WA Aboriginal Language Legislation Alliance Information Film

Added by Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre Aboriginal Corporation

Description The many First Nation languages of WA need to be enshrined and protected under State legislation to ensure their continuation into the future.

Today, Monday 8 July 2024, a campaign commenced to bring the need for WA First Nations language legislation to the attention of the WA Premier, State Members of Parliament, and policy makers.


A call for the WA Aboriginal Languages Legislation Alliance (WAALLA) comes from the 2023 Aboriginal languages conference held in Kalgoorlie by the Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre (GALCAC). First Nations language speakers, workers and linguists at the conference called on the WA State Government to enact protective legislation similar to the legislation created in NSW, the Aboriginal Languages Act 2017.


Since European colonisation, WA’s First Nations languages have remained unrecognised and unsupported through State policy or legislation. This has led to the extinction of some of the State’s 85 languages, with many more being severely threatened unless systemic support and critical policy and legislation is enacted.


Language is identity, the mouth of culture, and the carrier of culture. To lose a language is like burning down a library; all that information and knowledge is gone forever. The First Nations languages of WA carry tens of thousands of years of knowledge and information about WA. They are State treasures.


Yawuru Elder, Professor Peter Yu, called for State legislation stating, ‘Language was, and always will be, about politics and power. Preserving language sustains the integrity of our native title rights and interests.’


The call for WA State Aboriginal language legislation includes the need for recognition of the First Nations languages as official languages of the State, the establishment of a WA Aboriginal languages trust, and the development of a State 10-year Aboriginal languages strategic plan.


WAALLA is a grassroots-led campaign which directly addresses Closing the Gap (CTG) priority reforms. The National Agreement on CTG states that the reforms, ‘…focus on measuring the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’.

The WAALLA Campaign is a clear voice to governments to work with WA’s First Nations language communities on State legislation.

Organisations are being urged to join the WAALLA campaign and call on the State Government for Aboriginal languages legislation.


For further information contact the WAALLA campaign managers Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre (08)9021 3788 or waalla@wangka.com.au
or check out the website www.wangka.com.au/waalla