Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages facts for kids

Map showing the language groups in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages. It also shows the places that helped publish these Indigenous language materials.

The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages (LAAL) is a special online collection of books and stories. It helps keep alive the amazing languages of Aboriginal people from the Northern Territory, Australia. This archive has works in over forty different languages! It was started in 2012 to make sure these important stories and languages are not lost.

What is the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages?

LAAL is an online library filled with literature from the Northern Territory. It focuses on languages that are in danger of being lost. This means fewer people are speaking them. The archive helps save these languages and their stories for future generations.

Why is it Important?

Many of the books and stories in the archive were first made for bilingual education programs. These programs taught kids in both English and their traditional Aboriginal language. They ran in the Northern Territory from the early 1970s. However, when funding for these programs stopped, many of these valuable books were at risk of being lost forever. The LAAL project stepped in to save them.

How the Archive Was Built

The project started in 2012 with money from the Australian Research Council. Many groups worked together to create it. The main group was Charles Darwin University. They teamed up with the Northern Territory Government and the Australian National University.

The first step was to find as many of these old books as possible. They found about 4,000! Then, they catalogued them, which means they organized them. They also made digital copies. With permission from the original creators, these materials were then put online for everyone to see.

A second round of funding in 2014 helped the project grow. They continued to search for more materials written by Indigenous authors. They also started working with communities, schools, and researchers. This helped them figure out the best ways to use and improve the collection. Later, other partners joined, like the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and the Northern Territory Library.

The archive is always looking for new contributions. If people have relevant materials, they can share them. But they must get the right permissions first.

Exploring the Archive

All the materials in the Living Archive are free to access online. You can visit their website or use the LAAL Reader App. On the website, you can find materials in different ways. You can click on areas of a map. Or, you can look through lists of locations, languages, authors, or book titles.

The materials are available under a special Creative Commons licence. This means you can use them, but there are some rules. For example, you can't use them for commercial purposes. The important thing is that the Aboriginal language owners and creators still own their stories and pictures.

Using the Archive for Learning

The materials in the archive can be used for many different things. The project works with communities, schools, and researchers. They want to find ways to make the collections useful for local needs.

For example, the archive can help with literacy and language learning. It can also be used for classroom activities. Students can learn about traditional knowledge. The project also helps connect students and academics with language experts. This allows them to work together on projects. Communities can also help expand the collection. They can contribute new stories or even audio recordings of existing ones.

Languages in the Archive

As of 2015, the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages had materials in these languages:

See also

• Indigenous Australian literature
• Language revival