Item 01: 'Australian Aboriginal words and names collected by Robert Leycester Dawson', 17 September 1922 - Page 2

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 Day 8 [Serp?] 6 [Q-Y?]      1

        Australian Aboriginal Words and Names

         Collected by Robert Leycester Dawson

                             - 1922 -

                         - Introduction -

The following lists of Aboriginal words and names are
from the dialect of the Richmond River blacks -
- Northern New South Wales. These tribes at the time
occupying the Country lying between the North and South
arms of the Richmond or what is now the Lismore-
Casino, and Kyogle district. It is well to be
particular in regard to locality because of the many
variations in the Aboriginal language, a distance of a
hundred miles or two bringing a complete, or
almost a complete, change of dialect. For example,
blacks from inland, less than 200 miles away,
could understand scarcely a word spoken by
those of the Northern Rivers.
It must be confessed that this vocabulary is very far
from being a complete record of the language of one
small section of the Australian Aborigine[e]s but, such
as it is, it may be worthy of preservation. If any one
else has troubled to compile a more complete and
exhaustive record, then so much the better.    
                                                             (over)