Aboriginal words and names, Upper Clarence River dialect, collected by Thomas George Hewitt, ca. 1909; with introduction, notes and index by Robert L. Dawson, 1936 - Page 14

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of 10 to 20 miles sometimes brought a complete

change of dialect. At the time I doubted

him but a perusal of Mr Hewitt's "notes" appears

to fully confirm Freeburn's statement.

  If therefore an average distance of, say, 20 miles

brought a change, what then must have been the

extraordinary number and variety of dialects

throughout our vast continent?

Herein are a grand total of about 364 aboriginal

words. So far I have failed to obtain, or to

decipher, the correct meanings of about 24.

In regard to about 40 no meanings have

been given by Mr Hewitt but I have included

themm in the faint hope that some day the meanings

may be discovered. A balance is left of

some 300 words of which I think the

great majority, both the English and the 

Aboriginal, are correct though in view of

rthe indistinctiveness of the original manuscript