Wik-Ngathan Past Recording and Maintenance

There is an extensive archive of material relating to the wider Wik region from the 1920s onwards which provides historical and background information about the language groups of the area. Materials include such varied texts as curriculum materials, mission reports, photographic collections and specific anthropological and linguistic material. Significant bodies of research material are from anthropologist Ursula McConnel’s work on the west coast of CYP in the 1920s and Peter Sutton’s long-term fieldwork at Aurukun and Cape Keerweer on language, society and territory (1978). Sutton (1978: 36–43) presents an extensive survey of previous research and archival data relating to western CYP prior to 1978. Further research has included site mapping work (Sutton et al. 1990), anthropological work (Martin 1993), ethnographic films (MacDougall & MacDougall 1979, MacDougall 1980) and, more recently, botanical and medical ethnobotanical work (Smith 2013, Edwards 2005). Recent language documentation projects have involved collaborative work with the Wik-Ngathan and Wik-Ngatharr and Wik-Alken language communities to record and document current language practices and to produce community and research resources (Ashmore, in prep).