Nothing about us, without us – Pat Dodson
One of my ancestors, Edward M Curr collected words from different tribes throughout Australia and wrote “The Australian Race: Its Origin, Languages, Customs, Place of Landing in Australia, and the Routes by which It Spread Itself Over That Continent“.
Jandai was one of the languages Edward M Curr documented. It was spoken on Minjerribah in the Quandamooka (Moreton Bay) before colonization. The Jandai dictionary appears in these pages. Here is an interesting essay about the languages spoken the area known as Magandjin first published in the magazine, Meanjin. – Ian Curr, 17 Jan 2024.
Makunschan, Meeanjan, Miganchan, Meanjan, Magandjin
Every tribe … has its own dialect, if not language … stamps their locality much, know every acre of land belonging to their ‘home’… each plant, flower, tree, shrub, grass, bird, beast, insect … every mile of a river or watercourse its own appellation, from the highest source to the mouth or junction always had a name of its own.1
—Henry Stuart Russell
The invitation to write for the Meanjin magazine is welcomed in the spirit of Reconciliation and Truth-telling. I share from my Goori doogal (Aboriginal heart) about my family and tribes, culture and history with colonisation; our Wularanguru historical language mapping project; and of matters still to be resolved, including the original language placenames. ‘Brisbane, port, the capital of Queensland, Australia and the country’s third largest city. It lies astride the Brisbane River on the southern slopes of the Taylor Range, 12 miles (19 km) above the river’s mouth at Moreton Bay.’2
Our 500-year strategic plans
Our Elders’ words echo always—language is culture, culture is language—but what does this mean with a history of being forcibly removed, shredded by disconnection? Goori-ness hinges on connection to Country. Unpacking original placenames and their meaning is paramount for Truth-telling, and healing People and Country in the light of Story of Place. Self-determined language repatriation is a fundamental right of First Nations peoples.3 Several acts of government implemented in Queensland exerted increasing levels of control over the lives of its First Peoples.4 The Protection of Aboriginals and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (The Act) increased institutionalised racism and assimilation through forced removals of First Nations peoples, firstly the vulnerable and sick, then all, from family, tribe, Country. Our Moreton Tribe was impacted for six generations by ‘the Act’—a time of attempted assimilation, destruction and terrible losses. Siblings Mookin and Winyuba secured exemptions after decades under its rule. Back on Country they were concerned to find their languages being inaccurately published, including placenames.5 The mandate from our Elders was to ‘get it right, do it our way’—‘protocols proper way’ to repair and protect our culture and lingo.6 Now we are Elders. Our Yagara—Magandjin Aboriginal Corporation continues their Vision. We talk in terms of 500-year strategic plans; of cultural custodianship, and sustainability, for our grandchildren’s grandchildren.7
Ancient Cultural Connections
The above coastal map shows Yagara country and bordering language neighbours in this section of Moreton Bay.8 Their names Gabi (Kabi), Wakka, Yugam and Jinibara’s Gurai are derived from the negator word in each of their languages for no, not, nothing, never, nowhere, etc.9 Suffixes -bul, -wal, -bir denote ‘is, is of’; –bara: people or group; –uba: uses first word as a name.
Who am I? Firstly, I am Yagarabul and Gabi Gabi with ties to Walangama in North Queensland. Goori way, I am a senior cultural custodian. Dugai way I hold formal teacher, trainer and counsellor qualifications. I’m also a researcher and writer.
We have tribal ties across the southeast and are recognised as traditional owners in three registered native title claims: 1. Quandamooka, 2. Yuggera Ugarapul Peoples (YUP), and 3. Kabi Kabi (Gabi Gabi).
Quandamooka, the name chosen for the first native title claim, means ‘Spirit of the Dolphin’10 or ‘the Spirit of Moreton Bay’11 based on a creation story about the culturally significant relationship between Goori and dolphins in Moreton Bay. The Yagara name for Moreton Bay is Boroogar.
Our Moreton family’s completed connection report shows our intangible cultural heritage—family oral history—confirmed in records. Tangible connection to Djerrangerri, our original name for Stradbroke Islands, verifies these old ties through Mookin’s father. It states:
The Moreton descent group is said to have descended from Charlie Moreton, Dandruba. The documentary records are consistent with the oral history regarding the existence of Dandruba at North Stradbroke Island at or around the time of settlement.12
Mookin, son of Dandruba, was our great grandfather and grandson of Kerwalli, King Sandy of Brisbane. Born in 1871 at Amity Point on Djerrangerri, his remarkable athletic and linguistic abilities earmarked him to be a message-stick bearer, and holder of knowledges across Queensland. Naturally, Mookin received training and knowledge from his renowned grandfather. Kerwalli provided names and story of place including Mt. Kut-ha. In 1905, a journalist interviewed his daughter Dinaba, Mookin’s mother, on the meaning of the name Wynnum (winnam).
Kerwalli, grandfather of Mookin, told naturalist James Craig that he was ‘King of the tribe’ of the land where Brisbane now stands. In James W. Craig, Australian Joint Copying Project, National Library of Australia. and State Library of New South Wales: Papers of James Whitelaw Craig [microform]: [M978] 1873–1877; entries 5 and 23 December 1875.
When Ngugi author Paul Tripcony asked Mookin about any known letters on any ‘Aboriginal Letter Sticks’, he replied, ‘What we classed as letters were signs that the sender of the letter stick, and the person who received the same, and their close associates, understood the symbols engraved on the letter sticks as containing news of past events, or heralded the prediction of future important tribal ceremonies, and also the sealing and ratification of a previous sacred ceremonial agreement on the subject of peace and friendship. The person delivering a Message Stick was given safe conduct throughout the territory of his travels.’13
Mookin was a renowned Malara14 remembered by others as a visitor to their Country, who travelled long distances and spoke many languages. Most Goori spoke more than one language. Such cultural roles brought resistance to taking ‘exemption’, a key tool of assimilation, with the condition requiring applicants agree they were no longer an Aborigine; didn’t associate with Aborigines which limited culture and speaking ones’ lingo. Mookin and Winyuba were among a group of old knowledge holders on the reserves working to preserve Goori knowledges, language and culture to protect it from ‘extinction’, an intention of the Act! Both were recorded by academics. The tapes and written materials are vital to resourcing our language repatriation and maintenance for future generations.
Healing the past brings a healed future
The Wulara-Nguru historical language mapping project
Wulara-Nguru is a historical language mapping and repatriation project mandated by the Moreton Elders. The term ‘repatriation’ points to our history of colonial conflicts, resistance and dispossession.16 The definition ‘to return one to their Country’ accurately describes our situation. We didn’t ‘just stop’ using our languages. It was forcibly removed from daily use under the Act instituted to ‘smooth the dying pillow’ for survivors of colonial terrorism.17 Begun in 2007, after a decade or so of initial community-based language revival efforts, it consists of myself and Dugai colleague Barry Brown and a Language Support Group. Wulara means speak, talk, language, while Nguru is shadow, spirit or breath. We’re a work in progress. As a Language Fellow at the University of Queensland in the School of Languages and Cultures, I’m involved in transcribing the tapes for reconstruction of our language and community-based programs. We have achieved a substantial database of the languages of Yagara country and south-east Queensland. The years of data compilation, evolving methodology and cautious surveying led to our 2019 lexical handbook, An Introduction to the Languages of Moreton Bay: Yagarabul and its dialect Djandewal and Moreton Island’s Gowar. It’s a major step towards our vision of ‘healed’ language; community-based language programs and growing language fluency. This field periodically emerges waves of vicarious trauma from what eminent Yagara Elder Dr Aileen Moreton-Robinson describes as ‘ontological disturbances from encounters with the white western paradigm, racial blindness and cultural bias.’18 We work to heal Budjang dja, Mother earth, too.
It’s important to highlight that many language words were historically recorded with multiple spelling demonstrating the challenges for early writers with foreign ears attempting to phoneticise an ancient language. Versions of Yagara include Yuggera, Yuggara, Yugara, Jagera, Jagara, Ugara and Ugarapul. Margaret Sharpe, a linguist of Australian Aboriginal languages who specialised in Yugambeh – Bundjalung, with special regard to Yugambir, explained this comes from linguists trained in Europe, using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which writes the small ‘j’ for the ‘y’ sound in ‘yes’. ‘In German, “j” is used for the “y” sound, but some Germans who kindly wrote down Australian languages did use “y” because they were writing for an English reading audience. “Y”s should always be read as “Y”s.’19 In his consonant sounds list, Nils Holmer wrote: ‘“j” is a palatal semivowel, like “y” in English “yes”’.20 We knew the Yagara word early as a name for great grandfather Mookin. His sister Winyuba (Janie Sunflower) confirms its pronunciation on tape recordings by academics from the University of Queensland.21 Yagara is said correctly with a ‘y’ sound.
In our research Wulara-Nguru works to a four-level ratings scale with sources of language, which include original Goori speakers of south-east Queensland languages, and colonial collectors (c.1825–1900). These elderly language speakers born around and after the 1870s, whose languages and knowledges remained intact despite incarceration under the Act, were recorded on tapes between 1950-60. Wulara-Nguru’s four-level scale starts at 0: the native speaker; 1: you’re at the source, speaking with, listening to and learning from a native speaker; 2: you’re reading records of primary source who spoke with, learnt from the source, a native speaker; 3: you’re hearing from or reading a secondary source who was informed by primary sources. Therefore, the higher the score, the further away from the original Goori speaker the material is. In the early days of colonial presence, First Nations language speakers taught their few Dugai friends and allies their languages. These became fluent speakers, primary sources and some recognised ‘experts’. Prevailing racial attitudes or ignorant assumptions led to excluding original speakers from providing correct information. Watson wrote: ‘For many years, there have been no full-blooded Yugarabul who could speak the language.’22 At the same time native speakers like Mookin, Winyuba and others were locked away on reserves continuing to speak their languages with each other. The incomplete or mixed-up vocabulary continued be regurgitated.
Magandjin the district; Darabul (Turrabul) Tribe; Yagara the country
Several natives were seen on the side of river opposite to the settlement [Edenglassie] … Natives upwards of 30 men, women and children; seemed desirous to cross the river had swam across higher up … couldn’t be persuaded into the settlement nearer than 2 or 3 hundred yards; where they remained looking at (for about an hour) the buildings and the cattle for about an hour, then went off and weren’t seen again …23
This group witnessed incomprehensible changes: destruction of the village, renamed river and site. Some original names have persisted since, albeit with distortions, Meanjan being one. Popular use, however, does not make it accurate. It is the right of First Nations peoples to address historical errors. The desire to support some reinstatement of the right language on Country is influenced by Reconciliation, Truth-telling and Healing; the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People of 2007 and International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Languages, as well as Queensland’s Human Rights Act; Many Voices Indigenous Languages Policy and Tracks to Treaty.
Reports show early collections of vocabularies recorded between 1836 and 1878. These informed each other and later collectors, some of whom appear in this article. Thomas (Tom) Petrie was six years old when he and his family arrived in Brisbane in 1837 and began learning the languages of his Goori playmates. Eventually he excelled in what he called the ‘Turrubul’ language and tribe.24 Tom’s understanding of and friendships with Goori people proved providential during an era of colonial influx. He became a primary source who provided vocabularies to many, including Reverend Ridley and Archibald Meston, who became secondary sources. Each generated substantial public interest and greatly influenced all the following writers, shaping knowledge, and errors, about Goori language, clan, tribe and Country.
In 1841 Reverend Eipper wrote: ‘The Aborigines of the district were subdivided into small tribes, each of which has a certain territory allotted to it, from which they generally derive their names; may number from 50 to 60. Tribal areas could span up to 60 miles, each with a recognised leader.’26 Reverend Schmidt related about a trip to Toorbul and Wide Bay, Moreton Bay District in 1842–43, that Aboriginal guides refused to go beyond Durundur, then the limit of settlement.27 In fact they were observing Goori lore-law protocols with territorial boundaries.
Map of Brisbane Town in 1839 from Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Queensland.25
In 1851, Tom Petrie supplied Ridley with Turrubul vocabulary for his collection projects.28 The Melbourne Exhibition 1868 procured a survey of vocabulary in 1866 from Petrie and his co-author Nununga, a Kabi man.29 Two newspapers reported on the two ‘dialects’ used around Murrumba and the Pine Rivers catchment, describing ‘Thurwell’ as additional to the better-known Brisbane ‘dialect’. Ridley wrote ‘we see Turrbul, Durubul and Turrbal as the same dialect name pronounced with a softened “b” and an aspirated (breathy) initial consonant, 1866’s Thur-well for Turr-bal … the native Brisbane dialect and the Thurwell dialect …’30 Ludwig Leichhardt described his visit with the Nynga-Nynga (Ningy Ningy) tribe, at Turrabool Point, in September 1843, describing the Turrabool and Bribie tribes as ‘a fine race of men, tall and well made’. Archibald Meston in 1923 called them and their language Churrabool’31 the ‘Darabul’ mentioned by Yagara speakers to Holmer in 1970.32 Turbal / Durbal is a Kabi word for oyster.33 Turrubal is the name of a clan or tribe, not the Country.
Reverend Eipper wrote about the Brisbane language, describing it as ‘very meagre as their words go no farther than their wants or employments’; an unsupported view. In contrast, in 1875, Ridley wrote of the grammatical structure that ‘the inflections of verbs and nouns, the derivation and composition of words, the arrangement of sentences, and the methods of imparting emphasis, indicate an accuracy of thought, and a force of expression, surpassing all that is commonly supposed to be attainable by a savage race’.
Ned Harper, well-known timber-getter and intimate friend of Aborigines, and therefore a primary source, stated: ‘the whole of the blacks on the southside of Moreton Bay and all along its shores to Amity Point use the word Yug-ger-a-bool to signify their respective dialects. The Lytton and South Brisbane blacks used the same word.’34 Meston correctly identified distinct languages existed in southeast Queensland. His public attention to the ‘Turrubul’ vocabulary, given by Petrie to Ridley in 1851 and consisting of four languages ignited debates between them. Meston’s access to native speakers at Deebing Creek mission,35 where Mookin was also, generated new information; Meston was remiss in naming the speakers. He too caused confusion, writing both that Wakka was the language and tribute of Brisbane and Wakka one of the negator words spoken on Fraser Island.36
Confusion would later reign when colonial reporters mixed ethnonyms (tribal names) with glottonyms (the names of languages). The whole of Moreton Bay between Deception Bay and the Jumpinpin area is in the eastern part of the Yagara language group. This includes the river mouth regions of the Pine, Brisbane and Logan. Hay’s Inlet (Redcliffe) forms the coastal boundary that runs northwest. This is Yagara-speaking country to the southwest and Kabi-speaking country to the northeast.37
In 1901 Meston and Petrie again debated Yagara or Turrubul, despite the Yagara speakers now at Purga mission outside Ipswich. Meston’s son Leo, like Watson, later helped explain how decades of analysis were needed before the confusion could be properly dealt with, writing: ‘Ridley and my father acquired their first knowledge of the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay dialects from Tom Petrie, and verified and extended it through their own observations among the aborigines.’38
Reverend John Mathew, Kabi specialist and author, considered that apart from native speakers, Tom Petrie was most knowledgeable with Kabi Kabi languages,39 Archibald Meston foremost with Yagara language.40 Jinibara Elder Gaiarbau related that he knew and talked with both men; that both mixed up words of one tribe with those of another; Petrie, who chiefly spoke the Undumbi tongue very fluently, but did not know the Jinibara tribe and its dialect, had affirmed both as one tribe. Gaiarbau—also fluent in Undumbi—gave him the correct details.41
Leo Meston commented on the confusion of dialects on the Brisbane River in Petrie’s time and the influx of native speakers from other areas.42 Watson identified that learning a local language often involved becoming familiar with any neighbouring dialects, and that ‘Tom Petrie was most familiar with the blacks who lived near his father’s property on the north of the Pine River, and near to the boundary of the territories of the Toorbal and Kabi tribes, and he could speak their languages, the local one fluently.’43 Norman Tindale’s interview in 1938 with original Yagara speakers at Cherbourg and inclusion of Dugai writers brought both clarity and confusion when he wrote of the Jagara (Jagarabal), ‘their language was Turubul, also Ninghe.’44
Watson analyses the linguistic diversity in southeast Queensland, in particular the border country where he worked for many years. He specifies ‘lingual division’ in the title of his 1940 pamphlet, A vocabulary of the language of the Yuggerabul lingual division of Australian aborigines and, incidentally, of the Turrbul sub-tribe at Brisbane. Watson rightly distinguished the non-linguistic term and the broader, overarching ‘lingual’ name Yugarabul. He wrongly used a Yugam word, speculating on the Turrbul name meaning of the word as ‘People of the Stones’.45 Perhaps he was inspired by an article about the Toara (To’-a-ra) Ceremony.46 Leo Meston rightly corrected a suggested meaning behind ‘tar’au-bul’: ‘Darra does not mean “stones”, as stated by Mr Watson.’47 It’s ‘stone’ or ‘stoney’ in Yugam.48 The next major linguistic survey was Holmer in 1970–72 but his key material was based on Watson, who based his work on Ridley and Petrie. Anyone using Holmer will continue this cycle of sourcing incomplete and inaccurate material.
This demonstrates why early wordlists and languages spoken must be carefully cross-referenced before inferences are made about tribes, their district and territorial boundaries.
Original names of Brisbane: Magandjin, Miganchan, Meeanjan
Where Brisbane stands today, was covered mostly by scrub, very thick on the site of the Botanic Gardens, where the tulip trees, Maginnchin, gave the ‘aboriginal’ name to the Brisbane River.49
The original name of Brisbane can be traced back to just two phonetic versions of the one name. The table below shows the history associated with them. An examination of the Original Speakers who passed their information to primary sources is crucial in determining which is the likely name. Also critical is correct cultural information based on ancient oral history, some of which appears in the Goori Nharul-Milen table. There are possibly three explanations of the same word for spike (migan): the shape of the point, ground being dug up, and weaponry.
Leichhardt offers the earliest written source of the name for Brisbane, which includes the Gardens Point area as shown in Petrie’s map. In 1843, he was given two names: Makandschin from an original Brisbane man and Megandsin from an original speaker from a different country.50 Ridley via Petrie wrote Miantjun and Mientjin. Meston listed Magoo-jin then Magandjin, based on Magan, the name of the Tulipwood tree, from elderly Goori speakers who asserted they were ‘Brisbane natives’. Their knowledge is based on Goori Nharul-Milen.
From a Goori knowledge base the names based on the Tulipwood tree fits best for the original Goori name. The suffix -djin indicates plural, e.g. people, district, river. The Migan-dar-gu-n (Mi’andjan) version describes the use of a sharp tool, possibly ground being dug up, likely the first convict garden, which the Petrie map shows multiplied across the whole of the promontory. Another explanation of this name is ‘land shaped like a spike’. Both these are based on Dugai activity and Dugai lens. Dredging of the river for navigation purposes further defined the shape. The secondary names are the result of the arrival of newcomers, not from Goori customs.
Spike is a foreign word. Goori technology of agriculture based on cultural beliefs and spirituality differed greatly to the European practice of rendering all the ground bare due to our spiritual connections to ground, flora and fauna. For example, my family history connects my totem Cabool, carpet snake, to the grasstree as brothers, which determined our practice. Our Creation Stories give us specific spiritual connections to sites and aspects of language regarded sacred; sign language; gendered language—words that belonged to the women which men could not use and vice versa. Mookin’s custodial role prevented him being recorded on tapes although he guided the stories and language that could be shared. He gave permission for Winyuba and Gaiabau to be recorded, specifying content that could be discussed. This is based on our traditions and customs. It can’t be freely shared. Therefore, harming or eradicating trees on a massive scale breaks Goori lore/law. These traditions and customs live on through family oral history, intangible and tangible cultural heritage. Magandjin fits as the original word for an area of what is now called Brisbane. Migandjan refers to digging the ground—either gardens or buildings. However, the term Migandjan spread.
As demonstrated, language repatriation is a work in progress. Because of the extremely close connections between languages, wider First Nations cultures and ways of relating to and belonging on Country, it is of the utmost importance that First Nations languages be recorded and transmitted accurately. It’s also imperative that historical mistakes be acknowledged and rectified. Goori wisdom guides us to the future. As Pat Dodson said, ‘Nothing about us without us.’
Wirrepi: Return to us.
…
Gaja Kerry Charlton is an Elder and traditional owner from south-east Queensland, with ties to the Gulf. Her Tribes are recognised in three native title claims: Quandamooka, Yuggera Ugarapul (YUP), and Kabi Kabi Peoples, and she was taught by elderly speakers while growing up. Gaja Kerry is a trained teacher, counsellor, community worker, cultural educator and consultant, and an experienced member of boards, committees and working groups. With colleague Barry Brown, Gaja Kerry co-founded the Wulara-Nguru historical language mapping project, publishing a lexical handbook titled ‘An Introduction to the Languages of Moreton Bay, Yagarabul, and its dialect Djandewal, and Moreton Island’s Gowar’ to celebrate the 2019 United Nations Year of Languages of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The Wulara-Nguru lexical handbook contains comprehensively researched and compiled word lists, surveyed words and cultural insights to assist language revitalisation across Moreton Bay and south-east Queensland. Twelve years of inquiry produced this exceptional resource for language custodians and their partners in reclaiming languages. Gaja Kerry is Indigenous Industry Fellow at the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland.
Edited by Melissa Lucashenko, an award-winning novelist, essayist, short story writer and editor of Goorie and European heritage.
References
1 Henry Stuart Russell, Genesis of Queensland, 1888, p. 315.
2 ‘Brisbane’, Britannica Online.
3 UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4 Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act 1865; Native Labourers’ Protection Act of 1884; Protection of Aboriginals and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897.
5 K. Charlton and B. Brown, ‘Languages of Moreton Bay … ’ transcription by K. Charlton from taped interview of Winyuba (Mary Jane Sunflower Morton), by Elwyn Flint, c. 1960. 2019, p. 1.
6 Commonly used term that refers to our languages.
7 Uncle Steven Coghill and Moreton family Elders.
8 Yagara Djarra and its nearest neighbours with approximate boundaries. Wularanguru map of languages of Moreton Bay, 2019–2023.
9 Kate Ballard, Brisbane, the Beginning: Being a story of 18th Century Miganchan …, 2007, p. 5.
10 Donna Ruska, personal communications, 2000–17.
11 Christine Peacock, History, Life and Times of Robert Anderson, Gheebelum, Ngugi, Mulgumpin, 2001, p. 64.
12 Quandamooka native title claim, summary of Moreton family connection report, 2007.
13 Paul Tripcony (1901–1975), Manuscript Moongalba: Birthplace of a Great Chief, Stradbroke Island.
14 ‘A completed warrior’ who had achieved all feats of initiation and ceremony.
15 Moreton Family Cultural Oral History, Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property.
16 Rod Fisher (ed.), Brisbane: The Aboriginal Presence 1824–1860, Brisbane History Group, 1992.
17 Rural Health Training Unit, Cairns: Introduction to Recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History in Queensland, 1997, p. 8.
18 Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism, p. xi, 20th anniversary edition, preface, p. xi, 2020
19 Margaret Sharpe, Report to FAIRA on the Linguistic Literature of the Brisbane Region, July 2000, p. 6.
20 Nils Holmer, 1983, Linguistic Survey of south Eastern Queensland, p. 390
21 Janie Sunflower (Moreton) to Lindsay Winterbotham, 1940s to 1963.
22 F.J. Watson, ‘Vocabularies of Four Representative Tribes of Southeastern Queensland’. Supplement to Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland), p. 9.
23 Edmund Lockyer, Esquire, ‘Journal of an Excursion up the River Brisbane in the Year 1825’, Australian Quarterly Journal, vol. 1 (1828), p. 590.
24 Thomas Petrie, ‘Letter to Editor: Native Name of the Brisbane River’ in Science of Man, 22 Jan, 1902, p. 203.
25 Constance Campbell-Petrie, Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Queensland (Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co., 1904).
26 Niel Gunson, ‘A Missionary Expedition from Zion Hill (Nundah) to Toorbul, Moreton Bay District’, in 1842–43: The Journal of the Reverend K.W.E. Schmidt, from Aboriginal History, vol. 2, 1–2, 1978, p. 120.
27 Rev. Niel Gunson, ‘Journal of K.W.E. Schmidt to Toorbul, Moreton Bay District, in 1842–43’. p. 115.
28 Rev. Ridley, Moreton Bay Courier, Saturday 1 December 1855, p. 2.
29 Sydney Mail (Guardian), 14 July 1866, p. 6.
30 Sydney Morning Herald, 10 July 1866, p. 2; R.H. Mathews, ‘L.S. Aborigines of the Northern Ter., W. Aus and Q’Land’, p. 11.
31 Marcel Aurousseau, ed. The Letters of F.W. Ludwig Leichhardt, (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2010).
32 Nils Holmer, Other Languages of South-Eastern Queensland, p. 402.
33 Dennis Bannister, MS2171, IAIAS Folder 7, Njula The Aboriginal Language of Bribie Island. p. 4.
34 Edward Harper. The Queenslander: ‘The Early Days on the Tweed. Some Errors about the Blacks’. Saturday 1 September 1894, p. 410. National Library of Australia <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20719678>.
35 ‘The Old Brisbane Blacks’, Brisbane Courier, Saturday 31 August 1901, p. 15 National Library of Australia.
36 Brisbane Courier, Saturday 31 August 1901, p. 15.
37 Gaiarbau cited in John Gladstone Steele, Aboriginal Pathways: in Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River, University of Queensland Press, 1984, figure 81, p. 161.
38 Brisbane Courier, 10 September 1901, p. 7.
39 Malcolm D. Prentis, ‘Research and friendship: John Mathew and his Aboriginal Informants’, Aboriginal History, vol. 22, 1998, p. 64.
40 Dennis Bannister (1986) Manuscript #2171, Archibald Meston’s words and placenames collected 1870s – 1900s, AIATSIS.
41 Gaiarbau,in L.P. Winterbotham, Gaiarbau’s Story of the Jinibara Tribe of South East Queensland, 1950–1957 Manuscript. University of Queensland.
42 L.A. Meston, ‘Letter to the Editor: Wooloowin and Wonga’, Brisbane Courier, Fri 5 Jun 1931. p. 15.
43 Brisbane Courier, 9 June 1931, p. 5.
44 Norman B. Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra. 1974, p. 169.
45 F.J. Watson, Turrubul or Turrbul: a sub-division of the lingual division of Yugarabul aborigines which occupied the territory about what is now the City of Brisbane, 1940.
46 R.H. Mathews, ‘The Toara Ceremony of the Dippil Tribes of Queensland’, American Anthropologist (N.S.), vol. 2, January 1900.
47 Courier-Mail, 2 September 1933, p. 7.
48 F.J. Watson, F. R. G. S. A. Vocabularies of Four Representative Tribes of South Eastern Queensland. University of Queensland. p. 62.
49 Daily Mail, 1 December 1923, p. 9; Trove at NLA, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/218970350>.
50 Darragh and Fensham, ‘Memoirs of the Queensland Museum’ Culture vol. 7 pt. 1, 2013; ‘The Leichhardt diaries: Early travels in Australia during 1842–1844’ Edited by Thomas A. Darragh and Roderick J. Fensham, Queensland Museum 30 June 2013
https://meanjin.com.au/essays/makunschan-meeanjan-miganchan-meanjan-magandjin/