Towns with Aboriginal Names

[slave]

I spent time living at

Pinnaroo, which according to Wikipedia "The town's name is derived from "big man" in a local Aboriginal language"

Naracoorte, which according to Wikipedia " is believed to be derived from the Aboriginal words for place of running water or large waterhole."

[Tjupurula]

Found a new non stressfull job for yourself  now TJ  " Communictor and Educator " thanks for sharing the knowledge everyone ..

I am going to have to disagree there Edz, I am not an Educator by any means, I have learned more from this thread than you could believe.  As far as communicating goes, I am thankful for spell check and the like, as I have two screens operating, Wiord and MySwag.  Sometimes I forget, and type straight in, and there are some shocking typo's that I do not pick up on.
Regards
Tjupurula

[Tjupurula]

Thought I'd google Caloundra. Ended up with various different meanings, but did find this though about the Sunshine Coast.

http://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/library/documents/heritage/sunshine_coast_place_name_origins.pdf

Shane.

That does not surprise me Shane, as I hav googled many of the names given me in the thread, and the diversity of definitions are nothing short of amazing.  Even some of the places where I know the actual definition, as it is my natural language, there have been multiple definitions, and none of them have been correct.  Then I find out from further searching where they got the definition from, and the tribe had nothing to do with the Walmajarri people, which is kind of sad really.  I feel that because people travelling through will not learn the actual truth as seen by the correct people.
Regards
Tjupurula

[sparksy]

Can you tell me, Tjupurula if this is true.
A fair share of the towns south of Perth end in the letters "up", Ive been told it means "by water".
Is this correct

Wayne

[Tjupurula]

Can you tell me, Tjupurula if this is true.
A fair share of the towns south of Perth end in the letters "up", Ive been told it means "by water".
Is this correct

Wayne

I am a Walmajarri man, they are from the Nyoongar Tribe fr the most part, but frm what I have been told a few minutes ago, that is quite accurate.  We have two Nyoongars living here with their Walmajarri wives, and they have both verified this fact.  Sadly enough thy also told me that there are no full language speakers left for their language, they have half language and half English now.
Regards
Tjupurula

[sparksy]

Thanks for that.
My wife is from Sydney and Ive been asked many a time by relatives and friends from east why the towns end in up.
At least I now know I wasnt just spinning a yarn.

[gruesome]

Before moving to Ballina, we lived in Moe, which was derived from the kurnai word for "swamp land" also worked in Yallourn open cut coal mine, Yallourn was derived from two names Yalleen meaning brown and Lourn meaning fire,
cheers Andy

[Paul (SA)]

TJ - not to hijack the thread - but I saw on Twitter a few days ago there is supposedly a mob in central Australia who shake penises when they great. Sounds a bit far fetched - but is it true at all?

Cheers, Paul

[Roaring.Chicken]

My favourite is Widgiemooltha.  Many people don't believe it exists.  We've stopped at the road house many times on our travels.  The name comes from the Noongar people, the traditional custodians of the south west region, and is supposed to be either the name of a nearby hill and rock hole or the beak of an emu.

Another interesting thing (to me anyway) is in the Noongar language, the 'up' or 'in' ending of the many towns and places in WA means 'place of' depending on the dialect.

[Mrs smith]

Good to see your back on the forum and the health's problems under control Tjupurula, here's
a couple of town name's that have an Aboriginal name that come from the Bunurong tribe area.

Lang-Lang, means "Clump of tree's"
Koo-wee-rup means "Blackfish"

[Jeepers Creepers]

I googled your tribe and Walmajarri has a lot of dialects.

[KingBilly]

Koo-wee-rup means "Blackfish"

Hey, I saw Koo-wee-rup on the back of two b-doubles up this way today.  Small world!!

KB

[PB]

I live in the NT and work with Pilots. As most communities have an Indigenous and English name. Pilots only work off the English name. Its always lots of fun giving them the Indigenous name and see the look on their faces!

On another note if the community has a "G" as the second letter you dont pronounce it. Eg Ngukurr is pronounced Nukurr

[Tjupurula]

I googled your tribe and Walmajarri has a lot of dialects.

Is this the google entry you are talking about:-

Walmajarri, Walmatjarri, Walmatjari, Walmadjari, Walmatjiri, Walmajiri, Walmatjeri, Walmadjeri, Walmadyeri, Walmaharri, Wolmeri, Wolmera, Wulmari
Bililuna, Pililuna
Jiwarliny, Juwaliny, Tjiwaling, Tjiwarlin

Communities with a Walmajarri population are:

Bayulu
Djugerari (Cherrabun)
Junjuwa (Fitzroy Crossing)
Looma
Millijidee
Mindibungu (Bililuna)
Mindi Rardi (Fitzroy Crossing)
Mulan
Ngumpan
Wangkajungka (Christmas Creek)
Yakanarra
Yungngora

The Walmajarri people used to live in the Great Sandy Desert. Subsequent events took them to the cattle stations, towns and missions in the North and scattered them over a wide area. The geographical distance accounts for the fact that there are several dialects, which have been further polarized by the lack of contact and further influenced by neighbouring languages.  We are probbly a couple of teh major family groups who chose to sty in the desert, and look aftr the sacred water (LakeGregory) for all time.

To answer the obvious question, yes I speak and understand all the dialects of my language, as well as sevral other totally differentlanguages, such as Martu, Gija, Kukutja, Pintupi, Warlpiri, Pitjatjantara, Matjantjara, Wongi and a few others, but that i not uncommon amongst our people to speak a variety of tribal languages.

There are 1500 actual languages, but if you want to include dialects, then you would count more than 6,000 languages all together.  My grandchildren spoke Walmajarri, Kukutja, and Pintupi before they started school to learn English.  Walmajarri and Kukutja are the main languages here, and Pintupi goes from  here, across Lake Mackay to Kiwirrkurra.
Regards
Tjupurula

[Mrs smith]

Hey, I saw Koo-wee-rup on the back of two b-doubles up this way today.  Small world!!

KB

 KITCO, Townley Haulage black & orange trucks .
KITCO aussie for K oo-wee-rup, I nterstate, T ransport Co.

[Tjupurula]

I live in the NT and work with Pilots. As most communities have an Indigenous and English name. Pilots only work off the English name. Its always lots of fun giving them the Indigenous name and see the look on their faces!

On another note if the community has a "G" as the second letter you dont pronounce it. Eg Ngukurr is pronounced Nukurr

Quite correct PB.  My skin name is actually Tjupurula, but the T is not pronounced at all either, we also have the Ng words where the G is not pronounced a all, it is just how the word is said that makes it obvious there is another letter there somewhere.
Regards
Tjupurula

[Jeepers Creepers]

Yeah mate, thats the one.

[Mace]

Looking up at Kunanyi, Hobart. Been known as Mt Wellington for the past 200 years.

Just moved from Benalla (Benalta ) which I'm told is a musk duck in local indigenous language.

This is an interesting link:

http://www.albury.net.au/~tim/chdoma10.htm

But doesn't tell me what "mahaikah" means, which is what the school at Tolmie where I went to primary school was called.

Great thread.

[Tjupurula]

Hi Mace
Hopefully a thread like this will give the MySwag family another interest when they are travelling, to find out if the various locations have a black fella name and what it means, or why it was given such a name to start with.  You may be surprised ho much more people can learn about this beautiful country by doing that.
Regards
Tjupurula

[Tjupurula]

TJ - not to hijack the thread - but I saw on Twitter a few days ago there is supposedly a mob in central Australia who shake penises when they great. Sounds a bit far fetched - but is it true at all?

Cheers, Paul

There would be no truth in that at all.  I do not understand why people have to come out with stuff like that.  In all tribes, womens privates and mens privates are not discussed or shown publicly at all.  Anyone wo has been to a community would notice that grown people keep their bodies quite well covered.
Regards
Tjupuula

[Paul (SA)]

There would be no truth in that at all.  I do not understand why people have to come out with stuff like that.  In all tribes, womens privates and mens privates are not discussed or shown publicly at all.  Anyone wo has been to a community would notice that grown people keep their bodies quite well covered.
Regards
Tjupuula

Thanks for clearing that up - now let's get back to the thread........

[Tjupurula]

My favourite is Widgiemooltha.  Many people don't believe it exists.  We've stopped at the road house many times on our travels.  The name comes from the Noongar people, the traditional custodians of the south west region, and is supposed to be either the name of a nearby hill and rock hole or the beak of an emu.

Another interesting thing (to me anyway) is in the Noongar language, the 'up' or 'in' ending of the many towns and places in WA means 'place of' depending on the dialect.

Actually, places ending in "in" mean place of, where places end in "up" refer to the nearby water.  A couple of Nyoongars here have informed me of that.
Tjupurula

[letsgoplaces]

Anyone wo has been to a community would notice that grown people keep their bodies quite well covered.
Regards
Tjupuula

Except for when they are ready for a fight. Don't know about your way, but over here when someone is ready for a fight they take their top off (male or female) and if they are really cranky they take all the clothes off. Having said that, in 5 years I have only seen 2 naked bods

Cheers
John

[FalcOn]

I was born in Wagga Wagga which I understood to be "Place of many Crows". I am currently working with the Yalanji people in Far North Queensland who taught me that any name said twice means plural. Therefore, more than one Crow would be said twice. Same goes for Wujal Wujal, meaning waterfalls instead of one. I was disappointed to grow up in Wagga with everyone asking why they say it twice and never to know this about Aboriginal language. In fact I did Australian History all the way through high school and the ignorant teachers thought Australian history started in 1788. At least now I am surrounded by some outstanding Indigenous people who are forever sharing great parts of their culture.

[Roaring.Chicken]

Actually, places ending in "in" mean place of, where places end in "up" refer to the nearby water.  A couple of Nyoongars here have informed me of that.
Tjupurula

Thanks for the info.  People from that country that I've talked to in the past have told me that it is Noongar.  I'm not saying you're wrong by any stretch, just pointing out the info I was given.

Cheers
Shane