Item 02: 'Aboriginal words and names - Lower Clarence River Dialect, compiled by Robert Leycester Dawson', September 1935 - Page 19

[Page 19]

18

Bad ... Yah-will

Quick ... Ah-rin-money

Slow ... Wool-lah-wah

Small ... Boon-mun

Big ... Wil-lah-rah

Heavy ... Wool-lah-wah

Fat ... Goo-ry

Rotton (or putrid) ... U-kah
 
Some Place Names

Grafton – "Woors-roo-middah". Freeburn explained that "Woorsroo" means
the human neck. Presumably therefore the locality got its name
from the neck of land upon which the town is built. See any
large scale swap of the river.

Elizabeth Island – "Eerie-eerie-id-jah". Literally "edible people".
Derived from an ancient fable, or legend, to the effect that, in
the dim past, people were killed and eaten upon this island.

Woodford Island – "Moor-loo-wah-hoo". The name (says Freeburn) of
the Brushgrove end of the island meaning "many black
snakes", "Moorloo" being this reptile's name.

Camira cattle station – "Boo-roo-gin-bah". Place of wind or a windy place.

Clarence River Heads Southside – "Yum-bah". A Sea shell. Freeburn said
"a rough shell about as big as a man's fist, clings to rocks and is
edible." (not an oyster shell). It is a pity that "Yumbah" has been
corrupted to the incorrect "Yamba" by which name the township
at Clarence river heads is known.