Vale Dana Yestin Ober

We convey our deepest respects and condolences to the family of former AIATSIS Council member Dana Yestin Ober (1952–2025), who passed away on 24 March 2025. The funeral was held on 26 April in Townsville.

A very well known, much loved and respected Torres Strait Islander linguist, Dana was on the AIATSIS Council from 2007 to 2012. He was a prominent Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal languages scholar and author.

Dana was based in Townsville and worked in Aboriginal and Islander affairs in both State and Commonwealth Governments for over 20 years. More recently he was a member of the Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipa (Torres Strait Islander Traditional Child Rearing Practice) Act Advisory Committee.

Dana worked in the higher education sector at James Cook University, Batchelor Institute Northern Territory and University of Queensland.

In addition to the AIATSIS Council, he served on various boards and committees including FATSIL (now First Languages Australia), and a State Government working party to develop Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language policy for Queensland. He was also involved in setting up a language program at Tagai State College in Torres Strait.

Dana was a powerful advocate for the preservation and revitalisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, stressing at Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics (CALL) conference in 2002 to “get serious about it, before it’s too late”.

It followed his August 1985 address at the ANZAAS Conference on the need to support, maintain and develop Torres Strait languages. In it, Ober explained the history of language extinction in Australia in his presentation, and he recommended ways to preserve and revitalise these languages.

“Time is running out for Aboriginal languages, much support is needed to persuade the government to put its money behind the recommendations. I reiterate, time is running out. Extinction is forever.”

Dana read a short poem to the gathering which he had written in his own language about what language is in the way of thinking of his people. The name of the poem was “Ya” which he said means “language”.

“I wrote this poem because of my deep concern for the preservation of not just Torres Strait languages, but also other Indigenous languages of Australia and I hate to see any one of them die out. The poem in the language is as follows”, he said. In language, the poem is:

Ya
Ya na gub
Gub na imaygi za
Ngidh ya-thayan-
Na gub aymiz
Kalanu yaginga
Ya na guythwayan
Na gub aymiz
Kalanu zaginga

The English translation is:

Language
Language is air,
Air is invisible.
You say something,
It becomes air,
Then it is gone.
When language is lost,
It becomes air,
Then there is nothing.