Cover not available

In:Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country
Edited by Jean-Christophe Verstraete and Diane Hafner
[Culture and Language Use 18] 2016
► pp. 409–432

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

The story of Old Man Frank

A narrative response to questions about language shift in northern Cape York Peninsula

 | Menzies School of Health Research
Published online: 18 February 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.18.19har
In this chapter I present a story that was told to me in the early 1990s by Goodie Massey, an Atambaya man who grew up at Injinoo in northern Cape York Peninsula. The story is set in the early years of the settlement at Injinoo, at a time when children began to adopt the new regional lingua franca, Torres Strait Creole, as their everyday language. As a background to the discussion of this story I explore the historical and linguistic context of the colonial era in northern Cape York Peninsula and posit some explanatory accounts of language shift in Injinoo. I argue that, while language shift can be seen as a function of hegemonic pressures, Goodie Massey’s story offers more nuanced insights into the complex linguistic and social landscape of his childhood.
References (39)
6. References
Beckett, Jeremy. 1987. Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chase, Athol. 1981. All kind of nation. Aboriginal History 5: 6–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry. 1983. Uradhi. In R.M.W. Dixon & Barry Blake, eds. Handbook of Australian Languages. Volume 3. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 306–428.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. Beach-La-Mar to Bislama: The Emergence of a National Language in Vanuatu. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry & Bruce Rigsby. 1979. Cape York Creole. In Tim Shopen, ed. Languages and Their Status. Cambridge, Mass: Winthrop Publishers. 153–207.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Done, John. 1987. Wings Across the Sea. Brisbane: Boolarong Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorian, Nancy. 1981. Language Death. The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect. Philadelphica: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorian, Nanacy. 1998. Western language ideologies and small-language prospects. In Lenore Grenoble & Lindsay Whaley, eds. Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dutton, Tom. 1970. Informal English in the Torres Straits. In William Ramson, ed. English Transported. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 137–160.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gafaranga, Joseph. 2010. Medium request: Talking language shift into being. Language in Society 39: 241–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1983. Local Knowledge. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greer, Shelley & Maureen Fuary. 2008. Community consultation and collaborative research in Northern Cape York Peninsula – a retrospective. Archaeological Heritage 1: 5–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harper, Helen. 2002. The Gun and the Trousers Spoke English: Language Shift in Northern Cape York Peninsula. PhD Dissertation, University of Queensland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
House, Deborah. 2002. Language Shift Among Navajos: Identity Politics and Cultural Continuity. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loakes, Deborah, Karen Moses, Gillian Wigglesworth, Jane Simpson & Rosey Billington. 2013. Children’s language input: A study of a remote multilingual Indigenous Australian community. Multilingua 32: 683–711. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McConvell, Patrick. 1991. Understanding language shift: A step towards language maintenance. In Susanne Romaine, ed. Language in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 143–155. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGregor, William. 2003. Language shift among the Nyulnyul of Dampier Land. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 35: 115–159. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meakins, Felicity. 2014. Language contact varieties. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger, eds. The Languages and Linguistics of Australia: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 365–416.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moore, David. 1979. Islanders and Aborigines at Cape York. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mullins, Steve. 1995. Torres Strait: A History of Colonial Occupation and Culture Contact 1864-1897. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parry-Okeden, William. 1897. Report on the North Queensland Aborigines and the Native Police. Brisbane: Queensland Government, votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Powell, Fiona. 2014. Locating Seven Rivers. In Ian Clarke, Luise Hercus & Laura Kostanski, eds. Indigenous and Minority Placenames: Australian and International Perspectives. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 123–146.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Queensland Home Secretary’s Department. 1919. Report Upon the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary's Department - Aboriginal Department, Information Contained in Report for the Year Ended 31st December 1918. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1924. Report Upon the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary's Department - Aboriginal Department, Information Contained in Report for the Year Ended 31st December 1923. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1925. Report Upon the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary's Department - Aboriginal Department, Information Contained in Report for the Year Ended 31st December 1924. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1933. Report Upon the Operations of Certain Sub-Departments of the Home Secretary's Department - Aboriginal Department, Information Contained in Report for the Year Ended 31st December 1932. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Queensland, Chief Protector of Aboriginals. 1900. Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1899. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1902. Annual Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1901. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1903. Annual Report of the Northern Protector of Aboriginals for 1902. Brisbane.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ray, Sidney. 1907. The jargon English of Torres Straits. In Sidney Ray, ed. The Languages of Torres Straits. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 251–254.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rigsby, Bruce. 1987. Indigenous language shift and maintenance in fourth world settings. Multilingua 6: 359–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robins, Robert & Eugenius Uhlenbeck, eds. 1991. Endangered Languages. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roth, Walter Edmund. 1900. On the Aboriginals of the Pennefather (Coen) River Districts, and other coastal tribes occupying the country between the Batavia and Embley Rivers. A Report to the Under-Secretary, Home Department (Queensland). MS. Held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, Annette. 1990. The Loss of Australia's Aboriginal Language Heritage. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seligmann, Charles & George Pimm. 1907. Vocabulary of the Otati language spoken at Cape Grenville. In Sidney Ray, ed. The Languages of the Torres Strait. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait. Volume 3. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 277–280.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharp, Nonie. 1992. Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sheehy, Don. 1987. A Century at the Top: A History of Telecommunications on Cape York Peninsula Far North Queensland 1887-1987. Cairns: Telecom Australia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shnukal, Anna. 1988. Broken: An Introduction to the Creole Language of the Torres Strait. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veber, Hanne. 1992. Why Indians wear clothes. Ethnos 57: 51–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Claire Bowern
2023. The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue