As Australia’s Indigenous Languages Disappear, Experts are Working to Save Them

Indigenous languages in Australia are endangered. Australia has more than 250 Indigenous languages and around 800 dialects, but only 150 are still spoken today, according to the Australian Insitute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies,

From European colonisation in the 18th century until the mid-20th century, Aboriginal communities were forbidden to speak their Indigenous languages. Now, most fluent speakers are elders and younger generations often don’t speak them at all.

Last month, the Australian government unveiled its 2025 budget which included AU$ 3.6 million to continue digitising at-risk audio and video collections of Indigenous languages.

We spoke to experts working on preserving and revitalising these languages for the next generation.