Gavan Breen (22 January 1935 – 5 October 2023) AO, also known as J. G. Breen, was an Australian
linguist, specialising in the description of
Australian Aboriginal languages. He studied and recorded 49 such languages.
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,[3] before deciding that this was where his vocation lay.[4][1]
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.[4]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.[6]
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 January 2016[update]. He has also offered his expertise in legal cases, helping native peoples establish their claims to
native title.[1]