A major Noongar language and culture meeting at Marribank helped drive coordinated community discussion about spelling and teaching resources, forming an early milestone in the later standard-orthography process used in revitalization programs.
The first Noongar Language and Culture Centre was established at the Bunbury Aboriginal Progress Association, providing an organisational base for community-led language documentation, workshops, and revitalisation efforts in the South West.
A further regional meeting at Wellington Mills continued the series of community gatherings focused on language situation assessment, documentation, and progress toward shared spelling conventions and teaching resources.
Educators Glenys Collard and Rose Whitehurst began a community-driven effort (often referred to as the Nyungar Language Project) to record Elders and support agreement on spelling for educational use—work that underpinned later curriculum materials.
The Dryandra Noongar Language Festival formed part of the continuing mid-1980s to late-1990s meetings and festivals where Noongar Elders and community members discussed language status, documentation, and educational resources.
A large community meeting in Narrogin (reported as April 1992 in some accounts) contributed to broad agreement on a spelling system suitable for school language programs, reinforcing earlier orthography decisions.
Within the Western Australian education context, Glenys Collard co-managed the Department of Education’s ABC of Two-Way Literacy and Learning project (with Patricia Konigsberg), supporting culturally responsive approaches that intersected with language and literacy initiatives.
At a Marribank meeting attended by roughly 200 Noongar people, participants agreed on a standard orthography intended for teaching in schools; this enabled more consistent production and sharing of learning materials across Noongar country.
The community-based Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project began after Elders were connected with archived 1930s recordings of traditional stories, supporting language reclamation by returning stories and associated vocabulary to descendant family groups.
The Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project began publishing illustrated books in English and Noongar, using storywork and workshops to support intergenerational language learning and community participation.
A set of early-childhood Noongar readers by Denise Smith-Ali (with language consulting by Lois Spehn-Jackson) was published with accompanying audio, exemplifying expansion of learning materials for young learners.
A 2012 Australian Government feature described the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project’s work returning archived stories to families and using gatherings around stories to help bring Noongar language back to life.
Community arts workshops in Narrogin used contemporary music and media (including hip hop and adapted pop songs) to motivate students to learn Noongar, illustrating youth-focused approaches to language revitalization.
Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation (NBLCAC) was incorporated, later becoming a key organisational hub for language resources, courses, and community programs supporting Noongar language revival.
A team led by Noongar elder and UWA professor Leonard Collard (with collaborators at Curtin University and others) began Noongarpedia, aiming to build Noongar-language content across Wikimedia projects as a platform for language visibility and learning.
Commonwealth Indigenous Languages Support funding was provided for several years from 2015 to help establish the Noongar Language Centre in Cannington under NBLCAC, supporting coordinated language services and resources.
Media coverage introduced Noongarpedia as an Indigenous Wikipedia initiative, emphasising community participation and the role of digital infrastructure in supporting Noongar language documentation and learning.
Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company (with Bell Shakespeare) premiered Hecate at Perth Festival—an adaptation/translation of Macbeth performed entirely in Noongar—demonstrating high-profile arts-based language renewal and public normalisation.
Noongar language revival and community programs in southwest Western Australia (1970–2020)
