Dr Mary-Anne Gale

Mary-Anne Gale is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Indigenous College of Education and Research, University of SA. She is a teacher and linguist with many years experience in the field of Aboriginal education in both the Northern Territory and South Australia. One of her research interests is the maintenance and revival of Aboriginal languages, and she is the author of the book Dhangum Djorra’wuy Dhaawu: a history of writing in Aboriginal languages . Mary-Anne also has a keen interest in supporting Aboriginal people in telling their own stories and worked alongside the Ngarrinjeri/Kaurna woman Veronica Brodie to write her life story in the book: My side of the Bridge .

Mary-Anne’s PhD was titled: “Poor Bugger Whitefella Got No Dreaming”, and focused on the representation of Aboriginal Dreaming narratives as published texts. She looked in depth at the writings of the Ngarrindjeri man David Unaipon whose portrait appears on the Australian fifty-dollar note. Mary-Anne’s current projects are working with South Australian schools in developing their Aboriginal language curriculum and resource materials. She also continues to work with Aboriginal people in writing their life stories.