In 2005 I had the privilege to be appointed as acting principal at Ngukurr School in the Roper River district of the Northern Territory.
Ngukurr was established by the Anglican Mission in 1905 as a refuge for the remnants of the Aboriginal language groups of East Arnhem Land who had been violently dispersed by pastoralists. Slowly a collection of tribes had regathered at a landing place on the mighty Roper River, but because they had been dispersed and lived for many years away from kin and country languages had been lost or fallen into disuse, and the people in the new settlement could not communicate well with either each other or with the new white missionaries.
Gradually the Aboriginal people and the missionaries developed a new language now known as Kriol. Based on English vocabulary it uses Aboriginal syntax and grammar and can rightly be called an Aboriginal language even though it sounds like English.
Having lived with Pitjantjara people at Ernabella in the 1980s and with Arrernte people in Mpwarntwe (Alice Springs) in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s, I was well aware of the power of language when working with Indigenous people. I had learnt conversational Pitjantjara from daily interaction with Anangu in the Pit Lands and had formally studied Arrernte in my role as educator of Arrernte kids from the Alice Springs Town Camps from Veronica Dobson and the other non-indigenous linguists at the Institute for Aboriginal Development.
It was the tradition at Ngukurr for the school to close at midday on Friday. At lunchtime an assembly was held, awards conferred and the principal addressed the school. I participated in this process for a couple of weeks and delivered a short address in English. I quickly noted the keenness of the children to escape to home or the pool as quickly as possible.
After about three weeks I asked one of the Aboriginal staff if she would translate my prepared speech into Kriol so that I could deliver it appropriately. She agreed and then tutored me in pronunciation and delivery.
So I began weekly to address the assembled students and staff, who were joined by a small contingent of parents come to collect their children.
The response was amazing. The kids stopped fidgeting, looked up — and listened! The parents moved closer to get within hearing. The Aboriginal staff smiled almost invisibly, and the non-indigenous staff looked bewildered.
I continued this practice for the rest