Young Champions

First Languages Australia is working in a number of ways to support and mentor Australia’s bright young language ‘champions’.

The Young Champions program was established to encourage, promote and mentor our next generation of language workers. Through this program, First Languages Australia invites young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to participate in language mentoring activities.

Youth Gatherings

On Monday, 25 August 2025, the first global Young Champions Gathering was held at the Darwin Convention Centre on Larrakia Country, as part of PUliiMA- Indigenous Languages and Technology Conference. One hundred Young Champions from around Australia and the world, all working on language revitalisation, came together on Larrakia Country to share cultural knowledge, passion and future aspirations for their languages. Topics covered throughout the day were relevant to the future needs of the languages network and the work the Young Champions undertake every day in the languages space. You can read more about the gathering and view our photo gallery here.

The 2025 gathering followed a previous national youth gathering hosted by First Languages Australia, Warra: Indigenous Languages Youth Forum on Tarntanya Country (Adelaide) in November 2022. Warra brought together more than 80 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language workers from regional communities in each state and territory of Australia.

This event was the first time First Languages Australia has brought together a large number of young people to recognise & celebrate Australia's first languages and the work undertaken by the younger generations of language activists and workers in Australia. The forum provided the opportunity to mentor young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, build professional skills and share experiences and knowledge with each other. Find out more about Warra here.

About the network

The program began in 2013 when First Languages Australia and the Ministry for the Arts invited a group of ten young language champions, nominated from around Australia, to meet and work with experienced language advocates. This meeting established the foundations for a network of young language workers around the country supporting each other to achieve their community language goals.

Since then, First Languages Australia has called for nominations from young ‘champions’ to attend and participate in facilitated mentoring at regional meetings, as opportunities arise. Such events have included the Puliima Languages and Technology Forums, Queensland’s State Languages Meetings, WANALA conferences and events, and the inaugural Indigenous Languages Conference held in collaboration with the 12th Pacific Arts Festival.

Internships have also been available, with languages centres offering a one-week placement so a young champion can get hands-on experience and mentoring in different aspects of the language centre’s work. Read the story of an internship here.

During Covid, attention turned to online networking and training, with the facilitation of small group professional development activities together with Living Languages, and linking with young language activists from around the world with Rising Voices.

First Languages Australia has a strong commitment to fostering the engagement and enthusiasm of our next generation of language leaders.

Photograph in header: Young Champions at Puliima 2019, captured by Katherine Soutar courtesy of Puliima Language and Technology Forum.