NAIDOC focus on language

NAIDOC Week, running from July 2-9, is to focus on Indigenous languages for 2017.

The theme of NAIDOC Week 2017 is Our Languages Matter and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, has announced a National NAIDOC Poster Competition centred on that theme.

“For First Australians, language links people to their land and water – it is how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history is transferred through generations,” Mr Scullion said.

There were 250 distinct Indigenous language groups in Australia at the time Europeans first made contact. Now, only around 120 of those languages are still spoken and many are at risk of being lost.

The Federal Government recently announced $22.8 million in funding to help keep Indigenous languages alive and showcase traditional and contemporary Indigenous cultural and artistic expression

Entries for the National NAIDOC Poster Competition close on March 20.

www.naidoc.org.au

 

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