How did this translation come about? An Aboriginal singer-songwriter acquaintance sent an email inviting Your Amateur Researcher (YAR) to look at what he had just done. He had produced a draft of a translation of the Australian National Anthem. It was soon apparent that this was more a collection of concepts than a grammatical narrative. It prompted a new attempt, one that a speaker such as Mr Bennelong might have understood. A line-by-line consideration of this alternative t

Yarrangobilly is a rural locality in the Snowy Mountains known for its limestone caves, thermal pool and historic Caves House. Located about 40 km west from the southern portion of the ACT, this places it in Ngarigo country. Consequently yarangu-bili  might be a Ngarigu word. It probably comprises two or three parts: — yarang (or one of yarang , yarung ; yurang , yurung ; yirang , yirung ) — gu — bili -bili bili is a widespread suffix in NSW languages and appears to convey

A personal diary entry from January 1984 has the record: “Later we all set off by car headed for Twofold Bay 150 km away approx. Did this via Bermagui and Merimbula.”  Two placenames of interest, coastal towns in south-eastern New South Wales, are mentioned. What might they mean? As usual, McCarthy and Tyrell have something to say: Bermagui: Australian respelt English EngJSM source “Bermagui” barmaguwi “Resembling a canoe with paddles” canoe— : McCarthy [:6:3] [] Merimbula: “

Bushland in Berowra, to the north of Sydney Everyone knows the bush call ‘cooee’. Not so many know that it is an Indigenous word, and that it means ‘come’. It was recorded by William Dawes in about April 1791: Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “Kaouwi´ Kaouwi´ …” gawi gawi … “Calling to come” come come : Dawes (b) [b:15:1] [BB] Dawes recorded a Biyal Biyal , Sydney language, remark made by the youngster Gunanguli: “Gon. Mama kaowi ngália bogía” mama GAWI ngaliya bugiy

On page 101 of the Rev. William Ridley's Kamilaroi and Other Languages (KAOL)* the following occurs in a list of 21 Dharawal words or expressions : *Ridley, William, Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages . [KAOL] (Sydney, Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1875. The sixth from the bottom is: What do you want ? unijerunbi minku ? In attempting to analyse this, especially as the sentence is a question, it is tempting to consider that minku is related to common interrog

The Rev. William Ridley (1819-1878) wrote an article, ‘Australian languages and traditions’ (AL&T), published in the February 1878 issue of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland . On p. 263 he reproduced some words and phrases provided by “Lizzie, a half-caste, whose mother was a Shoalhaven aboriginal, and who is now the wife of John Malone". He had already provided a listing of “specimens of the language of the extinct Sydney Tribe (from