Gavan Breen

Gavan Breen (born 22 January 1935 ) is an Australian linguist, specializing in the description of Australian Aboriginal languages. He has studied and recorded 49 such languages.

Breen was born at St Arnaud in the Wimmera district of the state of Victoria and received his secondary education at St Patrick's College, Ballarat (1948–1952)where he matriculated as Dux in his final year. He went on to study at Newman College, graduating as a metallurgist from Melbourne University. 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, and later with the Woorabinda people, and decided that this was where his vocation lay. He was appointed a research fellow at Monash, and there worked on the Bidjara and sv:Gungabula languages and Pitta Pitta with Barry Blake.

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 He is presently a member of the AIATSIS. Though Breen officially retired in 2001, he continues to work at the Institute of Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs. He has also offered his expertise in legal cases, helping native peoples establish their claims to native title. On 26 January 2016, Breen was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

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 retains a working knowledge, if partial, of an otherwise extinct language.

Languages Breen has helped to salvage include:

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