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('Page 1 [cut off word] " 2 Black' is handwritten at top of page and slightly cut off)
Aboriginal Words and Names
Lower Clarence River Dialect
With some recollections and records of the Clarence and Richmond River Aborigines
Complied by Robert Leycester Dawson 1935
INTRODUCTION
In September, 1922, a vocabulary of "Australian Aboriginal Words and Names" collected by myself was printed.
Copies of the booklet have been given to the principal Sydney libraries and many other copies have been distributed to interested people and to public bodies.
Most of these words were from the dialect of the Casino-Lismore blacks, though a few were added from the Port Stephens district and from Tilba Tilba on the far South Coast.
In 1928, from an intelligent half-caste native of the Yumbah tribe named Freeburn, I was able to collect a number of words of the Lower Clarence river dialect, and, in August, 1935, at Casino, I again met Freeburn and added to this collection, thus acquiring over 320 words with their meanings.
Through the interest and kindness of Mr. William Dixson, both the 1922 and 1935 lists are printed in booklet form and to Mr. Dixson I here express my thanks and gratitude. The Lower Clarence dialect is entirely different to that spoken by the natives of Lismore and the Upper Richmond, though the localities are only about seventy miles apart. In that of the
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Clarence, on the average, the words appear to contain more syllables and are more difficult to spell and pronounce than those of the Richmond. Phonetic spelling has been adopted and most of the words have been divided into syllables so that the correct pronunciation may be more easily acquired.
In all cases where the letter "G" or "g" has (handdrawn line connected to a # points to 'has') been used it should be sounded hard as in "gun" or "begin." For the softer sound "J" (j) is used.
On reading over the following lists the scarcity of one-syllable aboriginal words will be found remarkable. There are only three, viz. - "[nee?]" - "yes"; "[wahn?]" -"forehead"; and "yall" the reptile known colloquially as "goanna"
ROBERT L. DAWSON
Roseville, Sept., 1935.
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ANIMALS
Native dog (dingo)............... Wah-un-gai
Any dog................................ Larby
Kangaroo (big grey-thick tail)......... Noonor
Kangaroo (flyer-long tail)............. Oombah-uree-[gun?]
Wallaby (red)...................... Wah-coo-[reo?]
Wallaby (black)...................Uppen
Wallaby (rock).....................Murrah-gun
Wallaroo..............................Noom-ah-[rahl-mum?]
Paddymelon(small scrub wallaby)....Cahwin
Kangaroo [rat?].......... Ah-low-gah
Bandicoot......................Wah-birrah
Bush [rat?]....................Mur-rah-murrah-wun
Bush mouse................. Yum-mool
Native bear (Koala).......... Woom-bor-jee
Native cat (spotted [daysure?])....Mur-rah-murrah-win
Opossums (big grey)........ Woo-rah-gai
Opossum (black)......... Yahlee-goo-ral
Opossum (ring tail).......... Ah-rah-irrah
Flying squirrel (big kind)...... Yungoo
Flying do. (small thick tail)......Nym-gar-bin
Porcupine (Echidna)............ Yooloo-mum-min
Flying fox...............................Wah-loom-bah
[unknown three words, too small with bad image resolution]
BIRDS
A bird (general name).......... Jee-bin
Acquatic
Black Swan.............................Nah-rah-gun
Goose (magpie or pied)..............Eenah-moorin
Black Duck..............................Eelah-wull
Musk Duck...........................Dee-rin-dun
Red-bill (or red legged water hen)..... Ee-lah-wee
Coot.................................Goo-roo-woon
Crane................................Bah-[earl?]-wull
(handwritten line connecting to a number 5)