How about aborigines learning English so that they can get jobs instead of stitting around in remote camps.

Get real.
How about learning more relevant languages such as Mandarin,Hindi or even English!
socratease

Stephen
I can appreciate your embarrassment being present in a ceremony where you could not understand the language being spoken.

I have been in the same position and wrote a piece for this forum detailing the occasion and proposing that Australian schools teach an indigenous language as an option to Mandarin,Bahasa, Greek, French and German as are presently offered.<http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7327>

The piece received much the same response from the Philistines in our midst as your first two comments.
I remember another occasion where an Aboriginal delegate on a cultural visit to China became incensed when he had to speak to Chinese Officials through an interpreter despite the Chinese Officials being fluent in 'Engrish'.

Of course the Chinese have every right to conduct important affairs in their own language.

I believe your suggestion has considerable merit since we do not have a unique "Australian Language" other than Indigenous languages, a number of which are already developed in a curricular form ready to be included into language faculty.

I also contend that recognition of Aboriginal language would go a long way towards real reconciliation; So don't be deterred, continue with the thought and get the Reconciliation Commissioners on side too to do something practical other than talk.

After looking into the LOTE issues and possible solutions I am coming to believe that the use of Esperanto in the National Curriculum from year 1 would be the best way of encouraging the continuation of secondary languages. Reports, both in favour and against the use of this language as an International language, from around the world do have a trend to advocate the use of Esperanto as a prepartory language, making the learning of a tertiary language easier.

This tertiary language could be taught from year 5 and it is at this stage the I would like to see indiginous languages be offered along with other languages from around the world. Whilst I can see some of the benefits of choosing one of the many in existence and use in Australia; I believe that each Country should be teaching its own language to those that live in it. This way the cultural restoration of many Countries can be achieved. Parts of Australia already have policies that encourage the teaching of local indiginous languages as an aide to cultural restoration. Why not all?

maracas wrote: "The piece received much the same response from the Philistines in our midst as your first two comments."

By 'Philistines' I assume you mean all those who see absolutely no reason to waste taxpayers dollars teaching archaic languages spoken by only a minute fraction of the total population.

Maori pride causes them to maintain cultural practice including the continuance of language.
Such pride is not immediately evident in indigenous Autralian society.
It would appear that the Maori language is free from the great number of dialects that afflict Autralian aboriginal language, itself a sign of disunity, past and present, amongst Australian aborigines.

It's the old leading a horse to water argument. If the aborigines haven't been willing to find it within themselves to sit together and develop a common language for mutual benefit, then they never will.
Nor will they (quietly) work for common cultural good. They are prepared to let events overtake and overturn them. Yes, they are apathetic. The Maori are not, obviously.

I would be interested to hear if anyone knows the degree to which each of the two afore-mentioned groups fund their activities.

Efranke:
No, I used the word in the classical sense: I'll leave it to you to look up a meaning in Wikipedia.
Meanwhile, stand in front of a mirror and you will find one.

Stephen, what exactly do you seek to achieve with this Typical,Totally Out of Touch, Aboriginal academic Bull Sh#t?

"Meanwhile, stand in front of a mirror and you will find one."

Did you come up with that oh-so-witty retort all by yourself?

In any case, you still haven't provided a single good reason why those of us among the non-aboriginal, European Australian mainstream should be forced to learn near-extinct languages which have no cultural nor economic relevance to us.

"forced to learn near-extinct languages which have no cultural nor economic relevance to us."

German, French anyone (they certainly have no relevance at all, nor are they economical)? Honestly, I think it is more about learning something of the aboriginal culture and respecting it a little bit than practicality.

No one is proposing fluency in this, much as any language introduction.

However if Australians could pseak aboriginal that would be an excellent strategic defence/military security against invasion/espionage because of it's rarity and diversity.

Efranke:
I gave some valid reasons in a previous post on this subject which you can access if you scroll back where I have provided the URL.

The Australian Military has considered that they have much to learn from Aborigines in learning survival techniques in the Australian bush where a number of our early explorers perished where Aborigines existed for centuries.
So much so that they conduct survival exercises with Aborigines in Norforce and what better way to absorb the information that to be able to speak the language which is far from dead but very much in every day use in top-end communities.

It is not difficult to attain a working knowledge of most languages if you are motivated to do so and respect Aboriginal people as the owners of this land and possess a very rich culture. There skills in understanding the bush environment is unsurpassed and you may even recall occasions where their tracking skills have saved people who have been lost. There is much we can learn from them and one way to do so is to make an effort to learn their language,

Steel,

More Australians claim German ancestry than Aboriginal ancestry. So if German has little cultural relevance to Australians, then Aboriginal languages must be even less relevant.

Economically, German is still one of the main languages of science. It is also the most widely spoken language in Europe; more people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe.

As for French, it is an official language in 29 countries and remains an international lingua franca. Hardly an obscure language by any definition.

maracas,

The Aboriginals are not the sole owners of this land. Nor is their culture particularly "rich" by any objective standards.

To claim otherwise is to rehash the old "Noble Savage" myth.