Kylie Farmer, Sonnet Sunday – The Globe, 22nd April 2012
“In the old age black was not counted fair… But now is black beauty’s successive heir.”
In the wake of Indigenous Literacy Week, I thought I would share the article Sonnets and NoongarPedia: language revitalisation takes centre stage. This article (by Karina Marlow for NITV) looks into efforts to revitalise the Noongar language of south-west Western Australia. It features a moving video of Indigenous actress Kylie Farmer performing William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 127 in her traditionalNoongar language, on ABC’s Q&A. Please make sure to watch the video!
The Noongar language is considered to be endangered. Of the 30,000 Noongar people living in WA, less than 240 are speakers. This is relevant to our Topic 5.1, focused on Language Loss and endangered languages in particular.
Marlow’s article also features an introduction to NoongarPedia, an initiative of the University of Western Australia and Curtin University. It makes accessible to the public vast amounts of knowledge of Noongar elders, easily accessed through a Wikipedia-style portal.
Related websites include:
Bunbury’s Noongar Boodjar Language Centre
Publication efforts to save Noongar language
Posted by Tess Beyer
