Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this blog post may contain images or refer to names of Aboriginal people who have passed; this is not meant to cause distress or offence but raise awareness of our shared history and the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages across Queensland.
Welcome to Week Twenty of the A-Z of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages!
This week's language of the week is Djagaraga a language from the tip of Cape York. Djagaraga was also known as Dyagaraga, Yadhaigana or Gudang and was spoken on the tip south to Escape River as well as Mount Adolphus Islands and Albany Island.
The above image from Pama Language Centre indicates the approximate position of Djagaraga/Gudang. Austlang data indicates there are no known speakers and minimal language data apart from a wordlist collected by Jardine at Somerset which is identified as Gudang.
Somerset was established on Cape York in the 1860's by Frank Jardine amid frontier violence that decimated many language groups across Cape York.The following wordlist is one of the few references to Gudang language and was published in Curr's The Australian Race in 1887. Djagaraga, Gudang and related languages are considered endangered and undergoing community language revival supported by Pama Language Centre.
Gudang wordlist - Curr No. 7.
Join State Library for next week's Language of the Week - Goenpul from Moreton Bay!
Desmond Crump
Indigenous Languages Coordinator, State Library of Queensland
State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Webpages
State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Map
Spoken: Celebrating Queensland languages exhibition
Jarjum Stories exhibition
Old Words, New Ways upcoming exhibition
Minya Birran: What next for Indigenous Languages?
Images
Cover image: Experimental Station, Albany Island, 1920's. JOL Negative number: 189613
Pama Language Centre map showing approximate position of Djagaraga/Gudang.
British Marine Camp on Somerset Hill, Cape York, Queensland, ca.1869. JOL Negative number: 153655
The Gudang Language - Curr No. 7.
References and Further Reading
State Library collections have limited material relating to Djagaraga; however, most of these items are part of larger, general linguistic or historical references on Cape York.
Curr, E. M. (1887) The Australian Race: its origins, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over that continent. RBF 572.994 cur
Dixon, R. and Blake, B. (Eds) (1979) Handbook of Australian Languages. G 499.15 1979
Macgillivray, J. (1852) Narrative of the voyage of the HMS Rattlesnake ... J 919.02 M'GI
Roth, W. E. (1901-1910) North Queensland Ethnography: Bulletins 1-18. NAT 306.089 rot
Sutton, P. (ed) (1974) Languages of Cape York: papers presented to the Linguistic Symposium, Part B, held in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Biennial General Meeting, May,1974. G 499.15 1976
Tindale, N. B. (1974) Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits and proper names. Q 994.0049915 tin
Weblinks
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
Comments
Your email address will not be published.
We welcome relevant, respectful comments.