Back from Lost – the story of South East Queensland Indigenous Languages
It is estimated that there were more than 250 distinct Indigenous languages in Australia at the time of first contact in the late 1700s.
Now less than 12 are spoken fluently and 90 per cent are considered endangered.
Successive government policies for more than 200 years have deliberately destroyed language use within Indigenous communities.
It was not until the late 1980s that the Australian Government began a structured funding program to try to halt the ongoing loss.
Despite this change of policy, language use has continued to decline over the last 40 years.
Team members from SEQILC in their previous roles have been instrumental in recovering Yugambeh language from 'Lost' status, to now being taught to children and used in small amounts by general community members. The success has been reflected in the latest CENSUS data which showed Yugambeh spoken by 165 people. SEQILC is hoping to assist other languages in the region achieve this success.
The Australian Government supports 24 Indigenous Language Centres nationally.
These are administered through the Australian Government Indigenous Languages and Arts (ILA) Program.
Explore Australia's Language Centres
- Cape York Institute
- Gidarjil Development Corporation
- North Queensland Regional Aboriginal Corporation Languages Centre
- Torres Strait Regional Authority
- South East Queensland Indigenous Language Centre
- Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS Aboriginal Corporation)
- Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (Batchelor NT)
- Ngukurr Language Centre Aboriginal Corporation
- Papula Apparr-Kari Aboriginal Corporation
- Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation (Ceduna, SA)
- The University of Adelaide (Mobile Language Team)
- Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Ltd
- Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL)
- Bundiyarra Irra Wangga Language Centre
- Kimberley Language Resource Centre
- Mirima Council Aboriginal Corporation
- Noongar Language Centre
- Nyamba Buru Yawuru Ltd
- Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre
- Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre (Aboriginal Corporation)
- Miromaa Aboriginal Language and Technology Centre
- Regional Enterprise Development Institute Ltd
- Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture Co-operative Ltd
- Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation
While these centres are listed here by State, language areas do not align with State borders. As such, some centres physically located in one State could service areas in another State.
