General Language Information:

Location: 

The homelands of the Adnyamathanha people are the northern Flinders Ranges, in South Australia. This area lies some 500 km north of Adelaide and is approximately delineated by Lyndhurst and Moolawatana Homestead in the north-west and north-east, Lake Frome in the east, and Parachilna and Blinman in the south. Mount Serle (Atuwarapanha) and Mount McKinlay (Wayanha), located in the central north part of this area, are focal points of Adnyamathanha traditions and recent history. 

Alternative Names and Variant Spellings: 

There are two bases for the naming of the people and language of the Flinders ranges. On is based on the construction ‘Rock People/Language’, and include the variations: Atnyamathanha, Adnyamatana, Adnjamathanha, Anyamatana, Keidnamutha, Gadnyamatana, Anyamitana, Anjimatana, Adnyamathnha, Unyamootha, Atnyaarlta. Note the word kanyamatja has also been recorded from Western Desert speakers in referring to northern Flinders Ranges people and traditions.
The other name often used is based on the construction ‘People’s/This/My Language’, and has the variatios: Yura Ngawarla, Adnyamathanha Yura Ngawarla, Nimbalda, Archualda. Note the Adnyamathanha people often refer to themselves as Yura. 

Present number and distribution of speakers: 

Although only 125 people reported speaking Adnyamathanha at home in the 1996 Census, and 113 in the 2006 Census, the number of people who identify as Adnyamathanha is much greater than this figure, and would be well into the many 100s. 

Today, many Yuras live not only in the Adnyamathanha township of Nepabunna and nearby towns such as Copley, but also further south in the towns of Hawker, Quorn and Port Augusta, and also in Adelaide. Some Yura families are engaged in park-ranging duties in the Gammon Ranges National Park and so live in the park itself. 

General Language Information:

The Alawa language from the Northern Territory is regarded by many as being almost lost. Some estimates (2016 Census) put the number of speakers at 4. However there are language revival efforts at the Minyeri School south east of the town of Katherine.

Regardless of the language status, the Alawa Song Buk is still very popular and there are still many Alawa songs to record and document in Kriol country.

General Language Information:

The Alyawarr language is spoken by about 1800 people (2011 Census). The majority of these people are located in the northeastern parts of the Central Australia approximately 300 km north east of Alice Springs.

According to the 2001 Census the Alyawarr language has the sixth largest number of speakers of any of the traditional Aboriginal languages (excluding creole languages) making it a large and viable language.

The Alyawarr people have maintained a strong affiliation with their traditional country region with most speakers living in small remote outstations, hunting and gathering bush foods. There has been limited interference by other cultures therefore their language remains relatively preserved, with a young speaking population.

The Alyawarr MiniBible ‘Angka Mwerr-angker’ was published in 2010 and launched at Irrultja outstation (4 hours drive from Alice Springs) on Palm Sunday 2010, this is a diglot edition in both Alyawarr and English.

General Language Information:

General Language Information:

The Anmatyerr language is spoken by approximately 1,000 speakers, with possibly a further 2,000 using it as a second language. Speakers are mostly located in the area of central Australia of approximately 40,000 square kilometres, centred about 200 km north of Alice Springs. There are no hard and fast geographical boundaries to Anmatyerr country, but the region extends roughly from Mt Allan (Yuelamu) in the west to some of the Sandover outstations in the east, and from Stirling (Wilora) in the north to around Native Gap in the south.

Communities within this area include Yuelamu (Mt Allan), Laramba (Napperby), Pulardi (Desert Bore), Ti Tree, Ti Tree Six Mile (Pmara Jutunta), Wilora (Stirling), some of the outstations on Utopia, Mulga Bore and Adelaide Bore. Many Anmatyerr people also live in regional centres, such as Alice Springs, and in other communities, such as Yuendumu, Willowra and Engawala (Alcoota).

“For Anmatyerr people, their language is more than a means of communication; it links them with their family, their country and their ancestral stories.” (quote from Jenny Green, author of Anmatyerr to English Dictionary)

The Anmatyerr Mini-Bible was published by the Bible Society in 2021, with four celebrations at Ti Tree (Nturiya), Laramba, Yuelamu (Mt Allan) and Alice Springs Lutheran Church. It contains three Gospels, Mark, Luke and John; Acts; and 7 epistles 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and James.

Useful Links….

Barkly Shire

General Language Information:

The language spoken around the Newscastle and Lake Macquarie region of NSW. The name ‘Awabakal’ means people of the plain or flat surface and is believed to refer to the surface of the lake.

Awabakal was studied by Reverend Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (pictured right) from 1825 until his death in 1859, having been taught the language by Biraban (meaning ‘eagle hawk’, pictured below) , a Awabakal tribal leader. In 1827 Threlkeld’s Specimen’s of a Dialect of the Aborigines of New South Wales was the earliest attempt at exhibiting the structure of an Australian language. Unfortunately sometime in the late 19th century the language became extinct, but there are attempts to revive it.

Professor Nick Evans, Head of Linguistics at the Australian National University reflects: “language is like an oral encyclopaedia for the people who speak it,… Vast tracts of human knowledge of the world are enfolded in these languages. That knowledge is not available to us if we don’t speak, document and translate these languages.” (news.anu.edu.au)

Useful links:

Some of the information contained in this Fact sheet is from the following websites:

Newcastle.edu.au

There is also an online English-Awabakal Dictionary at

www.newcastle.edu.au/group/amrhd/awaba/language/dictionary/index.html

Some examples of Awabakal words:

Wakool—one

Bulowara—two

Ngoro—three

Wara—four or five (also the word for the palm of the hand)

General Language Information:

The Burarra language is spoken by about 600 people in the Blyth & Cadell River regions and in the town of Maningrida in North-Central Arnhem Land (pictured right), in the Northern Terrritory, some 400kms east of Darwin.

The town of Maningrida was established just after World War 2 as a Welfare Department settlement with aboriginal groups from outlying regions moving into the town. Per capita, Maningrida is perhaps the most multilingual community in the words with as many as 15 distinct language groups living there. Most people have command of at least 3 of these languages.

The Burarra language consists of three dialects: Gunarta (also referred to as Anabarra), Gun-narda (also known as Martay) and Gun-nartpa. Burarra has 21 consonants and 5 vowels.

Useful Links….

AuSIL (www.ausil.org.au). There is also a Burarra Online Dictionary available on their website.

Some word examples :

God – ‘wangarr’

goodbye – ‘bobo’

yes, that’s right – ‘i-i’

no -‘ngika’

Lord Jesus – ‘Garray’

General Language Information:

Dhuwa Dhaŋu’mi is a group of four clan languages in Eastern Arnhem Land, NT: Gälpu, Golumala, Ŋaymil and Rirratjiŋu. Although the languages are not exactly the same, they are very similar, and so the clans have agreed to use the one translation.

The Dhuwa Dhaŋu’mi Gospel of Mark, God-Waŋarrwu Dhäruk Mäkkuŋ wukirriwuy (Creator God’s Word written by Mark) was dedication on 5th November 2017 in the Yirrkala Church in North East Arnhem Land. This was the first publication of any Scripture in Dhuwa Dhaŋu’mi.

General Language Information:

Dhuwaya is a dialect of Yolŋu Matha (the ‘ŋ’ in Yolŋu is pronounced ‘ng’ as in ‘singing’). ‘Yolŋu‘ meaning ‘people‘ and ‘matha‘ meaning ‘tongue‘ or ‘language‘. 

Yolŋu Matha is a linguistic family of languages of the Yolŋu people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern Australia. There are about six languages, some mutually intelligible, divided into about thirty clan varieties and perhaps 12 different dialects. Collectively there are about 8,000 speakers of Yolŋu Matha.

Dhuwaya is a ‘dialect shift’* and is spoken by the younger generation in Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land and is also known as ‘baby Gumatj’. Yolŋu children traditionally grow up speaking multiple languages, as often their parents are from different clans and speak different languages. 

*- Dialect shift is similar to language shift in which a community of speakers shift from one language to a completely different language. In this case it is a shift from one dialect to another.  

“Dhuwaya is a beautiful, simple, starting point language, before you can speak your own tribal language. That is spoken here in Yirrkala and the homelands of Laynhapuy (region in East Arnhem) by most of the young children, middle age people, and even the older people” (Nyäluŋ Duṉḏiwuy Wunungmurra – Dhuwaya Translator)

The Gospel of Mark was published and dedicated in Yirrkala in June 2019 (pictured right).

General Language Information:

(From https://dieriyawarra.wordpress.com/dieri-language/)

The Dieri language was traditionally spoken in the far north of South Australia, to the east of Lake Eyre. Dieri country is traversed by the lower reaches of Cooper Creek — a mostly dry watercourse that runs from western Queensland, through Innamincka and into Lake Eyre. There are very few fluent speakers left although quite a few still use words and expressions and encouragingly since 2009 the language has started being taught in schools.

Click on the link above for more complete information.