Item 02: Kamilaroi, and other Australian Languages, by Rev. William Ridley, 2nd ed. (Sydney, 1875) - Page 29
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 29]
VOCABULARY OF KAMILAROI.
1.– NOUNS.
1. DEITY
God ... Baia-me or b-haia-me.
In Wirādhuri the word is pronounced Baiamai. This name of Deity is known among many tribes on the Narran, the Darling and its tributaries. It is evidently derived, as Rev. C.C. Greenway has pointed out, from "baia," to make or build. In the ancient and still preserved creed of the Murri– "He who built all things is Baia-me."
The Kamilaroi blacks say that Baia-me made all things ; that he is resting away in the far west. They never saw him, but regard thunder as his voice.
Spirit, ghost, or subordinate deity ... wunda.
In all parts of Eastern Australia the aborigines apply the word which commonly signifies spirit, demon, or angel, to the white man. About Moreton Bay "makoron" and "mudhere" signify ghost, and each of these words is applied to white men. so the Namoi and Barwan blacks call white men "wunda."