By the time of European settlement in the Tweed district at the turn
of the century, the Nganduwal people had been ravaged by
diseases introduced by the Europeans.
A few Nganduwal speakers still lived in the area in the 1900's. A wordlist of 200 or so words from that time was recorded. Nganduwal is a dialect of
Bundjalung, widely spoken by the northern New South Wales' Koori population.
We understand that Gabalah is a Nganduwal word meaning "in the scrub" used in the following manner:
Q: Where are the teepees?
A: Gabalah! (In the scrub!)
"Scrub" is a derogatory term used by the pioneers meaning "rainforest" or "a densely timbered area". The
object was to cut it down as quickly as possible to obtain land
for European agriculture, essentially dairy farming in this region.
The scrub is bouncing back at Gabalah - see the
aerial photograph.
Here is an excerpt from a wordlist of the
Nganduwal dialect, courtesy of Margaret Sharpe, ANU. The entry for
clever man is interesting.
Excerpt of Minyangal and Ngahnduwal
Abbreviations
| TDjb | Tweed-Joshua Bray List
|
| Mfh | Booklet from Fingal Head
|
| nom | nominative
|
| erg | ergative
|
| acc | accusative
|
| gen | genetive
|
| dat | dative
|
| abl | ablative
|
| pn | plural noun
|
| n | noun
|
| v | verb
|
| vt | transitive verb
|
- chest
- dumurgan n
- TDjb
toomooragan
- child, baby
- jahdham n
- qayu nyahni
gawarinyun jahdhami 'I saw
children running away'
- taic'um; taic'umme acc
- child, children
- jahdham, jahgam n
- jahdham used more widely, but
jahgam also occurs in other
dialects
- TDjb chargum
- chop, cut
- galga- vt
- galgah j ali
waybargay 'cut word for the fire'
- kulga
- claw of bird, paw, palm of hand,
branch(es) of tree
- jarang n
- cf. 'thigh' c'errung
- clever man
- warima n
- when a person
is ill, the warrima, 'wizard' is
sent for to throw on him a good
spell, called bunyarama
warrima. The warrima takes
something like a rope out of his
stomach(!), and climbs up to
waijong to have an interview
with the wagai. On his return, if
the man is to recover, he says
'Your wagai has come back and
you will soon be well', but if he
is to die, he says 'I could not get
your wagai.'
- banyarama warima
cast a good spell
- warrima
- climb, go up
- wandi- v
- wande
- cloud
- juyngun n
- TDjb toongoon
- cockatoo, black with red feathers (on
tail)
- ngarir n
- possibly ngahrir, ngarira,
ngarerra
- cockatoo, black with yellow feathers on
tail
- muyam n
- same as 'son' moiu_m
- cockatoo, white
- gehr n
- gehr gangalehla 'a white cockatoo is
calling';
- qayu nyahni garanibu
mahni, gehni 'I saw a number of
ducks and white cockatoos'
- kera nom, kero erg, kenne acc, kenna
gen, keragai dat, kerabano abl;
- TDjb karra
- cold
- waring adj
- 'winter' waringbil wurring,
- TDjb wurring
- come (?)
- bay v
- ngayu galgani gahba jali wiya baydham bibu 'I cut down that tree before you came'
- baiju_m
- come down, go down, descend
- gahga v
- kaga come down
- come here, come on!
- guway vimp
- also given as wamgihyn guway; a one word sentence - sounds like English 'go way', but means the opposite!
- wumbin kwe come here,
- TDjb qui
- come
- wumgihyn (?) v
- wumgihyn ngubu 'coming tomorrow'
- wumbin,
- TDjb womgin
- constellation name, palm, paw, claw, branch(es) of tree
- jarang n cf 'thigh' c'errung
- continue, keep going
- mahguwi adv
- mahguwali waymali 'keep speaking'
- magoe, magoale
- Coodjingburra clan
- gudhihnbar pn
- the Fingal clan of the Ngahnduwal (Minyangbal) dialect, inhabiting the coast between the Tweed and Brunswick Rivers; derives name from gudhin 'red' where people got red pigment for corroborees including man-making (giber) cermonies and ritual fighting adornments
- Mfh Coodjingburra
- Cook Island
- Joong-urra-narrian
- A rocky island near Fingal's Head
- jungar-ngahriyahn pn
- Mfhfrom jungar-ngahriyahn 'pelican dance'
- cook, burn
- guyba- vt
- TDjb'burn' quebullen
- corroboree, corroboree song
- yawar n
- also kirrin and wogoyia (1).
