The Leary Trust for Australian Indigenous Languages Award

Eligibility

To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:

• be a student of Indigenous descent enrolled or enrolling in the Honours or the Graduate Diploma (Advanced) program within the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne;
• be studying either full time or part time; and
• be working on a topic related to Australian Indigenous languages in association with the Research Unit for Indigenous Language.

Selection criteria

Selection will be determined by academic merit based on the weighted average mark (WAM) achieved in the final year of the Bachelor of Arts.

No application is required. All students of Indigenous descent who are enrolled or enrolling in the Honours program or the Graduate Diploma (Advanced) within the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne will be considered for this award.

Recipients will be notified in February.

Duncan Leary

The late Duncan Leary graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1955 with a Bachelor
of Arts. He met his life partner, chef Ernest Lanz, in Geneva, Switzerland, before the couple returned permanently to Melbourne in the 1960s.

A man of tremendous erudition, Duncan maintained a strong association with the
University for the rest of his life, studying many subjects through Melbourne’s continuing education program, including a number in the fields of Aboriginal history and culture.

Though we know little about his connection to Indigenous languages, it is clear that Duncan was a passionate linguist, speaking five languages in addition to English. His bequest is one  
of the largest ever given to the study of Indigenous languages.