PDF of chapter in Re-Awakening Languages. Abstract: "This paper reflects on the long, collaborative process of compiling a contemporary Ngarrindjeri dictionary of the language belonging to the people of the Lower Murray, Lakes and Coorong region of South Australia. The project began in 2003 with a small wordlist of a couple of hundred words still remembered by a few Ngarrindjeri Elders, but it soon grew into a much bigger project involving many more community members, and countless hours spent poring over old books and numerous card files held in museum archives. The latest edition includes nearly 3700 entries, including both written and oral sources.... Over a period of six years the making of the dictionary has given the community a renewed sense of hope about what is possible for the Ngarrindjeri language, and a growing sense of pride in a collective cultural identity."