WITH its summer exhibition, “Cook and the Pacific”, drawing to a close on February 10, the National Library is getting ahead of the pack in marking the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Experts will talk about how people who sailed with Cook’s three Pacific voyages made lists of indigenous words that are now invaluable sources as present-day communities revitalise the indigenous languages of Australia and the region.

It’s a star studded line-up of specialist speakers covering everything from the origins of written M?ori to returning cultural information to indigenous communities’ dilemmas around giving access to sacred or “taboo” material.

“CityNews” caught up with a newcomer to the library staff who’ll be speaking.

Dr Shirleene Robinson, senior curator of Oral History and Indigenous Programs since September, comes from Macquarie University, where she was the Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Fellow in the Discipline of Modern History since 2011.

The book she co-authored with Alex Greenwich, “Yes Yes Yes! The Inside Story of the Campaign for Marriage Equality in Australia”, used oral history to source information and she views the question of indigenous languages through the same prism.

“Cook encountered many different indigenous languages and those languages have proved to be resilient… they play an important part in transmitting culture,” she says.

Robinson stresses the role of recorded singing, notably Samoan church-singing, in helping the restitution of language. As well, she says, oral history recordings of people speaking in Fijian and the Central Papuan Motu language of Papua New Guinea have been keen on reviving their languages, also praising the retention and recording of languages in western and northern Australia. Many indigenous people can and do take advantage of the National Library’s rich collection of such recordings.

“Anyone in Australia can have access to all this,” she says.

“We have the world’s oldest culture and a Pacific heritage.”
So what will the coming conference have for the wider public?

“We hope this will really appeal to people, it’s about music and talk and song and how culture is being presented and maintained.”

“Language Keepers: Preserving the Indigenous Languages of the Pacific”, National Library of Australia, February 9-10, fees apply, registrations to nla.gov.au

Free, unregistered public event, NLA, 4.30pm-7pm, February 10 includes extended-hours, final-day viewing of “Cook and the Pacific” and “Beauty Rich and Rare”.