Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Blog

Did you know that since 2014, the State Library has its own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Blog!

Over the past 5 years, this online space serves as a portal for State Library, IKCs, Indigenous Language Centres, Community Language Workers and others to share and network about Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. The Categories for the Blog reflect some of the key themes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages: Resources, Training, Contacts, etc.

Currently, State Library's IYIL2019 "Word of the Week" can be found here as part of State Library's commitment to the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

The Resources section provides useful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language resources and links to help community groups and language workers with their research. In addition to highlighting resources within the State Library collections, this element of the Blog has a focus on community-based resources and collections.

Within the Collections category, items within the State Library collections are showcased. For example, the above Map is from OM73-20 F J Watson Papers and identifies "The Aboriginal tribes of south-east Queensland - with map showing their lingual divisions". This item accompanies Watson's work 'Vocabularies of four representative tribes of South Eastern Queensland: with grammatical notes thereof and some notes on manners and customs, also, a list of Aboriginal place names and their derivations'.

State Library and community activities will be highlighted in the Events category. This space will allow IKCs, language Centres, Community Groups etc to share news of upcoming events such as language workshops, culture love programs, etc.  For example, the above image is from the launch of the Yugambeh Language App, held in April 2013. The new version of the App includes Greetings from the State Library's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language webpages.

State Library holds regular research activities, including Indigenous Languages Research Discovery Workshops - these will be a key component of the Training section. In addition, key outcomes or findings from workshops will also be presented here. Again, community groups are also able to provide accounts of their local/regional workshops as well as language research activities. National events relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are also listed here.

Guest Bloggers are encouraged to submit posts on their language activities within this section. State Library is aware there is a range of community language activities in place across Queensland to preserve and maintain Indigenous languages; these range from small individual or family activities to those coordinated via language centres through to larger-scale projects supported by external organisations/collecting institutions. State Library invites language workers, IKC Coordinators and community members to submit a Blog Post about their work with language; e.g. recording language, community resource development, language stories, etc.

Digitised Content identifies language material that has been digitised and made available for community access. In addition to State Library, other collecting institutions such as University of Queensland, AIATSIS and State Library of NSW have significant digitisation projects underway.  The above image is an extract from the Meston Vocabulary Notebooks which are digitised and available online via the State Library's website.

During the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Blog has been a dynamic space with news and updates on a weekly basis. State Library welcomes your input into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Blog and looks forward to ongoing support for your language journeys.

Desmond Crump

Indigenous Languages Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Webpages

State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Map

Jarjum stories: A kuril dhagun showcase focusing on children’s books and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. 19 October 2019-10 May 2020.

Spoken: celebrating Queensland languages: A major exhibition exploring the survival and revival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages throughout Queensland. Join in the many talks and events to celebrate the rich and diverse languages spoken today. Opens 21 November 2019 -19 April 2020.

UN IY2019 Links

UN International Year of Indigenous Languages webpages

References and Further Reading

OM73-20 F J Watson Papers

OM64-17 Archibald Meston Papers

REFJ 499.15 wat Vocabularies of four representative tribes of South Eastern Queensland.