About us

Living Languages supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are working to maintain, revitalise and reclaim their languages.

 
 

Our Story

Living Languages was originally founded as the ‘Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity Inc.’ (RNLD) in 2004 by Margaret Florey and Nick Thieberger. In its first five years, RNLD was an unfunded, volunteer organisation that mainly served as an online hub for sharing language revitalisation and maintenance resources and methods between people working to support Indigenous languages.

In 2009, RNLD was funded to develop its training activities across Australia and has been continuously funded since under a grant now known as the Indigenous Languages and Arts (ILA) Program. From that point, RNLD’s main programs became providing community-based training across Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working to revitalise, grow and strengthen their languages. 

In 2019, we changed our organisation’s name to Living Languages to better reflect this purpose, and Living Languages’ training programs are now the main focus of our work. Our programs aim to provide responsive and tailored training that is community-directed, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who want to develop and run their own language projects. 

Since we were founded, we have been supported by many volunteers and other people who have offered their time and expertise to help us strengthen and build our training programs and other projects. We are so grateful for their help and for supporting Living Languages to be what it is today.

 
 
 
 
 

About our logo

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The imagery of deep roots (or river waterways) represents many language groups. Colourful dots symbolise the seeds of language, while leaves show its growth.

There is also a nurturing hand, and a speech bubble that communicates oral language. Finally, the yarning circle conveys story-telling and passing on knowledge.

 

Mission Statement

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have the tools to fulfil their vision for language, are resilient, and have a strong cultural identity.

  • To support the sustainability of Indigenous languages and Indigenous peoples’ ownership of their language documentation and revitalisation.

  • We build capacity: We celebrate and build on the strengths of Indigenous communities. We support every person we work with to pursue their own definition of success.

    We connect communities: We build networks of diverse individuals and organisations to support community aspirations and to grow awareness of revitalising Indigenous languages.

    We amplify Indigenous voices: We celebrate the richness of Indigenous languages, perspectives and knowledge. We support Indigenous voices in discussions and decisions about their languages.