Aboriginal Languages Australia

Tyrell and McCarthy both give “Water breaking over rocks” as the meaning for Bondi, Sydney's famous beachside suburb.  McCarthy, F.D. ...

The name of Sydney's inner-city harbourside eastern suburb Woolloomooloo was first recorded in the Anon Sydney Language notebook around...

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

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

Body parts are the best documented category of words for many Aboriginal languages because they were the most immediate and most...

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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 …...

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...

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