Preschools revitalise Indigenous languages in Australia
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Julie Craig, a 65-year-old woman, is learning the Gumbaynggirr language at Kulai Preschool on the NSW Mid North Coast of Australia, a school she also attended as a child.
Craig grew up without hearing the language because her grandparents passed away young and her parents did not speak it, but she now learns more at the preschool than she did throughout her life.
The preschool, established in 1961, became an Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisation (ACCO) in 1989 and has long employed former students as educators. Before 1972, the Australian government banned Indigenous languages in schools, and many people feared punishment for speaking them. Kulai Preschool and Dalaigur Preschool, another ACCO established in 1965, are among the oldest Aboriginal-run preschools in the country, and both now focus on language and cultural revitalisation.
Dalaigur’s board worries that children may lose their language skills after leaving the preschool. To address this concern, Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School opened in 2022 as the first bilingual primary school in the state, teaching in both English and an Indigenous language. Researchers from the University of Western Sydney found that children attending Kulai and the Freedom School demonstrate a stronger cultural identity than previous generations.
SNAICC reports that children from Kulai often arrive at school as confident speakers of Gumbaynggirr, showing the positive impact of culturally strong early learning environments.
