Aborigines risk 'cultural impoverishment', says Noel Pearson (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Aborigines risk 'cultural impoverishment', says Noel Pearson

by: Sarah Elks From: The Australian October 27, 2011 12:00AM

NOEL Pearson has warned that indigenous Australians risk becoming as
"culturally impoverished" as they are economically poor, and that
Australia is a "graveyard" for traditional languages.

Delivering the Griffith Lecture in Brisbane on Tuesday night, the
director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership said
that if indigenous languages and cultures were not saved, the
"wellbeing of our people will never be achieved".

He said that, before colonisation, more than 200 indigenous languages
and 600 dialects were spoken. Now, only 100 still exist, and 90 per
cent are near extinction.

"There is little action to slow this terrible decline," Mr Pearson said.

Access full article below:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/aborigines-risk-cultural-impoverishment-says-pearson/story-fn9hm1pm-1226177788044