Rob Amery

Robert Maxwell Amery (born 1954) is an Australian linguist and specialist in Australian Aboriginal languages, in particular language revitalisation of endangered languages, and focused primarily on the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains region of South Australia. He is the author of books, articles, and a website, among other publications.

Early life and education Robert Maxwell Amery was born in 1954.

Career Amery began working in Aboriginal communities as a nurse, in 1980. After working for some time as an Aboriginal health worker educator, he started taking an interest in education when working in Yirrkala, in northeast Arnhem Land in 1985. He researched Dhuwaya, a new koiné variety of Yolngu Matha which was predominantly used by youth.

In 1990, Amery created the first complete sentence in the Kaurna language known to people still alive. In the early 1990s he worked as project officer for the Australian Indigenous Languages Framework. Amery was a co-founder of Kaurna Warra Pintyandi (KWP; now spelt Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi) at the university, to observe and promote the development of Kaurna. In 2012 the Commonwealth Indigenous Language Support (ILS) scheme provided funding for the project, enabling the establishment of a KWP team. This team included Stephen Gadlabarti Goldsmith ("Uncle Stevie") until his sudden death in 2017, among others.

In July 2017, the NAIDOC Week theme was "Our Languages Matter", and Amery spoke about Aboriginal languages on ABC Radio.

In 2019 Amery told an SA Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee that outcomes for Kaurna language programs were much better in the mid-1990s than they are by 2019, partly due to increasing focus on NAPLAN, and little incentive for or provision of professional development for Kaurna teachers.

Amery is associate professor/reader at the University of Adelaide.

Other published books include: