The heading, above, in the newspaper caught my eye. Did you know Australia has 250 indigenous languages? They were recorded by Captain Cook after he landed in Australia in 1770. When we went to school we were taught, as white fellas, that captain James Cook discovered Australia. Well I think that the indigenous people who lived across the wide continent for thousands of years somehow knew it existed! It is estimated that they had lived on the continent from between 40 to 70 thousand years before Cook came ashore.
Anyway back to the good news - Aboriginal peoples want to retain a connection with their ancestral language and culture,* and the Aboriginal language and culture is being used, learnt, taught and transmitted within the public school system in Australia and in Aboriginal playgroups around Australia.
* from Noel Pearson's good article in The Weekend Australian July 13 - 14, 2013.
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I think everyone should hold onto their heritage:)
ReplyDeleteSo true. my chinese friend was lamenting the fact that her grandson does not speak Mandarin or Cantonese, only English.
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