Language Centres

The first time that the federal government acknowledged Indigenous Languages was in the 1987 Australian National Policy on Languages. This policy stimulated many positive developments including the funding of Regional Aboriginal Language Centres.

Language Centres service a number of language communities and are community controlled with representatives of their various language groups being on the management committee. Much of the work of regional Language Centres is in supporting community based programs. This can be in the form of access to a linguist, assistance in designing community programs, use of the centre and its resources, assistance with preparation of material for printing and publishing.

The committee believes that the valuable role played by these centres should continue and that further centres should be established to service other language speaking regions. These regional language centres and community programs need to be adequately funded.

A Matter of Survival: Report of the Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language Maintenance (1992)