An iconic song that references children from the Stolen Generations returning to family and country is lifting hopes that an endangered First Nations language could be revived.
With only a handful of fluent Pertame speakers remaining, community leaders have turned to the power of song and the legacy of one of Australia's music legends to teach the language to 17 young Pertame girls.
Next Thursday, the girls will perform Archie Roach's signature song, Took the Children Away, in language at his state memorial in Victoria.
With the support of leaders from the Pertame School in Alice Springs, the girls will sing as a choir alongside Archie's son, Amos.
For many of the group, preparing for the performance is the first opportunity they have had to learn the language.
Pertame, otherwise known as Southern Arrernte, is a Central Australian language that was traditionally spoken 100 kilometres south of Alice Springs along the Finke and Hugh River.
It is estimated there are only 30 fluent speakers who are still alive, with many speakers who are in their senior years.
'A ticking time bomb'
Vanessa Farrelly, a Pertame woman and project manager for the Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics, hopes the performance will encourage younger generations to embrace their threatened language.
"We really have a ticking time bomb to start to teach Pertame to the next generations, create new fluent speakers in the younger generations, and get our kids speaking their language once again," she said.
"So when we lose our elders, we don't lose our language."
Ms Farrelly said the choice of song and its powerful message of loss from the policies that created the Stolen Generations had strong ties to Pertame's demise.
"They took the children away from their families and their language and their culture and their land," she said.
"And so now, the kids are here learning their language and learning about the Stolen Generations in their own Indigenous languages."
Mixed feelings
For Pertame elder Kathleen Bradshaw-Swan, seeing the children preparing for the performance has been an uplifting experience.
"It makes my heart sing, it makes me feel very happy," she said.
"English is not their language, they have to know who they are, they have to know where they come from, they have to know their culture, their language.
"That's part of them. That's their identity."
The song also evokes painful memories for Ms Bradshaw-Swan, who was banned in the mid-60s from speaking Pertame at school in Alice Springs.
"I was sitting outside … speaking in Pertame … and this teacher walked past us and said, 'Don't you ever speak that lingo at school, don't you ever speak that lingo again'," Ms Bradshaw-Swan said.
"And it was really, really sad for us. But, you know, we looked at each other and we said, 'No, this man is never going to take our language away from us'."
Ready to perform
Jayda Stewart, Destinee Nandy and Madison Swan are three Pertame children who are part of the choir that will take the stage at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne for the memorial.
After a period of intense rehearsing and language learning, the girls are feeling a mixture of nerves and pride in advance of the performance.
Madison said she had enjoyed "learning about language", while Jayda said she was inspired to "keep our language strong".
Against the backdrop of the push to save Pertame, Destinee wants the audience to absorb the closing message of Archie Roach's song.
"They go back — to their family, their sister, brothers, mother and father," she said.
