Auslan
Guest curator Darlene Thornton explains how Auslan evolved through Australian Deaf history.
Auslan developed from British Sign Language, which was brought to Australia by some of our early deaf migrants.
1818
Here we can see that the deaf convict John Fitzgerald used an interpreter at his trial in London in 1818. Fitzgerald arrived in Australia in 1819 – one of the earliest signing deaf people from Europe.
“The prisoner being deaf and dumb had the evidence communicated to him by an interpreter…”
Sessions House, Old Bailey
1862
This is an illustration of the fingerspelling alphabet that was used in the NSW Deaf and Dumb Institute in 1862, two years after its establishment. Can you find any differences between this version of the alphabet, and the one we use today?
1887
“There is something quite fascinating in the hand-talk practised by a lively young lady, embellished with all the witchery of nods and smiles, while occasional dots and dashes have to be put in by pointing to her mouth or eyes. Then there is a splash of one hand across the palm of another, which gives the final touch to an indefinable kind of attraction, like that possessed by an accomplished Frenchwoman.”
Early Recording and Standardisation
1900
This little illustrated booklet was printed from engravings by a ‘deaf mute’ in Victoria (probably Matthew Miller, a prominent deaf engraver). It is one of the earliest examples of educational material for the wider community, and is interesting for how it attempts to show the movement, orientation and location of signs. See the explanatory information at the top of each page.
Early 20th Century
“Say a word of cheer to every deaf mute you meet.” This is an early 20th century example of a fingerspelling chart, and is unusual because it was quite large. It was distributed by the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of Victoria. This version of the alphabet is similar to the one used around Australia today.
1911
Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association Congress
Samuel Showell was involved in the Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association, and attended their 1911 Congress in Melbourne. Check out the full program below to find Showell’s presentation about employment of deaf people (p. 4).
This Congress of the Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association was held in 1911 in Melbourne. It includes a presentation from J. E. Muir (a prominent deaf leader in Melbourne) called ‘Uniform System of Sign and Finger Language for the deaf of Australasia’. We’d love to know what he was proposing!
This Congress of the Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association was held in 1911 in Melbourne. It includes a presentation from J. E. Muir (a prominent deaf leader in Melbourne) called ‘Uniform System of Sign and Finger Language for the deaf of Australasia’. We’d love to know what he was proposing!
c. 1920s
This is an example of how the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of Victoria made use of film technology when it was still a new medium. They have filmed Superintendent Ernest Abraham signing ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ – which would have been a familiar text to most viewers. Today we might call this a ‘frozen text’ – something which is regularly repeated and usually signed the same way.
Variation and Standardisation
1949
This conference in Sydney in 1949 shows us that there have regularly been discussions about standardising signs around Australia. At this conference, it seems that deaf and hearing delegates came from every state to discuss the issue.
c. 1949
After the 1949 conference on standardising signs, the Victorian Adult Deaf and Dumb Society produced three films, with their Superintendent Mr Ernest Reynolds demonstrating signs for a series of English words. This is ‘Part 3’. It’s interesting to see the signs and compare them with modern Auslan signs, and also to watch how Reynolds produces these ‘citation’ forms of the signs.
1960s
This small card was distributed by the Australian Deaf Sports Federation, from around 1965 onwards. It encouraged signers to adopt a standard set of signs for numbers, and also to adopt new signs for DOLLAR and CENT (decimal currency was about to be introduced in 1966).
1977
This booklet was published by the Australian Federation of Deaf Societies in 1967, and was used for many years as a resource for people learing to sign. It was based on an older booklet from the UK, and all of the photos of signers are of UK people.
1975
Dot Shaw at the Opening Ceremony
Dorothy Shaw gives a formal presentation at the opening of the Stanmore Deaf Centre in 1975.
Auslan Recognition
1982
This was the first Signed English dictionary, published in 1982. It was used in schools all over Australia, and also in New Zealand and some other Pacific countries. It was referred to as the ‘Green Book’ by many deaf people.
How Auslan got its name
In this video, Professor Trevor Johnston describes the movement to have Auslan recognised in the 1980s, and explains how the name ‘Auslan’ was invented.
1987
“The communication disabled, particularly deaf people, have evolved languages which are stable and share many of the characteristics of community languages. Australian Sign Language is the language of over 7,000 deaf people and is used by thousands of others who, however, are not dependent on it.”
The National Policy on Languages (1987) was the first government policy to recognise the sign language used by Australian deaf people.
