Australia's First Total Immersion Indigenous Language School

When Auriel Swan hears children speaking Pertame in an Alice Springs classroom, she thinks of her mother's dream coming true.

Christobel Swan is one of fewer than 30 fluent speakers of Pertame, also known as Southern Arrernte, and has spent years hoping her language would survive for future generations. Now in declining health, she can no longer teach as she once did, but the Pertame Language Nest is carrying her vision forward.

Inside the Language Nest, children aged zero to five sing, dance, eat, and play entirely in Pertame. English stays at the door. The program immerses young children in their ancestral language the same way their great-grandparents learned it: naturally, through daily life surrounded by fluent speakers.

Three-year-old Tyrique has heard Pertame since before he was born. His mother Sashanna Armstrong started attending while pregnant and brought him back at four weeks old. "Our language is severely endangered," Armstrong said. "It's up to us, the next generation, to revitalise and strengthen our language to keep it flourishing."

For 26-year-old Shania Burdett and her two-year-old daughter Alita, the Nest has become a place where mothers and children learn together. Burdett grew up with English as her first language, but she's pushing through the challenge. "She's getting to know her identity and understanding the words," Burdett said of her daughter.

The program has already achieved something remarkable as Australia's first total immersion Indigenous language preschool. Now the Pertame School is aiming even higher. The organization has filed to register an independent school that would continue total immersion beyond preschool, hoping to start kindergarten classes by 2029.

"If we're successful, we'll be the first total immersion school in Australia," said coordinator Vanessa Farrelly. "We know it's possible. It's been done in other countries."

The Ripple Effect

The Language Nest brings together generations in a powerful exchange. Grandmothers Auriel, Leeanne, and Elsa Swan watch young mothers learn alongside their children, reversing decades of language loss.

Leeanne Swan remembers when Pertame families connected through cattle stations across Central Australia. When station work disappeared and families scattered to Alice Springs and other communities, that daily immersion in language disappeared too. "We don't get the chance, like we did when we were young, to be surrounded by the language," she said.

The Pertame initiative has drawn inspiration from successful programs overseas, including one created by the Yuchi people of Oklahoma. In 2025, Yuchi and Pertame families met to share language revival strategies, building connections across continents.

Elsa Swan feels both joy and sadness when she sees the children learning. She's happy for the young mothers and their babies, but wishes the elders who have passed could witness this moment. She hopes to see her own family speaking Pertame fluently within two decades.

For now, babies like Tyrique are growing up hearing their ancestors' language every day, exactly as Christobel Swan dreamed.