“Our language is like a pearl inside a shell. The shell is like the people that carry the language. If our language is taken away, then that would be like a pearl that is gone. We would be like an empty oyster shell.” Yurranydjil Dhurrkay, Galiwin’ku, North East Arnhem Land, Australia Our Land Our Languages Language Learning in Indigenous Communities  Report to Commonwealth Government of Australia, September 2012. The report suggests that of the 250 local languages spoken in Australia at the time of colonisation; only about 18 remain in strong use.

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