Recover Vanuatu’s indigenous literature with Professor Matthew Spriggs. Photo: National Library of Australia.
Join Prof Matthew Spriggs for a discussion about his recent Fellowship research focused on the indigenous languages of Vanuatu.
Prof Matthew Spriggs is a 2025 National Library of Australia Fellow.
Attend in person
Entry to this event is free but bookings are essential.
Watch online
The presentation will also be available online. Please make a booking and the Library’s Events team will send you a direct link to the livestream event via email. Or you can join anytime through the Library’s YouTube channel.
About Prof Matthew Sprigg’s Fellowship research
The National Library holds the collections of Sir John Alexander Ferguson (1881-1969), a judge in the Industrial Commission of New South Wales and author of the seven volume Bibliography of Australia 1784-1900. These remain as the standard reference for books published on Australia during that period. While others may have collected stamps, butterflies or exotic birds, Ferguson collected the publications from the Mission printing presses of the New Hebrides (as Vanuatu was known before 1980). These were donated to the Library upon his death.
The earliest materials (apart from word lists) that were published in Vanuatu languages all date to 1842-3 in the languages of Aneityum, Futuna and Port Resolution (Nafe language) on Tanna – a history of books in Vanuatu languages going back over 183 years. These old texts will prove useful for communities trying to revive their languages, or those involved in Bible translation, as well as linguists who are interested in linguistic change in Vanuatu during the last nearly two centuries. Prof Matthew Spriggs will discuss some of the discoveries he uncovered in his research into the collection during his Fellowship.
About Prof Matthew Spriggs
Prof Matthew Spriggs is an Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at The Australian National University and an Honorary Curator of Archaeology at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port Vila, Vanuatu, where he now lives.
His interests include Pacific and Island Southeast Asian archaeology, archaeological theory and the history of archaeology. His current ARC Project (with Lynette Russell of Monash University) is Aboriginal Involvement in the Early History of Archaeology (2021–23).
Learn more about National Library Fellowships.
The Details
What: Recovering Vanuatu's indigenous literature
When: Thursday 27 November from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
Where: National Library of Australia
Cost: Free. Registrations essential.
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