Stronger Together: Perspectives from the Australian Languages Workshop 2024

On 20–22 September 2024, over 80 language workers and researchers from around Australia came together on Ngunnawal Country to discuss their language projects and research at the Australian Languages Workshop. This workshop was co-hosted by AIATSIS and the Australian National University at Camp Cottermouth, just outside Canberra and overlooking the Murrumbidgee River. The theme of the symposium was the Blak Auslan sign COUNTRY.

Delegates at the workshop came from a diverse range of language ecologies: representing spoken and signed languages, traditional and contact languages, languages where children are still acquiring the language from birth, and languages which people are relearning after a period of it not being spoken.

Seven key themes emerged from the 26 presentations and workshops across the weekend:

- The value of combining living knowledges and resting knowledges
- Challenges in accessing archival materials
- Tensions between Indigenous law/lore and Western law
- The immense diversity of traditional and contemporary Indigenous languages
- Connections and relationships between Indigenous languages
- Exciting innovations in Indigenous language education
- The importance of collaboration in language strengthening projects.

This report draws from perspectives shared in each talk, platforming these diverse voices of Indigenous language experts from across Australia.