SA Kaurna Speakers Seek Funding

People who know Kaurna, the original Aboriginal language of Adelaide, have few occasions to get together and speak the indigenous tongue, a federal government inquiry has been told.

The Kaurna Warra Pintyandi group, who call themselves language activists, appeared before the inquiry into language learning in indigenous communities in Adelaide on Monday.

Kaurna was “sleeping” for a considerable period but had been reintroduced across Adelaide over the past two decades, they said in a submission.

But people with a knowledge of the language needed more opportunities to come together.

“The Kaurna community is widely dispersed throughout a large metropolitan city and beyond,” the group said.

“There is no Kaurna community centre. There are few opportunities to hear and speak Kaurna and these opportunities need to be created.”

One of the group, Jack Buckskin, said he had developed his fluency through public performances, teaching, joking with friends, and sending SMS and email messages in Kaurna.

Mr Buckskin also makes an effort to speak to his baby daughter in Kaurna.

To help re-establish the language, the group said funds were needed to bring people together, perhaps for months at a time, for intensive periods of speaking Kaurna.

They said such language camps could deliver good results, while the appointment of a full-time officer to work on and promote the language would be a “dream”.

At present the development of the language had been hampered by limited time and funds, with the group relying on donations and small payments from translation work.