Song title

Australia's Indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming rate, taking with them enormous amounts of knowledge and culture. Unique stories and songs are being lost as community elders die, but Monash University researchers are working with one community to preserve ancient traditions.

Thirty years ago almost 260 people spoke their traditional language in the community of Yanyuwa at Borroloola, 970kms south-east of Darwin. Today, only a handful of community members remain fluent - the last custodians of ancient songs, stories, customs and land ownership that are bound up in the vocabulary of the endangered language.

Dr John Bradley and Dr Amanda Kearney from Monash University's Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, have worked with the community for much of that time and are working with Monash digital animators Tom Chandler, Brent McKee and Chandara Ung to digitally capture the community's oral traditions. Most of the remaining Yanyuwa speakers are elderly - making the need to capture the language urgent.

"When you lose a language, you lose a lot more than words. You lose spirituality, concepts of spirituality and cultural values, as well as particular views of ethics and morality," Dr Bradley said.

The team has produced a digital songline - the equivalent of a digitally-animated short film - which features a recording of the traditional language accompanied by an animation that brings the story to life.

It is just one of the community's many stories and songlines, that provide a cultural claim to more than 400km of traditional lands.

"Song lines move through the land and sea, following precise directions and mapping the landscape. They are like a title deed to country; if you know the sacred song of your country then your ownership is without doubt," Dr Bradley said.

"These sound recordings and animations are about a will and testament, left in a form that future generations can access."

The first digital animation captures a ceremonial song that recounts the journey of a tiger shark to Yanyuwa country.

The song was traditionally used for two reasons: during the initiation of young men associated with the country of the tiger shark and when someone from that clan was dying to help send their spirit back to country.

Dr Kearney said it took several years to work through the project, the team earning the support of the community as it developed.

"The community realises there is a need to find a means of cultural expression that appeals to young people. The Yanyuwa elders have been very progressive in their willingness to maintain cultural continuity using modern day media," Dr Kearney said.

Dr Bradley said there was some initial community concern about the use of pictures, which are seen as sorcery, but the first screening of the digital songline was a stunning success.

"The very minute the animation of our first 25 verses was shown to the children they were just transfixed," Dr Bradley said. "One of the senior elders watched and just smiled. He said: 'Keep going. Come on, keep going. We want to see more'. They are so keen to see their children educated in the nature of these songs, because within the culture they are such a powerful act of ownership."

With the first trial animation now complete and approved by the community, the project team is working on five more animations, expected to be finished by the end of 2008.

"There is potential for these animations to be the building blocks of a new curriculum for teaching Yanyuwa and other Aboriginal youth throughout Australia," Dr Bradley said.

"Both Amanda and I are privileged to be able to work with the community and to see how these new tools for expressing culture uphold the integrity of the Yanyuwa community's knowledge and encourage kids to learn about their culture and country."

To find out more, view a video about saving the Yanyuwan language on the Research multimedia archive website.