Western and Northern Aboriginal Language Alliance

The conference this year is being held in Bunbury Western Australia and hosted by Dandjoo Moordiyap Dabakarn in partnership with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

The logo for the conference shows how we come together to share our knowledge, experiences and dreams for the future of Aboriginal languages.

Conference objectives

• Identify successful approaches for engaging with communities
• Language education and training
• Technology in language revival and maintenance
• Implementation of the WA & NT peak body for language representation. Outcomes of the WA alliance consultancy 2011-2012 funding round.

WA & NT Conference in 2013

The WA state Aboriginal Language Conference is a biennial event. At each conference, the delegates vote for the Language Centre or Language Project to be responsible for hosting the next conference. Dandjoo Moordiyap Dabakarn, in partnership with Batchelor Institute, was chosen to be the host of the conference in 2013 in Bunbury, WA.

One of the outcomes of the 2011 conference was to undertake an evaluation and consultation for the establishment of a Western Australian Aboriginal Language Alliance. This consultation was managed by Batchelor Institute and completed in June 2012. One of the recommendations from this evaluation was the opportunity for Northern Territory Language Centres and Language Projects to participate in the alliance. It was because of this recommendation that the Aboriginal Language Conference now includes Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The conference receives some funding from the Indigenous Language Support program, an initiative of the Commonwealth Government.