Gavan Breen

Breen was born at St Arnaud in the Wimmera district of the state of Victoria on 22 January 1935.{{sfn|Volling|2016}}

He received his secondary education at St Patrick's College, Ballarat (1948–1952), where he matriculated as Dux in his final year.{{sfn|Nolan|2016}} He went on to study at Newman College, graduating as a metallurgist from Melbourne University.{{sfn|BIOITE|2016}}

He was thinking of somewhere to take a holiday break and a job when, in 1967, he chanced to listen to a public lecture at his university in which the need to record dying languages was mentioned. The work was well paid, and Breen took a grant to do a master's degree at Monash University, working initially with the last speakers of the Warluwarra language, including Ida Toby, and later with the Woorabinda people,{{sfn|BIOITE|2016}} before deciding that this was where his vocation lay.{{sfn|Sleath|2014}}{{sfn|Volling|2016}}

He was appointed a research fellow at Monash, and there worked on the Bidjara and :sv:Gungabula languages and Pitta Pitta with Barry Blake.{{sfn|O'Donnell|1973|p=50}}

Breen's work, which has extended over many distinct language groups in western and central Queensland, the Northern Territory, and South Australia, was mostly done under the auspices of the AIATSIS, of which he was a member. He has studied and recorded 49 such languages.{{sfn|Sleath|2014}} Tasaku Tsunoda has suggested that, having worked with literally dozens of individuals who were the last speakers of a variety of Australian languages, Breen can be said to be the last speaker of the languages he has described, since he retained a working knowledge, if partial, of an otherwise extinct language.{{sfn|Tsunoda|2005|p=41}}

On 26 January 2016, Breen was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia.{{sfn|Nolan|2016}}

Although Breen officially retired in 2001, he continued to work at the Institute for Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs and was still there {{as of|lc=yes|January 2016}}. He has also offered his expertise in legal cases, helping native peoples establish their claims to native title.{{sfn|Volling|2016}}

He died on 5 October 2023 in Alice Springs.{{cite web| url=http://www.vrwc.org.au/tim-archive/articles/wv-gavan-breen.pdf| title= Vale Gavan Breen: 1935 -2023|publisher= Victorian Race Walking Club |date=10 October 2023|first= Tim |last=Erickson}}

Breen helped to salvage many languages, including:

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Warluwarra
• Bidjara{{sfn|Breen|1973}}
• Gungabula{{sfn|Breen|1973}}
• The Antekerrepenhe dialect of Upper Arrernte{{sfn|Breen|2016|p=139}}
• The Mayabic languages and dialects{{sfn|Breen|1981}}
• The Yalarnnga language{{sfn|Breen|Blake|2007}}
• The Innamincka dialect of Yandruwandha{{sfn|Breen|2015a}}{{sfn|Breen|2015b}}

{{div col end}}

• {{Citation | author1=Breen, Gavan | chapter=Ergative, locative and instrumental case inflections : Wangkumara |pages=336–339| publication-date=1976 | chapter-url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/38819903|title=Grammatical categories in Australian languages|editor-first= Robert|editor-last= Dixon|place=Canberra|publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies}}
• {{Citation | author1=Breen, J. G. | author2=Monash University. Department of Linguistics | author3=Monash University. Thesis | title=A description of the Waluwara language | publication-date=1971 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16875266 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Breen, Gavan | title=Andegerenbenha vowel phonology | publication-date=1977 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/210589751}}
• {{Cite book| title = The Mayi Languages of the Queensland Gulf Country

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 1981

| publisher = Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies

| isbn = 978-0-858-83567-2

| ref=none

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Salvage Studies of Western Queensland Aboriginal Languages

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 1990

| publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies

| isbn = 978-0-858-83401-9

}}

• {{Cite book| title = The grammar of Yalarnnga: a language of western Queensland

| last1 = Breen | first1 = Gavan

| last2 = Blake | first2 = Barry J.

| year = 2007

| publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qVAgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41

| isbn = 978-3-110-18429-7

| ref=none

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Innamincka Talk: A grammar of the Innamincka dialect of Yandruwandha

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 2015 | orig-year = First published 2004

| publisher = Australian National University

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rEvgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP13

| isbn = 978-1-921-93420-9

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Innamincka Words: Yandruwandha dictionary and stories

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 2015 | orig-year = First published 2004

| publisher = Australian National University

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h0vgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1

| isbn = 978-1-921-93422-3

}}

• {{Cite book| chapter = W E Roth and the Study of Aboriginal Languages in Queensland

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| title = The Roth Family, Anthropology, and Colonial Administration

| editor1-last = McDougall | editor1-first = Russell

| editor2-last = Davidson | editor2-first = Iain

| year = 2016

| publisher = Routledge

| pages = 133–155

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZalJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139

| isbn = 978-1-315-41728-8

| ref=none

}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{Cite web| title = Honour for Gavan Breen

| year = 2016

| publisher = Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

| url = http://central.batchelor.edu.au/honour-for-gavan-breen/

| ref = {{harvid|BIOITE|2016}}

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Bidyara and Gungabula: grammar and vocabulary

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 1973

| publisher = Monash University

}}

• {{Cite book| title = The Mayi Languages of the Queensland Gulf Country

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 1981

| publisher = Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies

| isbn = 978-0-858-83567-2

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Salvage Studies of Western Queensland Aboriginal Languages

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 1990

| publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies

| isbn = 978-0-858-83401-9

}}

• {{Cite book| title = The grammar of Yalarnnga: a language of western Queensland

| last1 = Breen | first1 = Gavan

| last2 = Blake | first2 = Barry J.

| year = 2007

| publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qVAgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41

| isbn = 978-3-110-18429-7

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Innamincka Talk: A grammar of the Innamincka dialect of Yandruwandha

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 2015a | orig-year = First published 2004

| publisher = Australian National University

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rEvgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP13

| isbn = 978-1-921-93420-9

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Innamincka Words: Yandruwandha dictionary and stories

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| year = 2015b | orig-year = First published 2004

| publisher = Australian National University

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h0vgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1

| isbn = 978-1-921-93422-3

}}

• {{Cite book| chapter = W E Roth and the Study of Aboriginal Languages in Queensland

| last = Breen | first = Gavan

| title = The Roth Family, Anthropology, and Colonial Administration

| editor1-last = McDougall | editor1-first = Russell

| editor2-last = Davidson | editor2-first = Iain

| year = 2016

| publisher = Routledge

| pages = 133–155

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZalJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139

| isbn = 978-1-315-41728-8

}}

• {{Cite news| title = Old Boy's Australia Day honour

| last = Nolan | first = Paul

| year = 2016

| publisher = St Patrick's College, Ballarat

| url = http://www.stpats.vic.edu.au/en/news/article/old-boy-s-australia-day-honour/

}}

• {{Cite news| title = Bid to save native languages from extinction

| last = O'Donnell | first = Mietta

| publisher = Monash Reporter

| url = http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/records-archives/assets/docs/pdf/monash-reporter/1973-04-02.pdf

| date = 2 April 1973

}}

• {{Cite news| title = Veteran linguist's work preserved

| last = Sleath | first = Emma

| work = ABC News

| url = http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/04/23/3990567.htm

| date = 24 April 2014

}}

• {{Cite book| title = Endangerment and Language Revitalization: An Introduction

| last = Tsunoda | first = Tasaku

| author-link = Tasaku Tsunoda

| year = 2005

| publisher = Walter de Gruyter

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qVAgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41

| isbn = 978-3-110-18429-7

}}

• {{Cite news| title = Alice man's crusade to save indigenous languages honoured with OAM

| last = Volling | first = Tom

| newspaper = Northern Territory News

| url = http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/centralian-advocate/alice-mans-crusade-to-save-indigenous-languages-honoured-with-oam/news-story/68da777bc377c5576089b3a6de034be7

| date = 26 January 2016

}}

{{refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Breen, Gavan}}

Category:1935 births

Category:Linguists from Australia

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages

Category:Officers of the Order of Australia