Special Visitor For Barngarla People Marks Historical Event

July will mark an historical event for the Barngarla people of Whyalla and the city as a whole.

On Friday, July 19 University of Adelaide Linguistics and Endangered Languages chair Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann will introduce Reverend Volker Dally and his delegation to the Barngarla community of Whyalla.

In light of Reconciliation Week, Whyalla residents are being given the opportunity to experience indigenous culture and mark this important event in their calendar.

The historical significance of this event comes in the form of Mr Dally’s connection to a Lutheran Mission that was the first to record the Barngarla language.

Mr Dally is the director of the Leipzig Mission, which was once the Dresden Lutheran Mission.

The Dresden Lutheran Mission was the religious order that Clamour Wilhelm Sch rmann belonged to.

Mr Sch rmann wrote the 1844 Barngarla dictionary.

The visit by Mr Dally will mark a great historical significance of reconnecting with the legacy that his order helped establish.

Professor Zuckermann has held various Barngarla language reclamation workshops in Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Lincoln for the past two years.

Local Barngarla woman Dawn Taylor has attended previous Barngarla language reclamation workshops held by Professor Zuckermann, as well as being a part of Barngarla delegations to Canberra and Adelaide.

Ms Taylor said the visit is a wonderful surprise and one that the Barngarla people will mark as a very special occasion.

“I think the Barngarla people of Whyalla will be very excited about this next workshop that is coming up,” Ms Taylor said.

“And even more excited about the special guest visitor.

“We want to see as many Barngarla people attend as possible.”

The Barngarla language programs (along with similar Aboriginal language revival programs) are based on the early language recordings by four German Lutheran missionaries in the early 1840s, including that of Mr Sch rmann’s.

Dally’s visit marks the 175th anniversary of Aboriginal lexicography (dictionary making) by Lutheran missionaries.

Adelaide University’s Gerhard Ruediger works with the Kaurna reclamation program.

This program was initiated and is being managed by Kaurna Warra Pintyandi (KWP), a collaboration between linguists such as Dr Rob Amery and elders of the Kaurna people.

Mr Ruediger said until about three years ago, the Leipzig Mission knew next to nothing about this important legacy of their missionaries.

“Like all the early mission projects in this country, this was considered a “failure” for not converting any Aboriginal to the Christian faith,” Mr Ruediger said.

“Most of the languages, though, were fast driven out to the margins of society, at best, for example Poonindie or at worst, they were simply killed.”

Mr Dally will be presented by Professor Zuckermann to other Barngarla community members of the Eyre Peninsula in subsequent dates, scheduled to appear in Port Augusta on July 20.

Mr Dally and his delegation are coming from Germany to present a paper at Professor Zuckermann’s and Dr Julia Miller’s international AUSTRALEX conference in Adelaide on July 25 to July 28.

The conference will mark the official celebration of the 175th anniversary of Aboriginal lexicography by Lutheran missionaries.

The celebration will take place on Thursday, July 25 at 4.30pm at the Ira Raymond Exhibition Room, Barr-Smith Library, The University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide City Centre.

All are welcome to attend.

For more information on the conference go to http://www.australex.org/a13.html or contact Professor Zuckermann at ghilad.zuckermann@adelaide.edu.au.