| Summary: | The Mpakwithi first nation’s language reclamation shows the importance of language revival for the wellbeing, recognition and future existence of a first nation. The Mpakwithi, like other first nations from the Port Musgrave area on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, after years of non-violent resistance, were forcibly removed from their land in 1963 by the Queensland Government to make way for a bauxite mine. The police razed their dwellings, churches and schools and the people were exiled to the northernmost area of Cape York. Sisters Agnes, Victoria and Susan Kennedy have grown up identifying as Mpakwithi. The Mpakwithi traditionally owns a dialect of the Anguthimri language complex. The last speaker of their language, their grandfather Don Fletcher, learned the language by escaping from mission dormitories to spend time with free Mpakwithi elders. The late linguist Terry Crowley recorded Fletcher’s knowledge in the 70s (Crowley 1975, 1981). However, Fletcher did not feel confident to speak texts other than sample sentences into a microphone. The Kennedy sisters continued to identify as Mpakwithi after Fletcher’s passing. Other traditional groups mocked the sisters for maintaining their identity and were suspicious that the sisters were pretending to belong to a clan that nobody had heard of in order to achieve a greater share of mining royalties. They were ridiculed and this led to a shared feeling of depression. In 2016, songs were recorded that the sisters had learnt from their grandfather. They had been singing them with little understanding of the words. A comparison with the published sketch grammar and wordlist demonstrated to them – and the doubters – that they had indeed been singing an otherwise silenced language. The confirmation was a relief for the sisters and they felt at once relieved and vindicated. Remarkably, the Mpakwithi had preserved features of the unusual Mpakwithi phonology that are foreign to English (Crowley 1976, 1980). Australian first nation revival projects often have no ...
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