Japanese Link To Lost Aboriginal Language

Two hundred years ago the Worrongo language was spoken widely by the traditional owners of the Townsville area.

Today, just one fluent speaker remains, though he’s not to be found anywhere near the Queensland tropics.

In fact, unlikely as it may seem, the last living speaker of Worrongo hails from Tokyo, Japan.

Linguist Professor Tasuku Tsunodo travelled to Palm Island in the early 1970s while studying with Monash University.

There he met aman named Alf Palmer, the last native speaker of Worrongo, who saw in him a chance to preserve his dying tongue.

“During the 1970s when I was a student, not many linguists understood the importance of documenting endangered languages,” he told AAP.

“Alf Palmer used to say to me, I am the last person to speak Worrongo, when I die it will die, I will teach you everything I know so put it down properly.”

“It was Alf Palmer who taught me the importance of documenting endangered languages, he was a man of vision.”

Professor Tsunodo recorded hours of conversations with Mr Palmer and was eventually able to preserve a dictionary of the language.

“I recorded six hour stories from him and he was able to give me 1500 words and very detailed information on grammar, he was truly exceptional.”

At the invitation of the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation, Professor Tsunodo will travel back to Palm Island on Wednesday to help develop a program to teach the language to children on the island.

The foundation hopes the program will revitalise a historical cultural link to the past for island residents.

However, ALNF founder Mary-Ruth Mendel said there was another benefit to teaching Palm Islanders to read and write in Worrongo – it will help boost english literacy in a part of Australia where most students fall well below the minimum acceptable level.

Worrongo, like other Aboriginal languages, shares a similar structure to latin – of which English is a derivative – once a child can speak Worrongo, it may actually be easier for them to learn english.

“(after learning an indigenous language) It is in fact highly stimulable for children’s neurology to then go and learn English,” she told AAP.