Aboriginal language plan

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33100, 15 December 1972, Page 11

Aboriginal language plan

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) CANBERRA, Dec. 14. Aboriginal children living with their tribes are to be taught in their own languages, under a new 7 approach to Aboriginal welfare announced today. The Prime Minister (Mr Gough Whitlam) said that the Government felt a need for a greater respect for the Aboriginal languages. “The tribal cultures should be preserved, not crushed,” he said. The new policies mean that! during their primary years, 1

Aboriginal children living in Aboriginal communities will be taught their own tongues, and that English will be taught as a second language. They will be taught their own arts, crafts, and skills — painting on bark, playing such instruments as the didgeridoo, and tracking wild animals.

They will also be taught their own religion and traditional myths. Tn his statement today, Mr Whitlam said that when the programme was fully implemented, it would affect most Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory, and would be extended to tribal areas in Northern Queensland. the Kimberleys in West-

ern Australia, and the north of South Australia. The teaching of Aboriginal children in their native tongue was begun in 1947 in South Australia by Presbyterian missionaries and in 1968 by state schools. But elsewhere in missions and in Government settlements, policies aimed at assimilation into the white community and a breaking down of traditional cultures have Ibeen pursued. Mr Whitlam announced the I new Aboriginal policies today after conferring with the nominated Minister for Education (Mr Kim Beasley) and with the chairman of the Australian Council of Aboriginal Affairs (Dr H. C. Coombs).

He said that the Government would help in the training of teachers and teaching aides, some of them Aborigines, for the introduction of the language teaching to primary schools. "Among the traditional and cultural skills which will be taught Aboriginal children will be art, carving, music, dancing, tracking, traditional religion, and mythology,” he said. Mr Whitlam said that in introducing the programmes the Government was implementing the conventions of both the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Educational. Scientific. and Cultural Organisation.