that munanga linguist

Most of my work as a linguist has been working with senior Aboriginal people who are the last speakers of their language. It is challenging and important work, adding fragments to the relatively meagre records that testify to these languages existence. Languages don't disappear simply because parents don't teach them to their kids. Significant historical and social forces are always at play. A key historical factor in the Australian context is the events on the frontier that led to a drastic reduction in the already small number of speakers of languages. In the Northern Territory, that 'reduction' (read: wholesale slaughter and murder of Aboriginal people) was often under the knowing watch of Paul Foelsche, Sub-inspector in Charge of Police in what is now the Northern part of the Northern Territory from 1870 to 1904. Paul Foelsche The Northern Territory Library, situated inside Parliament House, has produced a temporary exhibition 'commemorating' Foelsche...

Last week, an NT-wide review into Indigenous Education took a big step forward when a draft report was released. Accompanying its release were a few media stories relaying that its author, Bruce Wilson, was recommending shutting down secondary schools in remote communities and sending everyone to boarding school. My reaction was 'what?!' and 'who is this Bruce Wilson?'. A bio of Bruce Wilson on a Victorian education website, it turns out, has this remarkable line written about him: He often uses humour in his presentations to disguise the fact that he hasn't done any research. I'll write more on Mr. Wilson in Part 2. In this post, I'd like to discuss a few aspects of the draft review. When I actually started to read to the report rather than react to newspaper headlines, I remained distinctly unimpressed. If I was marking it as a university assignment, it might just pass. Maybe. Key references have been overlooked, vague conclusions drawn without stro...