to community members and their elders and tried to understand some of the languages. Also, in my previous role as manager for BP Australia in the top end of South Australia, I had the opportunity to meet a lot of the elders and the native titleholders up the other end, and the pastoralists. They were very proud of their history.

One person I want to mention is Quenten Agius, a great elder. Quenten is a fantastic tribal elder who wants to retain and keep the tradition going for the younger generations. I also pay tribute to local man Kim Mavromatis from MAV Media. Kim has done a lot of media and has international acclaim for documentaries on Indigenous people, their language and things like that.

Once a group, whether they are Indigenous Aboriginal people or any other multicultural community, loses their origin and the language, that is lost forever. As our future generations are coming up, we need to make certain that they remember the history of their culture over the many, many years prior to the time they get to maturity. We have to look after our future generations and they must also look at the history not only of the English civilisation abut also the traditional owners and other cultures coming into our communities in Australia.

As I said, as minister I had the great privilege of going to Wilpena Pound, Leigh Creek and all the different areas through the APY lands. They did take me out, along with others, into the bush. We did not get to know about all the secrets, but we did learn how to find and eat witchetty grubs. Even though that might not be part of the actual language, it is part of the history of the Aboriginal people. We must ensure that we learn from that, because they have been here for centuries. Let's look at the difficulties we are facing. I think if we learned from those people, we would not have some of the challenges we have at the moment.

Coming back to Quenten Agius, he is a great person. I was at the NAIDOC celebrations in Clare a couple of weeks ago and I had not seen Quenten for a long time. I told the council CEO that I would not mind having a chat to Quenten and she said, 'I'll see if I can get an introduction for you.' I got an introduction, and when put my hand out to shake his hand he said, 'I'm not shaking your hand.' Everyone was a bit taken aback, but then he gave me a big hug. The fact is if they can relate to and trust people, then I think that is very good for our society moving forward. I think the member for Narungga is the Chair?

Mr Ellis: No.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: You are not? Well, I thank you very sincerely for presenting to the House of Assembly—

Mr Duluk: It's Terry Stephens.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: It is the Hon. Terry Stephens in the other place. The Hon. Terry Stephens is a very great and passionate person. I will compliment the Premier who, even as shadow minister, was always into the Aboriginal sites; I congratulate him. I certainly congratulate the committee on this report and I look forward to more involvement as we move forward.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (11:58): I will just briefly thank all members who have made a contribution and note that I am particularly excited about a treasure hunt for the member for Florey to find those elusive—

Ms Bedford: Language sticks.

Mr ELLIS: —language sticks. I am looking forward to making sure we locate them in short order. If we listen carefully enough, we might be able to hear them. There have been wonderful contributions from all members; thank you kindly. I just want to touch on one point really briefly. I omitted the new name of the Innes National Park, which is Dhilba Guuranda. I mentioned it was now under co-management but I did not mention its new name. It is Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, and hopefully that name helps stir some familiarity and cultural relatability for the local Indigenous people.

Motion carried.