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Dr Kazuko Obata

Manager, Language Access Research Fellow

Born in Sydney, Kazuko grew up in Japan and returned to Australia in 1991 to discover her country of origin. Following the completion of an MA thesis on aspect in at the Australian National University, Kazuko taught Japanese for two years in Wellington, New Zealand. She then returned to Canberra with the intention to do further research on Japanese. Instead, she conducted research on Bilua, a language from the Solomon Islands, and wrote its grammar for her PhD thesis.

On completing her PhD thesis, Kazuko decided to use her knowledge and skills for the maintenance of Australian languages, and in 2000 moved to a remote Aboriginal community, Warburton, WA where she worked as a community linguist for the Ngaanyatjarra language maintenance program. Due to lack of funding, she returned to Canberra after 18 months, and in 2005 took up a position at AIATSIS to work on the AUSTLANG project.

At ACAL, as a Language Access Research Fellow, Kazuko is responsible for projects and activities relating to accessing information and resources on Australian languages.

Current research focus

• AUSTLANG (web-based Australian Indigenous language database)
• OZBIB 2 (a linguistic bibliography of Aboriginal Australia and Torres Strait Islands)
• National Indigneous Languages Survey 2 (NILS 2)

Contact

kazuko.obata@aiatsis.gov.au