English is a foreign language. Pertame language is our language. It’s our identity, it’s who we are, it’s where we come from, it’s our family. We have to instill in the children a love of their language, a love of their family, their culture, their land and therefore a love of themselves.
Kathy Swan-Bradshaw
Next Project
Bemkanin – Wadeye Community Plan
Murrinh-patha
Pertame School
Pertame is a severely endangered central Australian language with fewer than 30 fluent speakers, most of whom are elderly. Recognising the urgent need to preserve their cultural heritage, the community established the Pertame School as a place for Elders to pass on language and cultural knowledge to the next generation. The school uses language immersion techniques developed by Indigenous communities in California, creating an environment where babies and children can be raised as fluent speakers.
The school is based in Mpartntwe/Alice Springs and operates from a temporary facility, which restricts its ability to expand and plan. The community urgently need a purpose-built classroom of their own, to ensure the continuity and growth of their language preservation efforts.
Our role was to assist the school in applying for a substantial grant through Aboriginal Investment NT to design and construct a new classroom in a more suitable location. We worked closely with Vanessa Farrelly from the Pertame School and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education to translate the community’s aspirations into a compelling funding application.
Working as partners rather than consultants, we supported the community by handling the intensive technical requirements of government applications—preparing conceptual drawings, detailed project descriptions, comprehensive budgets, and risk assessments. This approach ensured the community could focus on their core mission while we provided the specialised expertise needed to navigate complex funding processes, and good news, we were successful!
The success of the funding application has enabled the community to move forward with confidence, and we continue to work alongside them to ensure this new facility is realised as quickly as possible.
| Location | Arrernte Country |
| Partners | Pertame School, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education |
| Project Type | Grant Writing and Architecture |
| Completion | Ongoing |
| Project Team | Kieran Wong, Andrew Broffman, Emma Brain |
