Click the map to enter the archive
The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is a digital collection of endangered literature in Indigenous languages of the Northern Territory.
It is designed to be a living archive, with connections to the people and communities where the books were created, which allows for collaborative research work with the Indigenous authorities and communities.
Beginning with books published in Literature Production Centres at remote NT schools which had bilingual education programs, the collection now includes thousands of books from over 30 communities. All the books have been catalogued and digitised, and with permission from the original creators, uploaded to this website.
Many of the stories have an English translation and a few of the stories have audio files. You can browse by Place, Language or People (Authors or Illustrators), or search words or phrases in English or in language.
Read more about the project on the website, or download the story of the Living Archive
Watch a demonstration video about how to navigate and use the archive
Watch a video in Yolŋu Matha about the website.
Read the Frequently Asked Questions about the website.
Using materials on the Living Archive:
The materials are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia license. Users are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- No Derivatives If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material
For more information about using these materials, visit the Copyright and IP issues page of the Living Archive site.
What do you think? 
Select a few related content outcomes from a learning area in the Australian curriculum or the curriculum documents you currently use or choose a topic of interest. What related texts within the LAAL website and which languages were they written in? Write down some ideas or brainstorm how you might include at least one of these texts. What constraints might you encounter? What information is on the LAAL website to assist you overcome these constraints?
The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is supported under the Australian Research Council‘s Linkage, Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) funding scheme (project number LE120100016 and LE140100063).
The project is a collaboration between Charles Darwin University, Australian National University, Northern Territory Department of Education, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Northern Territory Library and the Northern Territory Catholic Education Office.
