Efforts to relearn the Tjapukai language began in 1987. Since then, the language has experienced a revival, perhaps the only case of revival of a dying language in Australia. Through the efforts of a dedicated group of people, community interest in the Tjapukai language program has flourished alongside a cultural renewal brought about by the Tjapukai Dance Theatre. The two activities have gone hand in hand in the revitalisation of a strong sense of pride and awareness in Tjapukai identity, language and culture.

Earlier this century, dispossessed of their territory by the push of white settlement, survivors of the Tjapukai tribe had been taken to the Mona Mona mission where children were taken away from their parents and brought up in single-sex dormitories where the use of Aboriginal language was strictly forbidden.

Consequently, the vital language and cultural transmission link from generation to generation was broken. The Tjapukai language and the identity it encoded were effectively cast aside as worthless.

Trained language teacher and anthropologist, Michael Quinn and Roy Banning one of the remaining Tjapukai speakers, began in 1987 by working together with the remaining language speakers and artists to produce language learning resources and conduct language lessons. More old people remembered and the young ones became interested.

Now people from all over the world hear the Tjapukai language describe the spiritual and traditional beliefs of the Tjapukai people in the Creation Theatre at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park (with headset translations in 8 languages). Speaking the language gives it life and enables the Tjapukai people to verbally mark their identity and reclaim sociocultural heritage as distinct and worthy of recognition and pride.

Today, the Tjapukai language and culture program at Kuranda State School provides each class of children in the school (Aboriginal and white) with an introduction to the language and culture. The result has been to raise the profile of Tjapukai in the community and assisted Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people to feel much less in conflict with one another.

Its influence has begun to spread with both Smithfield State High School and Cairns West State School now having Tjapukai language and culture programs.