But now there is hope it can be revived. A joint project between the Geelong-based Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative and the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages is one of a handful around the state aimed at recovering indigenous languages. Work on the language's grammar is expected to follow and it is hoped teaching aids will be produced. There are thought to be very few remaining Wathaurong speakers, project officer Bruce Pascoe said.
Some people can recognise the words and offer pronunciations, but they too are rare.
The Wathaurong people consisted of up to 25 clans living in an area stretching south from near Ballarat to Anglesea and east to the Werribee River, covering Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula. Mr Pascoe, a high-school teacher turned author, said the community's elders were particularly important in passing on the nuances of the language. He said that while missionaries helped to suppress the language by forbidding Aborigines to speak it, their records, along with the diaries of early white settlers, were a valuable resource. It was a traumatic time for white settlers, too, Mr Pascoe said. He said their written experiences occasionally included the names of Wathaurong people and places.