Australia and the World Past and Present

Here’s a small list of thirty Boonwurrung words. There are in fact many variations in spelling for Boonwurrung. Another common spelling is ‘Bunurong’.

The traditional lands of the Boonwurrung in Victoria extend roughly from the Werribee River to the Tarwin River and inland to the Dandenong and Baw Baw Ranges.

When Europeans arrived in what in now Victoria, the learning and recording of the Boonwurrung words was not common.

However, through the efforts of some individuals we do have some of the the language recorded in written form.

Many of the Aboriginal languages of the Victorian region have died out in terms of common usage. However, there are efforts to revitalise many of the these languages.

Boonwurrung is lucky in the sense that is part of a language group (Kulin) which has related languages.

Boonwurrung is closer to the Woiwurrung language than any other. They share a very large amount of vocabulary. Because of this, some linguists do not consider them to be separate languages, but dialects.

Words that were recorded in one Kulin language may not have been recorded in others. Therefore, when a language is being revived and the word is not known, one may look to related languages to get a sense of what the word may have looked like.

Many of the words recorded by early Europeans were nouns. It is much easier to ascertain the words for plants, animals and body parts than more abstact concepts.

Some Boonwurrung / Bunurong Vocabulary

boy – yan yan

child – bubup

clan head – Arweet (Special Community Spelling)

language – wurrung

man – guleeny

mother – baba

woman – bagurrk

body – marram (word borrowed from the Woiwurrung)

fish – gurnbak

kangaroo – guyeem

koala – gurborra (word borrowed from the Woiwurrung)

bird – guyup guyup

grass – buath

tree – tarrang

basket – beenak

possum-skin cloak – walert-gurn

spear – tjeera

bay – nairm (Special Boonwurrung Community spelling)

billabong – bunggernurook

camp – weelam

fire – wiiny

lagoon – laang baany

land – biik

ocean – warreeny

river, creek – wurneet

sun – ngamaee

swamp – baany tageek biik

water – baany

wind – munmut

woodlands – tarrang biik

Source for vocabulary: Carolyn Briggs, the Journey Cycles of the Boonwurrung: Stories with Boonwurrung Language, Published by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, 2008