Luise Hercus facts for kids

Luise Anna Hercus (born 16 January 1926 – died 15 April 2018) was a famous linguist. A linguist is someone who studies languages. She was born in Germany and moved to Australia in 1954.

Luise Hercus first studied ancient Indian languages. But from 1963, she focused on Australian Aboriginal languages. She became very good at this, even saving some languages from being forgotten. Her work is very important for understanding many of Australia's native languages.

Her Early Life and Education

Luise Anna Schwarzschild was born in Munich, Germany, on 16 January 1926. Her family included artists, merchants, and thinkers. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, life became very hard for Jewish people like her family. Because of this, her family moved to England in 1938 to find safety.

They settled in London, where Luise went to school. When she was 17, she won a special scholarship to St Anne's College, Oxford. She studied "Oriental Studies," which included languages from Asia. She earned her first degree in 1946 and a master's degree later.

From 1948 to 1954, Luise taught at St Anne's College. Then, in 1954, she moved to Australia. She married Graham Robertson Hercus in 1955. They had one son, Iain, who became an astronomer.

Discovering Aboriginal Languages

From 1965 to 1969, Luise Hercus worked at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. During this time, she started studying Aboriginal languages on her own. This became her passion. She helped save some languages that were almost lost. For example, she worked with Mick McLean Irinjili to record the Wangganguru language.

After 1969, she became a senior lecturer at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. She taught Sanskrit, which is an ancient Indian language. In the 1970s, Luise also worked with other linguists, Peter K. Austin and David Trefry, to study the Diyari language.

Luise Hercus continued to publish important articles about ancient Indian languages until 1979. After 1991, she became a visiting researcher at ANU. She wrote grammars (rules of a language), dictionaries, and traditional stories. She also kept doing fieldwork, which means traveling to meet people and record their languages. She mostly worked in South Australia and nearby parts of New South Wales and Queensland.

Her Important Work and Research

In January 2016, the AIATSIS celebrated Luise Hercus's 90th birthday. They gave her digital copies of all the sound recordings she had made. She recorded over 1,000 hours of conversations in 56 different native languages and dialects! This was a huge gift to thank her for her amazing work.

These recordings include unique sounds from languages like Pantyikali, Nukunu, Woiwurrung, Dadi Dadi, Djadjala, Gunnai, Narungga, Wadi Wadi, Wergaia, Kurnu, and Nari Nari.

In 2017, a special book called Language, land and song: Studies in honour of Luise Hercus was published online. More than 30 scholars wrote articles for this book. It was made to honor Luise's lifelong dedication to Aboriginal people and their languages.

Languages She Studied

Luise Hercus wrote about many languages and their different dialects. Here are some of them:

Besides Australian languages, Luise also studied Romance languages (like French and Spanish) and early Indian languages.

Her Books and Achievements

Luise Hercus wrote many books and articles. She has 163 works listed on WorldCat Identities. Some of her most well-known works include:

• (1965) The languages of Victoria: A late survey in two parts.
• (1981) The Bagandji language.
• (1986) This is what happened: historical narratives by Aborigines.
• (1991) Collected articles of LA Schwarzschild on Middle Indo-Aryan (1953-1979)
• (1999) A Grammar Of The Wirangu Language From The West Coast Of South Australia (edited with Harold Koch)
• (2009) Two Rainbow Serpents Travelling: Mura Track Narratives From the 'Corner Country'.
• (2010) A Dictionary of the Wirangu Language of the Far West Coast of South Australia, with G Miller, P. Monaghan, and others.
• (2012) Trees from the dreaming.

One of her most valuable works for Aboriginal people is her:

• (2011) Paakantyi Dictionary (AIATSIS).

Awards and Recognition

On 12 June 1995, Luise Hercus was made a Member of the Order of Australia. This is a special honor given for great service to Australia. She received it for her work in education and linguistics, especially for helping to save Aboriginal languages and culture.

Working with Others

Luise Hercus worked with Janet Mathews (1914–1992). Janet Mathews recorded about 180 hours of Aboriginal music and language. This included stories from more than eighty Aboriginal people. Luise Hercus even helped write a tribute to Janet Mathews after she passed away. Their combined work was very important. It helped provide evidence about sacred sites on Mumbulla Mountain in New South Wales in the late 1970s.