top of page
Search


What was Sydney really called?
It is often claimed that the Aboriginal the name for Sydney was Warang . Your Amateur Researcher previously speculated about this in the...

Jeremy Steele
Sep 20, 20246 min read
63 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL Australian National Anthem - updated
How did this translation come about? An Aboriginal singer-songwriter acquaintance sent an email inviting Your Amateur Researcher (YAR) to...

Jeremy Steele
Apr 17, 20247 min read
32 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL Words: damara or mara: 'hand'
Body parts are the best documented category of words for many Aboriginal languages because they were the most immediate and most...

Jeremy Steele
Jun 30, 20167 min read
21 views
0 comments


Old Mans Valley
Just to the west of Hornsby, a northern suburb of Sydney, is Old Mans Valley. One might reasonably assume that the name was inspired by...

Jeremy Steele
May 15, 20162 min read
12 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL Australian National Anthem
How did this translation come about? An Aboriginal singer-songwriter acquaintance sent an email inviting Your Amateur Researcher (YAR) to...

Jeremy Steele
Jan 20, 20166 min read
7 views
0 comments


TASMANIA Words: 'star' shine
The word marama in the Tasmanian word lists caught the attention again today. The meaning given for it is ‘star’. DEEP TIME No-one quite...

Jeremy Steele
Dec 14, 20153 min read
16 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL Words: 'butterfly'
A friend wrote: “If possible would you email the aboriginal word for butterfly.” Here is the reply: ————————– Thank you for your enquiry...

Jeremy Steele
Feb 19, 20152 min read
11 views
0 comments


Millers Point: yilgan maladul
In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 February 2015, written by Leesha McKenny, the matter is raised about giving the name of...

Jeremy Steele
Feb 6, 20154 min read
6 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL: Detective mysteries
Although William Dawes is a splendid resource for understanding the classical Aboriginal language of Sydney Biyal Biyal, there are...

Jeremy Steele
Dec 15, 20133 min read
2 views
0 comments


Distant uncle
The Anon Notebook gives ‘Cow-wan’ as the name or place of Ross Farm, the farm of Major Robert Ross of the Marines, the Lieutenant...

Jeremy Steele
Dec 6, 20132 min read
8 views
0 comments


Guns, sticks and Mrs Bennelong
One of the most noticeable things about guns, when they are used, is that they go ‘bang!’ It is obvious, but we do not think about it...

Jeremy Steele
Nov 7, 20132 min read
10 views
0 comments
Rising, falling, and holding up
To ask ‘What was the Sydney language word for “rise”?’ would seem a simple question, but it is not. The earliest records suggest the word...

Jeremy Steele
May 7, 20134 min read
3 views
0 comments


Sydney clan boundaries: Cadigal and Wangal
For a number of years the University of Sydney has been acknowledging that it is situated ‘on Cadigal land’. But is it? There are few...

Jeremy Steele
Sep 27, 20126 min read
52 views
0 comments


Five verbal suffixes
Suffixes attached to verbs In Australian indigenous languages, or some at least, there seem to be five kinds of suffixes that may be...

Jeremy Steele
Mar 26, 20123 min read
8 views
0 comments


BIYAL BIYAL Words: koala
‘KOALA’: what does it mean? A koala is one of Australia’s favourite treasures of the animal kingdom. It looks almost unbearably...

Jeremy Steele
Dec 22, 20112 min read
17 views
0 comments


Zoo tour name
The local zoo was looking for guidance for a name for a walking tour of the zoo, and offered its preliminary ideas: 1 Burraga Nura …...

Jeremy Steele
Nov 25, 20114 min read
3 views
0 comments
What does yela mean?
SYDNEY WORDS William Dawes of the First Fleet wrote, on page 35 of his notebook ‘b’: P. Mr Faddy yéla Mr Clark yenyában Norfolk Island Mr...

Jeremy Steele
Oct 11, 20114 min read
1 view
0 comments


Warrang or Warrane — or ngurang?
SYDNEY WORDS One of the earliest recorded names for Sydney, or Sydney Cove, was provided by Philip Gidley King: This was derived from...

Jeremy Steele
Oct 8, 20114 min read
237 views
0 comments
Morooberra, the person, and Maroubra, the place
One of the indigenous people encountered by the First Fleeters was Morooberra. The Judge-Advocate, David Collins, who wrote one of the...

Jeremy Steele
May 30, 20115 min read
5 views
0 comments
Sirius Cove (or Mosman Bay)
The Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld ran a mission in the Newcastle, NSW, area in the period 1831-41, and while there studied the language that...

Jeremy Steele
Dec 20, 20102 min read
3 views
0 comments
bottom of page