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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lDictionary puts anatomy back in Aboriginal namesBy Lisa Walker 1 May 2002 - Ballarat's suburb Wendouree, like the names of so many Australian towns and landmarks, has indigenous origins. Some have quaint indigenous meanings. Bulleen, for example, means "lyrebird", Morwell is "woolly possum" and Wendouree means "go away" or "be off", according to Toby Heydon, the author of a new Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames of Victoria. Mr Heydon said that when a local squatter, William Yuille, approached an Aboriginal woman at Lake Wendouree and asked its name he didn't realise she was telling him to "be off". During more than three years of research, with another historical geographer Ian Clark, he also noticed that many landmarks had Aboriginal names meaning finger or hand. Mr Heydon said it raised the possibility Europeans pointed to a feature, inquired about its name and were given the word for finger or hand instead. The dictionary has more than 3000 placenames from 35 Victorian Aboriginal languages. Mr Heydon was surprised to find more than half the squatters named their stations after the local indigenous names when settling the state between 1835 and 1870. "It's staggering how many large and small towns have indigenous names," he said. Dandenong, Ballarat, Geelong, Wodonga, Echuca and Wangaratta were all examples indigenous named places. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairman Geoff Clark said the dictionary would enhance reconciliation by increasing awareness of Aboriginal history and culture. "In the past decade there has been a greater interest in the wider community about the meaning of Aboriginal names and about the cultural significance of places to Aboriginal people," he said. "A greater awareness of our culture by non-indigenous people is an important step in unifying the Australian community." The dictionary and a companion CD will be launched in Geelong on Thursday.
related link:Dictionary gives hope to Aborigines
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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