It often seems to us that most placenames have meanings which are unknown and mysterious. Does Warsaw have a meaning? Do Pisa , Calais , Berlin ? It would appear, however, that Kalamunda , in the foothills of the Darling Ranges outside Perth, is not one of these: we’re told that ‘everybody knows’ what it means. Wikipedia confidently tells us that the word is derived from two Noongar (an Indigenous Australian language) words: kala meaning ‘home’ and munda meaning ‘forest’, hen

A package holiday coach tour in August 2024 went from Broome in Western Australia to Perth. One of the places visited was the Pinnacles, in Nambung National Park, south of Cervantes, about half way between Geraldton and Perth. This would probably be in Amangu country, indicated in green on the map above right. The Pinnacles are a landscape of limestone pillars in profusion extending for what seems square kilometres, commonly about one metre tall but often larger as in this il

The following entry from the Macquarie archive gives basic information about the brolga but does not explain where the term ‘native companion’ comes from: BROLGA From the Macquarie archive: (also known as 'native companion' in colonial times) Scientific name: Grus rubicunda One of two species of crane found in Australia. (Fifteen species occur throughout the world) . Brolgas are large, long-legged, long-necked birds noted for their impressive dancing displays, in which they

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 an old man once living there. It would have had its share of old men, as does anywhere else. In Old Mans Valley an occasional black wallaby is to be seen, and the name might actually relate to kangaroos. In some Aboriginal languages there is a connection between words for ‘man’ and ‘kangaroo‘ — especially male kangaroos. The by now fairly wel

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

Reflecting on the wordlists from the Australian southwest, or no doubt from any area of the country, gives an occasional glimpse of the way the indigenous people perceived the world around them. This is sometimes termed ‘a world view’. For us English speakers. a ‘tooth’ is a ‘tooth’ more or less. We might say ‘toothless’ for someone without teeth; or figuratively for someone who is therefore harmless, because his bite without teeth is unthreatening. Someone might be ‘toothy’—

There are some transcontinental words, and bila is one of them. It means ‘stream’. WIRADHURI The following are from the Wiradhuri language, across the Blue Mountains from Sydney, stretching from Bathurst effectively to the Victorian border. It is the largest language area in New South Wales, and possibly the country. Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “Billa” bila “a river” stream : Günther WIRA (Fraser) [73:49] [WIRA] “Beelah” bila “a creek” stream : SofM 1896 09 12 [

Daisy Bates provided the following sentence, with general and literal translations: dajä wâ gäbälä? Any fish in the river (or water)? (fish where water?)   The sentence was the starting point in an investigative trail. 1. daja This is respelt as dadya , and from a search of the NYUNGAR database in the Bayala database series its meaning is confirmed: Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “dad-ja” dadya “animal fit to eat, any; the flesh of any animal fit to eat” meat : [

The word for ‘heart’ is gurd . Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “gurt” gurd “heart” heart: [9] Moore 1884 [:285:52] [NYUNGAR] “koort” gurd “heart, the” heart: [4 (b)] Grey [:286:7] [Minang] “Gurdu” gurdu “The heart” heart: Moore 1842 [:45:12] [] “goor-doo” gurdu “heart, the; desire” heart: [4] Grey 1840 [:286:9] [NYUNGAR] By extension, gurd is also used for someone loved: “kord” gurd “wife or husband” spouse: [14 (b) (cc)] Bates [:442:2] [Barlardung] “körd” gurd “wif

Lewis Jetta of the Sydney Swans celebrates his goal with an Indigenous Dance during the 2015 AFL round 17 match between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans at Domain Stadium, Perth, Australia on July 26, 2015. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images) - from < www.heraldsun.com.au > In 2010 a young indigenous AFL footballer from Western Australia began playing for the Sydney Swans. His name is Lewis Jetta. Could his uncommon surname be a Nyungar word, and if so,

The sky darkens. There is a heaviness in the air. It feels damp. The clouds are massing. Then the rumbling of thunder starts and it begins to rain, and lightning flashes. Then a deafening clash of thunder overhead. It is in the Australian south-west, and the people there had a word for it: Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “koon-dur-nan-gur” gundur nanGur “thunder or rend the clouds, to” thunder: [4 (b)] Grey [:415:33] [Minang] In fact they had two words, gundur and n

barang crops up a lot. It seems to mean ‘carry’, ‘bring’ and the like. Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “Bâr-rang” barang “bring” carry: Symmons, Charles [:16:2] [NYUNGAR] “burrung” barang “get; take: and note jinbu, ranga” carry: [23] Buller-Murphy [:26:14] [NYUNGAR] “baroŋ” barang “to fetch, to bring, to pick up” carry: Bates Grammar [:66:13] [NYUNGAR] “Barrang” barang “Take in the hand” carry: Moore 1842 [:163:11] [NYUNGAR] “barrang” barang “bring, to” carry: [9]

“Latitude 30° 29′ S Longitude 118° 07′ E The townsite of Wialki is … 341 km north east of Perth and 25 km east of Beacon. … Wialki was gazetted a townsite in 1933. The meaning of the name is not known.” [ http://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf/web/History+of+country+town+names] The above is taken from the ‘Landgate’ website—as is the following: “Landgate is the Agency responsible for Western Australia’s land and property information. Landgate’s transition from the Depart

The most common Nyungar word for ‘dog’ is durda : Australian respelt English Eng JSM source “door-da” durda “dog, a” dog: [4] Grey 1840 [:256:10] [NYUNGAR] “tdoor-da” durda “dog, a” dog: [4] Grey 1840 [:256:12] [NYUNGAR] “durda” durda “dog” dog: [8 (E)] Salvado [:255:49] [Balardung] “dur-da” durda “dog” dog: [5] Symmons 1841 [:256:7] [Wajuk] “door-da” durda “dog, a” dog: [4] Grey 1840 [:256:10] [NYUNGAR] There were various spellings: “dorder” durdir “dog” dog: [24] Hassell, E

What can ‘nest’, ‘barb’, ‘spear’, ‘leaf’, ‘hair’ and ‘shoulder’ have to do with one another? They all appear to be linked through manga / munga . The basic idea appears to be ‘strand’, ‘thread’. NEST A nest is composed of many strands: Australian respelt English EngJSM source “munga” manga “a nest” nest [4] Grey 1840 [:120:45] [NYUNGAR] “Mân-ga” manGa “Bird, (nest of)” nest Symmons, Charles [:7:55] [NYUNGAR] BARB Grey, below, links ‘barb’ and ‘hair’. A barb is a single point

It often happens that a word appears in a list, with alongside it a simple translation, such as windu : ‘old’. Australian respelt English EngJSM source “Win-do” windu “Old” decrepit Symmons, Charles [:10:31] [NYUNGAR] “windo” windu “man, an old” decrepit [5] Symmons 1841 [:319:48] [Wajuk] There being several additional examples in the wordlists of windu , an idea emerges that windu is not so much ‘old’ as a characteristic of ageing — ‘bad’, ‘thin’, ‘useless’ or ‘worn out’: “w

A large number of Nyungar words end in -gur but no common thread jumps out to suggest a meaning. gur also occurs on its own, as does the similar garu : Australian respelt English EngJSM source “garoo” garu “more, (beeliar)” more [3] Lyon 1833 [:325:42] [NYUNGAR] “kar-ro” garu “again; more” again [4] Grey 1840 [:199:41] [NYUNGAR] “kor, kor” gur “Again” again Bates Grammar [:75:8] [NYUNGAR] “Garro” garu “Again; then.” again Moore 1842 [:40:11] [NYUNGAR] The meanings are ‘again’

On p. 283 of A Nyoongar Wordlist from the Southwest of Western Australia (Bindon and Chadwick, 1992) there is an entry of which the following is an adaptation: Australian respelt English EngJSM source “gur-rab-a-ra” gurabara “[(wangurt yugow) having pierced through]” hole [4] Grey 1840 [:283:21.1] [NYUNGAR] This entry started off a trail of enquiry in which the following played a part: — gurubara : hole — wangurd : ??? — yugawu : stand —pierce —through —hole —intend HOLE “gu

Australian wildflowers yuda occurs in all the following expressions connected with flowering plants: Australian respelt English EngJSM source “beljie-ah-yootah-boolyah” bildyiya yuda bulya “leschenaultia (blue flowering bush) ” blue shrub flowering  [16] Hammond [:309:41] [NYUNGAR] “beljie-yootah-kwiljee” bildyi yuda gwildyi “runner, red (red flowering climber) ” red runner  [16] Hammond [:365:31] [NYUNGAR] “{beljie-yootah, boolyah}” bildyi yuda “everlasting, red” red flower

English commonly has specific words to express shades of meaning. It has, for example, endless words for colour names: not only ‘red’ but ‘scarlet’, ‘crimson’, ‘vermilion’, ‘pink’ and so on. Australian indigenous languages might have words for ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘red’, ‘green’ and perhaps ‘yellow’, with ‘black’, for example, being also the word for ‘night’, and the other colour words being terms for entities of the colour concerned. Indigenous languages were specific about som