Rob Amery

Last updated

Robert Amery
Occupation Linguist
Years active1980s–present
Notable workWarra Kaurna Yalaka, Warra Kaurna Pukinangku (2016)
SpouseMary-Anne Gale

Robert Maxwell Amery (born 1954) is an Australian linguist and specialist in Australian Aboriginal languages, in particular language revitalisation of endangered languages, and focused primarily on the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains region of South Australia. He is the author of books, articles, and a website, among other publications.

Contents

Early life and education

Robert Maxwell Amery was born in 1954. [1]

Career

Amery began working in Aboriginal communities as a nurse, in 1980. After working for some time as an Aboriginal health worker educator, he started taking an interest in education when working in Yirrkala, in northeast Arnhem Land in 1985. He researched Dhuwaya, a new koiné variety of Yolngu Matha which was predominantly used by youth. [2]

In 1990, Amery created the first complete sentence in the Kaurna language known to people still alive. [3] In the early 1990s he worked as project officer for the Australian Indigenous Languages Framework. [2] During 1993 and 1994, he developed a national curriculum framework that allowed for the introduction of Indigenous language programs at senior secondary level. [4]

In June 1998 he completed a PhD at the University of Adelaide on the reclamation of Kaurna, with his thesis "Warrabarna Kaurna: Reclaiming Aboriginal Languages from Written Historical Sources: A Kaurna Case Study". [2]

In the early 2000s, Amery taught the Kaurna language to Jack Buckskin, now a teacher of Kaurna language and culture himself. [5]

In 2002, along with Kaurna elders Alitya Wallara Rigney and Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien [4] Amery was a co-founder of Kaurna Warra Pintyandi (KWP; now spelt Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi) at the university, to observe and promote the development of Kaurna. In 2012 the Commonwealth Indigenous Language Support (ILS) scheme provided funding for the project, enabling the establishment of a KWP team. This team included Stephen Gadlabarti Goldsmith ("Uncle Stevie") until his sudden death in 2017, among others. [2]

In July 2016, he travelled to Aceh in Indonesia, where he and Zulfadli Aziz, of the University of Syiah Kuala in Banda Aceh, he conducted a language survey on two islands off the coast of Aceh, It was funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. [6]

In July 2017, the NAIDOC Week theme was "Our Languages Matter", and Amery spoke about Aboriginal languages on ABC Radio. [7]

In 2019 Amery told an SA Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee that outcomes for Kaurna language programs were much better in the mid-1990s than they are by 2019, partly due to increasing focus on NAPLAN, and little incentive for or provision of professional development for Kaurna teachers. [5]

As of December 2023 Amery is associate professor/reader at the University of Adelaide. [2] He and his team (Mary-Anne Gale and Susie Greenwood) are working on the project "Sustainable Language Revival: A critical analysis of Kaurna", funded by an ARC Discovery grant. The team is working with Tauondi College "to build capacity within the Kaurna community to take on the roles of Kaurna language teaching and Kaurna language work". [6]

Research interests

Amery lists his research interests as: [2]

Major publications

Amery's thesis was slightly revised and republished in the Netherlands in 2000, as Warrabarna Kaurna: Reclaiming an Australian Language, [2] and republished in 2016 "with revised spellings, additional chapter discussing developments since 2000 and reworked Conclusions". [2] This edition is available as a free ebook. [8]

Other published books include: [2]

Amery has also published numerous articles, book chapters, course notes, reports, and other works, some of which are co-authored with Mary-Anne Gale and Jack Buckskin. [2]

Personal life

Amery is married to Ngarrindjeri linguist Mary-Anne Gale. [9]

Related Research Articles

The Kaurna people are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna culture and language were almost completely destroyed within a few decades of the British colonisation of South Australia in 1836. However, extensive documentation by early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture. The phrase Kaurna meyunna means "Kaurna people".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Square, Adelaide</span>

Victoria Square, also known as Tarntanyangga, is the central square of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.

Nunga is a term of self-identification for Aboriginal Australians, originally used by Aboriginal people in the southern settled areas of South Australia, and now used throughout Adelaide and surrounding towns. It is used by contrast with Gunya, which refers to non-Aboriginal persons. The use of "Nunga" by non-Aboriginal people is not always regarded as appropriate.

The Ramindjeri or Raminjeri people were an Aboriginal Australian people forming part of the Kukabrak grouping now otherwise known as the Ngarrindjeri people. They were the most westerly Ngarrindjeri, living in the area around Encounter Bay and Goolwa in southern South Australia, including Victor Harbor and Port Elliot. In modern native title actions a much more extensive territory has been claimed.

Kaurna is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The Kaurna peoples are made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own parnkarra district of land and local dialect. These dialects were historically spoken in the area bounded by Crystal Brook and Clare in the north, Cape Jervis in the south, and just over the Mount Lofty Ranges. Kaurna ceased to be spoken on an everyday basis in the 19th century and the last known native speaker, Ivaritji, died in 1929. Language revival efforts began in the 1980s, with the language now frequently used for ceremonial purposes, such as dual naming and welcome to country ceremonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tjilbruke</span> Creation being in Kaurna (an Aboriginal Australian group) mythology

Tjilbruke is an important creation ancestor for the Kaurna people of the Adelaide plains in the Australian state of South Australia. Tjilbruke was a Kaurna man, who appeared in Kaurna Dreaming dating back about 11,000 years. The Tjilbruke Dreaming Track or Tjilbruke Dreaming Trail is a major Dreaming trail, which connects sites from within metropolitan Adelaide southwards as far as Cape Jervis, some of which are Aboriginal sacred sites of great significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Morialta</span> State electoral district of South Australia

Morialta is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is a 356 km2 electorate stretching from the Adelaide Hills to the outer eastern and north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, taking in the suburbs and localities of Auldana, Ashton, Athelstone, Basket Range, Birdwood, Castambul, Cherryville, Cudlee Creek, Forest Range, Gumeracha, Highbury, Kenton Valley, Lenswood, Lobethal, Marble Hill, Montacute, Mount Torrens, Norton Summit, Rostrevor, Summertown, Teringie, Uraidla and Woodforde, as well as part of Chain of Ponds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morialta Conservation Park</span> Protected area in South Australia

Morialta Conservation Park, formerly the Morialta Falls Reserve and the Morialta Falls National Pleasure Resort, is a protected area 10 km north-east of Adelaide city centre, in the state of South Australia, Australia. The park is in a rugged bush environment, with a narrow gorge set with three waterfalls, bounded by steep ridges and cliffs. The park caters to many activities, including bushwalking, bird watching and rock climbing.

Ngarrindjeri, also written Narrinyeri, Ngarinyeri and other variants, is the language of the Ngarrindjeri and related peoples of southern South Australia. Five dialects have been distinguished by a 2002 study: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rymill Park</span>

Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka, and numbered as Park 14, is a recreation park located in the East Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. There is an artificial lake with rowboats for hire, a café, children's playground and rose garden, and the Adelaide Bowling Club is on the Dequetteville Terrace side. The O-Bahn passes underneath it, to emerge at the western side opposite Grenfell Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitmore Square</span>

Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi, is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha, it is located at the junction of Sturt and Morphett streets in the south-western quarter of the Adelaide city grid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington Square, North Adelaide</span> Public square in Adelaide, South Australia

Wellington Square, also known as Kudnartu, is a public square in the Adelaide suburb of North Adelaide, South Australia, in the City of Adelaide. It is roughly at the centre of the largest of the three grids which comprise North Adelaide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myponga, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Myponga is a settlement in South Australia. At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 744, of whom 393 lived in its town centre. Myponga is located within the federal division of Mayo, the state electoral district of Mawson, and the local government area of the District Council of Yankalilla.

Point Pearce, also spelt Point Pierce in the past, is a town in the Australian state of South Australia. The town is located in the Yorke Peninsula Council local government area, 194 kilometres (121 mi) north-west of the state capital, Adelaide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis O'Brien (Kaurna elder)</span> Australian Aboriginal elder

Lewis Yarlupurka O'Brien, usually known as Uncle Lewis O'Brien, is an Aboriginal elder of the Kaurna people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hundred of Yatala</span> Cadastral in South Australia

The Hundred of Yatala is a cadastral unit of hundred in South Australia covering much of the Adelaide metropolitan area north of the River Torrens. It is one of the eleven hundreds of the County of Adelaide stretching from the Torrens in the south to the Little Para River in the north; and spanning from the coast in the west to the Adelaide foothills in the east. It is roughly bisected from east to west by Dry Creek. It was named in 1846 by Governor Frederick Robe, Yatala being likely derived from yartala, a Kaurna word referring to the flooded state of the plain either side of Dry Creek after heavy rain.

Christian Gottlieb Teichelmann, also spelt Christian Gottlob Teichelmann, was a Lutheran missionary who worked among Australian Aboriginal people in South Australia. He was a pioneer in describing the Kaurna language, after his work begun at the Piltawodli Native Location in Adelaide, with fellow-missionary Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann.

Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann was a Lutheran missionary who emigrated to Australia and did fundamental pioneering work, together with his colleague Christian Gottlieb Teichelmann, on recording some Australian languages in South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alitya Rigney</span>

Alitya Wallara Rigney, née Richards,, also knowns as Aunty Alice, was an Australian Aboriginal scholar. She was a Kaurna elder and part of the team that revived the Kaurna language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivaritji</span> Kaurna elder, Kaurna language speaker and weaver

Ivaritji also known as Amelia Taylor and Amelia Savage, was an elder of the Kaurna tribe of Aboriginal Australians from the Adelaide Plains in South Australia. She was "almost certainly the last person of full Kaurna ancestry", and the last known speaker of the Kaurna language before its revival in the 1990s.

References

  1. "Amery, Rob (1954-)". Trove . Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Associate Professor Rob Amery". University of Adelaide Staff Directory. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  3. "Reviving an indigenous language dormant for 150 years". The Lead South Australia. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Re-Awakening Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains". Alumni and Giving. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 Richards, Stephanie (25 October 2019). ""Dreadful" decline in Kaurna language teaching". InDaily. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Associate Professor Robert Amery". University of Adelaide Researcher Profiles. 10 November 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  7. Amery, Rob (2 July 2017). "Kaurna language Dr Rob Amery" (audio (13:08m)). ABC Listen (Interview). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  8. Amery, R. (2016). Warraparna Kaurna!: Reclaiming an Australian Language. University of Adelaide Press. ISBN   978-1-925261-24-0 . Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  9. Marchant, Gabriella (11 July 2021). "Aboriginal languages making comeback through new training program and dictionaries". ABC News. Retrieved 14 December 2023.