What languages did Aboriginal Australians speak?

Aboriginal Australians spoke about 250 distinct languages and around 800 dialect varieties at the time of European contact in 1788, covering one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world for a single continent. Each language was bound to a particular country and community, with mutual comprehension between neighbouring languages varying widely.

The languages fell into several broad families. The Pama-Nyungan family covers about 90 per cent of the continent and includes languages such as Wiradjuri (central NSW), Pitjantjatjara (central desert), Warlpiri (central Australia), Noongar (south-west Western Australia), and many others. Non-Pama-Nyungan languages, more diverse and concentrated in the Top End and Kimberley, include the Yolngu Matha languages of Arnhem Land, the Bunuban family of the Kimberley, the Gunwinyguan family of western Arnhem Land, and several smaller families. Tasmanian Aboriginal languages form a separate group whose relationship to mainland languages remains unclear because of limited surviving records.

European colonisation devastated Aboriginal languages. Many languages lost their last speakers during the frontier conflicts of the nineteenth century, the missions and reserves of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the Stolen Generations policies that removed children from families and punished them for speaking their languages. Tasmanian Aboriginal languages ceased to be spoken in the 1800s, although palawa kani has been developed since 1992 as a composite Tasmanian Aboriginal language drawing on surviving records.

As of the 2021 census, 167 Indigenous languages are still in use, including Kriol (Aboriginal English creole spoken across northern Australia), Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Warlpiri, the Yolngu Matha languages, Walmajarri, Kukatja, Kala Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir (Torres Strait), and many others. About 12 of these are being learned by children as a first language and passed on naturally. The federal Indigenous Languages and Arts programme funds about 70 community language projects each year. The International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022 to 2032), declared by UNESCO, has prompted further investment in revival programmes. Major sources of recorded language include the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) archives in Canberra.