Ngaiawang language revival project awakens “sleeping” words along the River Murray

An Aboriginal-led language revival project in South Australia is rebuilding Ngaiawang – a language that community members say fell “sleeping” for generations after colonisation and displacement along the River Murray.

The revival work is being led by the River Murray Mallee Aboriginal Corporation in partnership with linguists from the Mobile Language Team, with support focused on reconstructing a written wordlist and developing community resources to pass language knowledge to children and young people.

The project has already compiled about 800 Ngaiawang words by drawing on archival wordlists recorded in the 1840s, alongside community knowledge about pronunciation and meaning. For participants, the process is about more than vocabulary – it is about identity, continuity and reconnecting with Country and kinship networks along the river.

Andrea Giles, part of the group helping revive the language, said the historical records have also affirmed what families held onto quietly over time. “Some of the words are [similar] to the ones the old people would have said” she said.

The Mobile Language Team’s resources explain that the work draws on historical records and community collaboration. “This wordlist has been put together by using historical sources” the organisation notes, alongside posters developed with the River Murray Mallee Aboriginal Corporation to help identify local plants and animals while travelling through River Murray landscapes.

Ngaiawang is one of the language groups associated with the Murray River corridor, with South Australian Museum archival notes placing Ngaiawang Country along the river “from Herman Landing to Penn Reach” and extending west toward the Mount Lofty Ranges. Community-led language recovery sits within a wider national movement to protect and renew languages that have been disrupted (often through deliberate policies) and to ensure younger generations can inherit language knowledge as living practice, not just historical record.

Next steps for the Ngaiawang project include confirming the wordlist with community and producing a picture book featuring local artwork, supporting language learning in homes and community settings.