The Endangered languages of Makarrata

Many people in Australia want to learn more about Makarrata from Yolŋu elders. The Australian Governments’ Indigenous Languages and Arts program has given funding to CDU for Yolŋu to lead research which will show people this history, language and practices of makarrata.

The focus of this project is to:

• Engage local Yolŋu researchers to work with under elders authority and develop their skills in research.
• Collect stories and discussions about makarrata from Yolŋu elders on video.
• Look at and talk about old photographs
• Transcribe and translate those stories and discussions and work together to understand the concepts and process in eight Yolŋu languages.
• Work with Yolŋu researchers to make draft videos, a website and stories.
• Show the draft results to the Yolŋu elders and make sure they are happy to share the stories and videos.
• Make the results available to interested people.