LAUGH KOOKABURRA, LAUGH

[Leonie]

I enjoyed this too Maureen, I also love the Dreamtime stories.

Way back in the 50's my school had reading books with Dreamtime stories included and I think that might have been a bit unusual because I've mentioned it to various people and they don't remember anything like that at their schools. We had a boy's home just down the road from the school and most of the boys were Aboriginal and attended the school. I never gave it much thought back then, (or for years after, I'm sorry to say) but now wonder if they were part of 'the stolen generation'. Someone at that school was obviously trying to keep their culture alive and that was applaudable.

Mind you, I wonder how accurately some of the stories are portrayed. Some Aboriginal people can be great kidders and we can be so gullible. My son did some restoration work with an Aboriginal elder and was quite proud of the fact that he was picking up the dialect until we realised the elder had been pulling his leg. We have no idea what he might have been actually saying.

[Zondrae]

G'day Leonie,

I have heard that many of the 'so called' place names would really translate as.. "I don't understand". Or even.. "what are you talking about?"

[Zondrae]

.. excuse the cynic in me..

Big, useless rock we can get money for.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Excuse me! - one of natures finest creations, whose beautiful colours change from vibrant red to deepest purples. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area. It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Now how can you just call that a bloody big rock - - this is something magnificent, and it is in our country.

[william williams]

You say that there is a query about translations and yes it is so. We translate literally what they say but not correctly we assume what they say when we right it an example of this was when I was a Roo skin shooter in the early 60’s I had native skinners working for me in fact a lot of their clan lived with me so I recon I knew their dialect or did I.
Their language spoken by the old people was Paakanji basically with variations of words in their group
An example is as such. Often when I or my mate would go to Willcannia for supplies I would ask if several wish to come to, the answer was always yes boss we come
We come to WY CAN JI with you that is as best I can spell it as I believe this how it is pronounced by them. It is a hard language to understand and pronounce in their way as their normal voice is both sing song and guttural yet beautiful to hear and I miss those days and nights in camp. But still times change and so does their language worst luck

BILL THE OLD BATTLER

[Leonie]

Hey Marty, you forgot the graffiti .. sorry ancient rock paintings.

[Leonie]

Hey Bill, my dad worked with Aboriginal stockmen in his younger days and picked up a lot of stuff too. His vocabulary was peppered with Aboriginal words for the various things we encountered on a day to day basis. I picked them up too as a kid, but have forgotten most of them now, although the odd one has stuck. I still call pippies u-gar-ies, although (obviously) I have no idea how it should be spelt.

He had a great deal of respect for those stockmen, said they were good workers and great company.

[william williams]

Thank you Leonie Yes they were people to which I have a great deal of respect with untill the so and so's put there big wig in and destoryed a great race of people that were not ready to be assimulated a lot of the modern young city so called aborigines do not know the true meaning of culture and a way of life even our modern young have this problem but let us hope that they do not destroy what was once there

I think the proper spelling of U-gar-ies is u-gr-ee or plural u-gr-ees i don't believe they had an a or I pronounced in their dialect

Thank Leonie

Bill the old Battler

[Maureen K Clifford]

Eugaries (pipis) and beach shellfish are particularly abundant on Moreton Island - we used to collect heaps of them when we camped over there and they were easy to find if you checked when a 4wd went past as they showed up as little humps in the sand. Must have been the pressure of the vehicle compressing the sand and water that made them pop up.

[Leonie]

There used to be lots of them at Caloundra too when I was a kid. We used to dig for them with our feet, sort of swivel our feet around in the sand and you would feel them with your toes. I shudder to think what you might find in the sand if you did that today.