The Groote Eylandt archipelago is home to the Anindilyakwa people, or Warnumamalya, an Aboriginal Australian people who have inhabited the islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria since time long past. Their language, Anindilyakwa (Amamalya Ayakwa), spoken by around 1,486 people according to the 2016 Australian census, faces external pressure from English as it has since the arrival of Europeans on the continent just 400 years ago. Institutionalized oppression throughout British colonization discouraged the use of the Anindilyakwa people’s ancestral language.
However, thanks to the hard work of activists like Sylvia Tkac, the Anindilyakwa language is growing: the 2016 Australian census showed an increase of 200 speakers from the previous census in 2006. This project, led by Sylvia Tkac and Binh Phan, entails establishing resources that teachers, children, and language learners can use. They are translating 12 popularized children’s stories from the public domain (for example, The Little Mermaid, The Three Little Pigs, and Rapunzel) and localizing the stories. These translations will be accompanied by audio recordings and illustrations, commissioned from Anindilyakwa artists.