- Boulder Railway Station Building, Loopline Park, Hamilton St, Boulder WA 6432
- (08) 9021 3788
- info@wangka.com.au
The Goldfields Aboriginal Languages Centre was established to preserve the Goldfields Aboriginal languages, provide speakers with use and enjoyment resources, and to create learning and intergenerational language transfer opportunities. The Centre commenced as a project in July 2011 and is now an incorporated NGO. The initial focus was to work on two of the Goldfield’s languages, Ngalia and Tjupan. However, this was expanded to include all languages of the Goldfields region on receipt of additional funding in 2014.
In 2011, The Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre began as a language project working on two of the region’s 12 First Nations languages. In 2015, GALCAC expanded to work with all the region’s languages.
There are 12 languages in the Goldfields region, however much of the language analysis work remains to be done and the exact number of dialects of each language is yet to be resolved.
GALCAC is the Commonwealth authorised body funded to ensure all language groups of the Goldfields received support, and for the establishment of a Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre.
The Centre was officially opened in June 2016, and is now located in the historic Boulder Railway Station building, Loopline Park, 49 Hamilton St, Boulder.
Senior linguist, Sue Hanson, met with a wide range of people in 2011 to discuss the development of the language project and the processes used to support the languages. The project has a great deal of community support with many people stating they were very pleased to see the language preservation work commence. Many elders were very anxious to record their stories and language.
The first GALCAC workshop was held in Leonora on Tuesday 29th November 2011. The planning workshop was around the collection and preservation of the Aboriginal languages of the region, and specifically about this project. A range of people attended and this gave direction to the project.
Since the first workshop in 2011, meetings have been held with members of each language group to enabled linguistic plans to be developed. Speakers are keen to make their language thrive and create language use, enjoyment and learning resources for families.
Dr. Doug Marmion, was engaged by Senior Linguist, Sue Hanson in 2008 to undertake preliminary work in the Goldfields in 2008 and said, ‘In my time working in the Goldfields region, I was approached a number of times by members of the various language groups and my advice sought as to how they could go about arranging to have work done on their languages. In every case they expressed concern that the usage of their language was declining and little was being done in terms of either documentation, or to supporting their maintenance.’
The Language Centre achieves three main outcomes:
The project is funded by the Federal Government’s Indigenous Language Support (ILS) program. GALCAC is an Aboriginal incorporated body with charitable status. Sue Hanson is the senior linguist and she is supported by field linguists, technical linguists and, most importantly, Aboriginal language workers.
For more information about the Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre or the languages of the region, check out this website or phone GALCAC on (08) 9021 3788 or email info@wangka.com.au
GALCAC became incorporated in 2020 following 6 years of work to achieve this. A staged transition to full independence from the National Trust WA was made over 3 years. The support from the National Trust enabled the staff and Directors to manage each step carefully and is very appreciated. GALCAC is now an independent incorporated organisation with charitable status.
© Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre