Page 677 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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had been in place since the 1970s aiming at protecting their beautiful language by mandating the use of French language in governmental publications, advertisements and a variety of other contexts.
The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary followed suit and implemented similar laws, conscious of the threat to their respective cultures and a dilution of their language. In a period of ongoing regional, economic and political integration, language is a layer of cultural independence well worth protecting. Mahatma Gandhi once said:
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all of the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
Here in the ACT we are part of a young, dynamic culture, but we should not overlook the importance that language plays in culture.
Languages generally are dying out at a rapid rate. A reduction in the number of living languages seldom generates much passion outside the culture whose own language is under threat. One language is lost every couple of weeks and there is much evidence to suggest that over half of the 6,000-odd existing languages will not survive the 21st century. Aboriginal Australia has a rich linguistic heritage. The ability to speak the language of a particular place makes you known and familiar to the local peoples. I have been told that members of some small societies in Arnhem Land speak six or seven languages by the time they reach adulthood. Sadly, the number of living Indigenous languages has been reduced from between 350 and 700 languages in the 18th century to fewer than 150 languages now. And all but 20 of those are endangered.
Across Australia, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations recently identified over 16,000 Indigenous students and 13,000 non-Indigenous students located in 260 Australia schools who are involved in Indigenous language programs. Most of these students are located in government schools in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia. About 28 per cent of the programs are first language maintenance programs. They include bilingual programs undertaken by students in the early years of schooling.
The ACT government has ensured that facilities are available to community groups for language teaching and that schools are supported in their endeavours to provide students with an understanding of an Indigenous cultural heritage across all curriculum subject areas.
On 4 December last year, I attended the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Kaleen high school. With the minister for education, Mr Andrew Barr, I saw the acknowledgement of a new cluster that had been formed. The cluster is an attempt to acknowledge the status of the Australian Indigenous people as the traditional custodians of this land as well as the contribution that they make to modern Australian society. Kaleen high school and other schools in the cluster officially recognise the impact of history on Indigenous Australia. Ongoing support for teaching Aboriginal languages will further strengthen the culture of the traditional custodians of these lands and inspire greater cross-cultural understanding in our community.
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