First Nationslanguages around the country
Words and Phrases
- barramundi ∼ barra
- a large freshwater fish
A silvery-grey food fish of excellent quality, Lates Calcarifer is found in coastal rivers and estuaries of tropical northern Australia and the Indo‑Pacific.
- either of two australian bandicoots
Especially the rabbit-eared bandicoot Macrotis lagotis, a burrowing marsupial of woodlands and plains of drier parts of mainland Australia.
There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as 'the Bilby' because the Lesser Bilby Macrotis leucura became extinct in the early 1950's.
They feature in the songs and stories of First Nations people, who refer to them by up to 20 different names.
Also known as dalgyte in Western Australia and pinky in South Australia.
- a pool or lagoon
This word translates to:
dead river – when the water flow ceases
with Bila meaning river and Bong / Bung meaning dead.
- salt-tolerant fruiting shrub
Boobialla varies in form from a prostrate shrub to a small, erect tree growing to a height of 6m (20 ft). The purple fruit is edible, and is good for making jams and jellies.
- type of owl
- boorie, jarjum
- boy, child
- one of australia's largest flying birds
- incapacitated, exhausted, broken
My car has gone bung.
- mate, close friend, kinsman
- a mythical man-eating amphibious beast
Said to inhabit rivers and deep pools, it is not to be confused with the yowie.
- charge-up, charge
- drink alcohol
- cooee ∼ within cooee
- come here, at hand, imminent
Are we within cooee of getting this done?
- wooden vessel
Used to hold liquids or babies.
- white cockatoo
- sacred or festive assembly
- land, home
- excellent, fantastic, cool
Deadly is used by many Aboriginal people to mean excellent, or very good, in the same way that wicked is by many young English speakers. She was a deadly spunk in an even deadlier skirt. The word has crossed-over into the speech of white adolescents, especially in the NT.
aussie slang since the 1980s
- the native dog
A wild dog, Canis lupus dingo, brought to Australia about 4000 years ago by Indonesian seafarers. Usually tawny-yellow in colour, with erect ears, a bushy tail and distinctive gait, and with a call resembling a howl or yelp rather than a bark.
Linguists think that the term dingo was only used for the domesticated, camp dog.
See warrigal for the wild animal.
- dubbay, dub
- girlfriend, female partner
- doori ~ doot
- to lie or tell fibs, to pretend, a fake
This word has survived over the years as a part of First Nation language, from where it has now been re-adopted into Aussie English, epecially in areas close to First Nation communities, such as northern Australia.
- a small stone suitable for throwing
There are a number of similar words for this same item from all over the country, such as gonnie, all of which come from First Nation languages.
- white person
Usually used derogatorily.
diminutive: government ≈ gubba
- hut, shelter
- rough bush shelter
Originally a native dwelling, made of branches and bark (particularly paperbark), with a standing tree usually used as the main support.
They are often built prior to the construction of more permanent buildings.
The term came to mean any temporary building made from available materials, including canvas, flattened metal drums, and sheets of corrugated iron.
- hardwood tree, Eucalyptus Marginata
- kaya ⁓ palya ⁓ yaama
- a tailless, grey, furry, arboreal marsupial
The koala, Phascolarctos cinereus of eastern Australia, is about 75 cm long.
Although superficially similar to a small bear, there is no zoological justification for the expression koala bear.
- a large kingfisher
With a cry resembling laughter, the iconic aussie bird.
- substitute name for a dead person
about 600 000 square kilometres
- bottle tree
- a term for what is known elsewhere as a boomerang
Watch your lingo in front of the children.
- mallee fowl
- black fish
- eucalypts with thick multi-stemmed roots
- red gum ( bloodwood tree ) native to wa
- mia mia
- any group of people or animals
An aboriginal australian english word referring to any group sharing similar interests or peculiarities.
Mob o' sheep
They're a weird mob down in Melbourne.
Ring the mob that fixed our car.
We've got enough moolah for a truckload of piss!
- namma hole
- natural well in a rock
nowra to jarvis bay nsw
- nulla-nulla, waddy
- wooden club, hunting stick
- small, slender marsupial with white stripes on its back
- a small forest-dwelling macropod
- funeral rite
timor sea nt
- an australian tree of the sandalwood family
With a red fruit containing an edible kernel.
- a short-tailed scrub wallaby
- cross-hatching design in art
arnhem land nt
- shame, shamejob
- that's embarrassing
- Sorry Business
- ceremony and rituals associated with the death of a loved one
- girl, female friend, best friend
- dreaming, traditional law
much of the desert of wa, sa, and the nt
- large hardwood tree, eucalyptus gomphocephala
- that's right, yeah
Nunga, Ngarrindjeri, Yolngu
Nunga, Ngarrindjeri, Yolngu
- a small or mid-sized macropod
The young are known as joeys, like many other marsupials.
Adult males are referred to as bucks, boomers, or jacks.
Adult females are known as a doe, flyer, or jill.
A group is called a court, mob, or troupe.
Forest-dwellers are known as pademelons Although most species are small, some can grow up to two metres from head to end of tail.
Their powerful hind legs are not only used for bounding at high speeds and jumping great heights, but also to administer vigorous kicks to fend off potential predators.
- mountain kangaroo
nowra - jarvis bay
- red-flowering tree ~ emblem of nsw
- wild dingo
The term warrigal was applied to any wild animal.
It eventually applied to anyone living in a wild state.
See dingo for the domesticated animal.
- They are sturdy, stout marsupials that grow to about 1.3 metres long and weigh up to 35kg. They are very elusive and rarely leave their burrows before dusk.
- Sometimes their burrows are large enough for people to crawl through.
In 1878 a trooper hid in one from the Kelly gang.
- Wombat Species
1 the southern hairy‑nosed wombat
Occurs in southern SA, south-eastern WA, and western Vic — the smallest of the three species.
2 the northern hairy‑nosed wombat
Lives in grasslands, and acacia and eucalyptus woodlands — the largest of the three species. It is now one of the rarest animals in the world, with only about 80 northern hairy‑nosed wombats living in central Qld.
3 the common wombat
Occurs in south-eastern Australia. It has coarse hair and a small tail.
- wonga wonga
- pigeon or vine
- yabba ∼ yabber
- to talk too much
Stop yabbering will ya?
- yabby ∼ cherax destructor
- a freshwater crayfish
Native to central and eastern mainland Australia, and have been introduced into WA and Tas.
- Yabbies are also known throughout the country as crayfish or simply cray, not to be confused with lobsters or rock lobsters which are marine creatures.
The confusion arises from the fact that rock lobsters are called crayfish in Tas, SA, and NSW. Known colloquially by various regionalisms australia-wide as lobsters which is shortened to lobby in Qld, crawbob in NSW & Qld, crawchie in coastal Qld & north-east NSW, craybob in south Qld & NSW, and craydab in NSW & the ACT.
To the neophyte they are often confused with the yabby and thus their names are used interchangeably.
- hard work , especially manual labour
That was hard yakka, mate.
Common usage is the colloquialism hard yakka , or in the phrase all yack and no yakka , describing someone who talks about what they're going to do instead of doing it.
- small hardy tree, often used as fodder and for firewood
- a wind instrument
The instrument was originally used only in Arnhem Land, but became commonly known in Australia as the didgeridoo .The Yolgnu word for the instrument has become widely known in recent decades, and was popularised by the music group Yothu Yindi, formed in 1986, whose members were Yolgnu speakers.
arnhem land nt