Kuku Yalanji Country bubu

Black bean

bawayCastanospermum australe

Baway, the black bean or Moreton Bay chestnut (Castanospermum australe), is a large rainforest tree that grows along creeks and rivers. Its seeds are big, chestnut-like and poisonous raw. Bama made them into food by baki

Black palm

duwar · kakanNormanbya normanbyi

Duwar is the black palm (Normanbya normanbyi), and also the spear made from it. This tall, slender rainforest palm grows only in a small stretch of the Wet Tropics, from south of Cooktown to near Mossman, which is Easter

Bloodwoods

babajaka · kawarr · kuji-kujiCorymbia clarksoniana, C. erythrophloia, C. hylandii, C. stockeri, C. terminalis and others

The bloodwoods are the rough-barked gums of the woodland, named for the dark red kino that bleeds from a cut, and the dictionary has three words for them: babajaka, kawarr and kuji-kuji, each 'a species of bloodwood tree

Brown cedar (jalnji)

jalnjiCanarium australasicum

jalnji is a tree whose 'gum from this tree is not poisonous, used for making spears', and Roth's Bloomfield name for the brown-cedar gum, t-chaln-ji, is the same word: this is Canarium australasicum, the brown cedar, bro

Candlenut

bilarAleurites moluccanus

Bilar, the candlenut (Aleurites moluccanus), is a rainforest tree with hard, round nuts that are 'edible after roasting'. It was the most highly prized of the Bloomfield nuts: eaten on its own, and added to wallaby while

Cotton tree (wawuburra) and the kapok bushes

wawuburraBombax ceiba var. leiocarpum; also Cochlospermum and Gossypium australe

wawuburra is the cotton tree, and the dictionary gives it two jobs: 'Canoes were made out of these and the candlenut tree, bilar. When it blooms (big red flowers) it signals the start of the scrub hen egg season'. It is

Fig trees

jarrangkal · mujarr · kumin · yinkunji · dukal · binanji · baril-barilFicus spp. (including Ficus racemosa and F. opposita)

Fig trees (Ficus) have more names in Kuku Yalanji than almost any other kind of tree. Jarrangkal is 'fig tree and its fruit', and there are separate words for at least six particular figs, among them mujarr, kumin, yinku

Ironwood

jujabalaErythrophleum chlorostachys (syn. E. laboucherii)

Jujabala is the 'ironwood tree'. On the Bloomfield River, 'ironwood' meant the Cooktown ironwood, Erythrophleum chlorostachys, a tree of the dry open forest with extremely hard, heavy wood. Kuku Yalanji made hunting spea

Kurrajongs

kuralbiBrachychiton albidus, B. diversifolius; Sterculia quadrifida

The kurrajong is the string tree. The word itself is Dharug, from Sydney, garrajung, 'fishing line', 'as fishing lines were made from kurrajong bark', and that is what the family did across Queensland: the inner bark of

Leichhardt tree

kabalNauclea orientalis

kabal is the Leichhardt tree and its fruit: 'the fruit is edible, it is small and round with small seeds. If you have a sore joint, boil the bark in water, rub the cooled water on the sore joint'. It is the big-leaved sh

Mangroves

mangkurru · kajul · kakaji · marril

The dictionary has a mangrove for every use and no botany: kajul, 'a long thin fruit which must be soaked in water to make it edible'; kakaji, 'a short thin fruit which becomes edible by leaching out the poison'; marril,

Pandanus

jajikalPandanus spiralis (as identified by Anderson 1996); the beach pandan is Pandanus tectorius

Jajikal is the pandanus or screw palm, the spiky, prop-rooted tree of the beaches and creek banks. Its name is written into the country: the lower camp at Ayton, 'where there are lots of pandanus trees', is called Jajika

Paperbark

buyku · jidi · kalkuri · wanjakan · bijan · marngkil · marrabal · marril · bijinMelaleuca spp. (e.g. Melaleuca leucadendra, M. argentea, M. fluviatilis)

Buyku is the Kuku Yalanji word for paperbark: the Melaleuca trees, often called ti-tree or tea-tree in North Queensland English, whose pale bark peels away in soft layers. Paperbark is one of the most useful trees on cou

Red cedar

marrakanToona ciliata

Marrakan is the red cedar tree (Toona ciliata), and the same word means a 'dugout canoe made of red cedar wood'. Its soft, light, durable timber made it, with candlenut and cotton tree, a favourite for the hulls of the B

River red gum

kayjurr · bajar · jabarr · jinajina · dakumbarEucalyptus camaldulensis

The big smooth-barked gum of the inland river banks is the river red gum, and the dictionary's words for the smooth gums are kayjurr 'white gum', bajar 'species of white gum', jabarr 'baldy gum tree', and jinajina (Nyung

Stinging tree

miliDendrocnide spp. (D. moroides, D. cordifolia, D. photinophylla)

Mili is the stinging tree: the Dendrocnide shrubs and trees of the rainforest, whose leaves and stems are covered in fine glassy hairs that inject a pain-causing toxin. A bad sting from the gympie stinger 'can last for m

Wattles and grevilleas

yalngkal · yarun · yumba · kurrajanAcacia guymeri, A. holosericea, A. leptostachya and the other wattles; Grevillea parallela, G. glauca, G. pteridifolia

yalngkal is the 'white wattle', yarun the 'black wattle (yellow flower)' and yumba a 'species of wattle'; kurrajan is 'a spear point made from wattle and used for turtle spearing. It was put in the fire until it was hard

Zamia

marra · julbinCycas media (here subsp. banksii)

Marra, the zamia or cycad (Cycas media), is a palm-like plant of the open forest whose big seeds are poisonous raw. The dictionary sums up how Kuku Yalanji people made it into food: it is 'roasted, ground and leached to

Blady grass and the grasses

jikan · kakarr · kumulImperata cylindrica; with Heteropogon contortus and Themeda triandra

jikan is grass, and kakarr is 'grass; blanket to lie on, not to put over you', which says what grass was for first. Blady grass, Imperata cylindrica, is the tall, sharp-edged, rhizome-forming grass of damp flats and cree

Fish-poison plants

miyilBarringtonia spp., Erythrophleum chlorostachys, Diospyros hebecarpa and others

Late in the dry season, when creeks shrink to separate waterholes, Kuku Yalanji stunned fish with crushed plants. The dictionary's miyil is a tree 'which has poisonous sap used to blind fish': its seed is wrapped in gras

Grass tree

nganjirr · kanunjulXanthorrhoea johnsonii (and other Xanthorrhoea species)

The grass tree, nganjirr, is the tufted, black-trunked plant of the dry open forest, Xanthorrhoea. Its resin, kanunjul, was 'used to make pitch to seal spear bindings'. Kuku Yalanji at Bloomfield also used the light flow

Lawyer cane

mawar · milmarr · kakuCalamus spp. (mainly Calamus australis and C. caryotoides)

Lawyer cane is the climbing palm of the rainforest, Calamus. Its whip-like, hooked tendrils catch anyone walking past, which is why it is also called 'wait-a-while'. Kuku Yalanji has several words for it. Mawar is 'the v

Water lilies

kababinaNymphaea violacea, N. gigantea; also Nelumbo and Nymphoides

kababina is the freshwater lily, and in Roth's 1901 list of foods the lilies belong to the dry season, with honey, while 'roots and fruits' belong to the wet. The blue lily of the north, Nymphaea, is eaten whole: the tub

Weeds and feral animals

biki · wunba · nyamun

The dictionary has words for the things that came with the settlers, biki the pig and wunba 'the English bee and its honey', and none for the plants that came with them, which is a measure of how new they are. The worst

Wild ginger (jidu)

jidu · junjunHornstedtia scottiana; Amomum dallachyi

jidu is the wild ginger, Scott's ginger, Hornstedtia scottiana, which Roth wrote as jeddo and English still calls jiddo: a big ginger 'about 2–4 m tall' with the flowers and the red fruit 'raised only slightly above grou

Yams

kawu · wukay · kalkurr · biyangkal · banjay · warrabuka · bambayal · wawukuna · ngakun · wubali · juwalDioscorea bulbifera, Tacca leontopetaloides, Typhonium brownii and other tubers

Kawu is the Kuku Yalanji word for yam, and the dictionary names about ten different kinds. Tubers, bulbs and wild yams were 'the cornerstone of the Kuku-Yalanji diet, especially in the inland area', and the hairy yam, wu

Cattle and horses

yarraman · danda · mala-yarraman · marrkin-marrkin · wubun · wuybu · kubarruBos taurus × Bos indicus; Equus caballus

yarraman 'horse', danda 'chestnut horse', mala-yarraman 'good rider', marrkin-marrkin 'nickname for a stockman', wubun 'hump, as on a Brahman bull', wuybu 'whip' and kubarru 'sound of whip' are the dictionary's station w

Dingo and hunting dogs

murramu · murrumu · ngamu-murramu · kayaCanis familiaris (dingo)

murramu, murrumu and ngamu-murramu are the dingo and kaya the dog, and the dictionary keeps the dog's working life in its words: majarr is 'lazy, no good for hunting or working, used to refer to both dogs and people', ju

Dugong (kirbaji)

kirbaji · biwuyDugong dugon

kirbaji is the dugong, and biwuy is 'porpoise, dugong, sea cow'. It is the sea cow of the seagrass meadows, 'about three metres in length' and 'as much as 400 kilograms', 'the only marine mammals in Australia that live m

Echidna (ngangkin)

ngangkinTachyglossus aculeatus

ngangkin is the echidna, the 'porcupine' of the old English, the spiny egg-laying ant-eater that digs into the woodland's ant nests and termite mounds with claws that can move 'a 13.5 kg stone' and feeds with a tongue it

Feral pigs

biki · bikibiki · muyu · muyu wayjulSus scrofa

biki and bikibiki are the pig, muyu its hair and muyu wayjul 'singeing the hair of the pig before cooking', and the dictionary's example for ngingkirr is 'we were going, heard a grunt, a pig coming'. The pig is not an an

Flying foxes and bats

kambi · mali · jibulPteropus scapulatus (little red flying fox); Pteropus alecto; Pteropus conspicillatus; and the cave and hollow bats

kambi is the flying fox, mali 'species of small bat' and jibul 'species of large bat'. Inland, the flying fox is the little red flying fox, the smallest and most inland of the mainland flying foxes, which 'camps and flie

Kangaroos and wallabies

kadar · bimbarrbay · darrba · jumar · julmbanu · mayarriji · nyarrkali · jayju · murral · jarrabina · minya · biyalMacropodidae (eight species recorded near Karma Waters) and Potoroidae (two bettongs)

Kuku Yalanji has a whole family of words for the hopping animals. kadar is the 'plains wallaby', bimbarrbay the 'scrub wallaby', darrba the 'grass wallaby' and jumar the 'little wallaby'. julmbanu and mayarriji are the d

Platypus

wambijiOrnithorhynchus anatinus

wambiji is the platypus. 'The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia'; 'together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, mammals that lay e

Possums and gliders

yawa · balaTrichosurus vulpecula; Pseudocheirus peregrinus; Petaurus spp.

yawa is the possum and bala the 'feathertail glider or sugar glider', the small animals of the night in the hollows of the woodland. The possum of the Mitchell is the common brushtail, Trichosurus vulpecula, 'a nocturnal

Quolls, bandicoots and the native rats

jungarr · waykal · kulngu · ngumbi · kukur · durrkin · jayjuDasyurus hallucatus; Isoodon macrourus; Hydromys chrysogaster; Zyzomys argurus and the other native rodents

jungarr and waykal are the 'native cat', the quoll; kulngu the bandicoot and ngumbi the 'little spotted bandicoot'; kukur the rat, durrkin the 'white-tailed rat' and jayju the 'kangaroo rat'. They are the small meat of t

Brolga and sarus crane (kulbal)

kulbalAntigone rubicunda; Antigone antigone

kulbal is the brolga, the grey crane with the red head that dances at the lagoons, 'a tall, upright bird with a small head, long beak, slender neck, and long legs', Queensland's emblem, found 'often abundant in north and

Bush birds of the woodland

kalbu · dawadawa · kurkunbay · bajal · biru-biru · kuyir

These are the birds of every camp and every walk: kalbu and waja the crows, dawadawa and kurburrubun the magpie, kurkunbay the 'butcherbird, stockwhip bird', bajal the bowerbird that collects white things, biru-biru the

Bustard, the plains turkey (kurrbal)

kurrbalArdeotis australis

kurrbal is the plains turkey, the Australian bustard, the big grey ground bird that strides the open woodland and the grass plains of the north, 'about one metre high', with a wingspan 'around twice that length', and tha

Cassowary

kurranji · babarr · barbarrCasuarius casuarius johnsonii

Kurranji, the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), is Australia's largest bird: up to 2 m tall and 76 kg, flightless, with a blue neck, red wattles and a horn-like casque on its head. Kuku Yalanji has its

Cockatoos and parrots

kadanji · kumurbina · birrbirr · karrambil

kadanji in Yalanji and kumurbina in Nyungkul is the black cockatoo, the red-tailed black cockatoo that cracks the bloodwood fruit in flocks of hundreds and screams across the river at evening; birrbirr is the rainbow lor

Ducks and geese

nili-nili · jamarbina

nili-nili is a duck and jamarbina a goose, and the dictionary stops there, which leaves the rest to sort out by eye. The Pacific black duck is the duck of every pool; the hardhead dives, the grey teal dabbles, the green

Eagles, kites and hawks

yalngkurr · wandi · kalin-kalin · jinabiju

yalngkurr is the eagle hawk, the wedge-tailed eagle, and the dictionary says of it: 'Totem of all the Kuku-Yalanji people. It represents the country to which they belong'; the same word is glossed 'grey sea eagle'. wandi

Kookaburras and kingfishers

wakuka · kururrungka · milman · yindili · dabuy

wakuka is the kookaburra and kururrungka the 'bronze wing kookaburra', the blue-winged kookaburra of the north; milman the azure kingfisher of the river, yindili the forest kingfisher of the woodland, jiwal-jiwal a 'king

Pigeons and doves

karunkurr · kurungka · jukujuku · kuludu · munungkul

The pigeons are the birds that walk, and the dictionary names them by where they walk: munungkul and munwingkul the 'ground pigeon', karunkurr the 'crested pigeon', kurungka and juku-juku the bronzewing, kuludu the 'smal

Scrub hen

jarrukaMegapodius reinwardt

Jarruka, the scrub hen or orange-footed scrubfowl (Megapodius reinwardt), is a hen-sized ground bird with big orange feet that builds huge mounds of earth and leaves to hatch its eggs. In Kuku Yalanji the one word covers

Scrub turkey

diwanAlectura lathami

Diwan, the scrub turkey or Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami), is the big black mound-building bird of the rainforest. It has a bare red head and a yellow wattle. Kuku Yalanji knowledge ties it to the seasons. Th

Wagtails, robins, whistlers and the small bush birds

dijarr-dijin · dukunjulu · binjul-binjul · binjurr-binjurr · karrmbil · bayil-bayil · barinkan · baringkan · diwalngkuRhipidura leucophrys

dijarr-dijin 'willie wagtail', dukunjulu 'golden whistler', binjul-binjul 'scarlet robin', binjurr-binjurr 'species of honey eater', karrmbil 'blue mountain parakeet', bayil-bayil 'mudlark (peewee)', barinkan 'scrub bird

Water birds of the river

dulku · biluwarra · birmba · kalmbangarr · kurrujuwa

The dictionary names the water birds by what they do: dulku the 'white crane', which is the egret; biluwarra the 'spoon bill bird'; birmba the 'straw-necked ibis'; kalmbangarr the 'black diver bird', the cormorant or dar

Crocodiles

bilngkumu · ngawurr-ngawunCrocodylus porosus and Crocodylus johnstoni

Two crocodiles live on this country, and Kuku Yalanji keeps them apart: bilngkumu, the saltwater crocodile, and ngawurr-ngawun, the freshwater crocodile. The saltie kills people; the freshie is shy and has never been kno

Freshwater crocodile

ngawurr-ngawunCrocodylus johnstoni

Ngawurr-ngawun is the Kuku Yalanji word for the freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni), the slender-snouted crocodile of the inland rivers. It is the crocodile of the upper Mitchell River around Mount Carbine and Ka

Freshwater turtle

ngujayChelidae: Emydura, Myuchelys, Elseya and Chelodina species

Ngujay is the Kuku Yalanji word for the freshwater turtle, the river turtle of the creeks and waterholes, as opposed to ngawiya, the sea turtle. Across North Queensland Roth found river turtles caught by hand or with sma

Goanna

kalajarr · walkarr · jadiVaranus spp.

Kuku Yalanji names three goannas: kalajarr, the scrub goanna; walkarr, the black scrub goanna; and jadi, the sand goanna. Of jadi the dictionary says plainly: 'Only old people are allowed to eat it'. Roth called goannas

Lizards: frilled lizard, dragons, skinks and geckos

binanjal · bajabaja · jirabay · bilbil-bilbil · kulmba-kulmba · junbirrChlamydosaurus kingii; Diporiphora australis; Tiliqua scincoides; Carlia, Ctenotus, Cryptoblepharus and Lygisaurus skinks; Gehyra, Heteronotia, Oedura and Lucasium geckos; Lialis burtonis

binanjal is the frill-necked lizard, bajabaja the blue-tongue, jirabay a 'ground lizard, larger than the blue-tongue lizard', bilbil-bilbil and kulmba-kulmba the geckos, the second 'small house lizard', junbirr a 'small

Pythons (carpet snake)

kungkun · kurriyala · kabul

The pythons are the snakes that were eaten. kungkun and kurriyala are 'carpet snake, North Queensland python', kabul a 'rock python', and bajalji a rock python with 'a white head', 'not many at Bloomfield, but many at He

Saltwater crocodile

bilngkumuCrocodylus porosus

Bilngkumu is the Kuku Yalanji word for the saltwater (estuarine) crocodile, Crocodylus porosus. It is the biggest and most dangerous animal on country: it lives in the sea, the mangroves and the tidal rivers, and it trav

Sea turtle

ngawiya · yalngaCheloniidae (chiefly Chelonia mydas, green turtle)

Ngawiya is the Kuku Yalanji word for the sea turtle; the dictionary also has yalnga, 'sea turtle, poisonous if sacs aren't removed'. Eastern Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners use ngawiya for all six marine turtles of their

Snakes

jarba · jinkalmu · bindimu · kundurr

jarba is any snake, and the dictionary then does what a bush dictionary should: it names the ones that matter. jinkalmu is 'taipan, brown snake. (These are not distinguished)'; bindimu the 'red bellied black snake'; biwu

Frogs, and the cane toad

yirku-yirku · karrkurr · yuday

yirku-yirku is a frog, karrkurr the green frog, and yuday a 'large frog, edible', which is the whole of what the dictionary says and enough: frogs were bait, food and the first sound of the wet. On the lower Tully in flo

Archerfish, rainbowfish and the small fish of the pools

mujarrka · dalku · julba · bayil · dijarrToxotes chatareus; Melanotaenia splendida; Nematalosa erebi; Amniataba percoides

mujarrka in Yalanji and dalku in Nyungkul is the archerfish, the fish that shoots; julba is the 'fresh water minnow', which on the Mitchell is the rainbowfish and the bony bream, and bayil and dijarr are freshwater perch

Barramundi

judi · murrabal · kudiLates calcarifer

Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) has three names in the Kuku Yalanji dictionary: judi, murrabal and kudi, which belong to different dialects. It is a big silver fish of the estuaries, mangroves and rivers, and the young fis

Black bream (sooty grunter)

barrbalHephaestus fuliginosus

Barrbal is the Kuku Yalanji dictionary word for 'black bream'. In the fresh water of north Queensland, black bream is the sooty grunter (Hephaestus fuliginosus), a thick-lipped, sooty-black fish of rocky pools and snags.

Freshwater catfish

julaji · kanyaji · walarrjiEel-tailed catfishes (Plotosidae: Neosilurus, Tandanus and relatives) and fork-tailed catfishes (Ariidae: Neoarius and relatives)

Freshwater catfish are julaji in the Yalanji dialect and kanyaji in Nyungkul, and are sometimes called walarrji, 'with whiskers'. They are whiskered, scaleless fish of creeks, rivers and waterholes, and all of them carry

Freshwater eels

kubarr · dandarrbina · mawul · yabaAnguilla reinhardtii, A. obscura and A. marmorata (family Anguillidae)

Kuku Yalanji has at least four words for freshwater eels: kubarr, the big black eel; dandarrbina, the yellow eel; mawul, a small eel that only old people were allowed to eat; and yaba, a big-headed eel eaten only when th

Mouth almighty

kuyuGlossamia aprion

The mouth almighty is the small barred fish that hangs motionless in the weed at the edge of a pool and, after dark, swallows anything it can fit: 'a nocturnal species which ambushes its prey, mainly small crustaceans, i

Saratoga

kuyuScleropages jardinii

The saratoga is the fish that cruises just under the surface of a still pool in the evening, long and dark, each big scale marked with a crescent of pink spots, 'giving it a pearly appearance', and takes insects, small f

Sawfish and river sharks

yubuji · yaburr · bilmbin · bububay · kilkirr · bayilbayilPristis pristis; Carcharhinus leucas

yubuji 'sawfish', yaburr 'shark', bilmbin 'small shark which comes around mangroves and in the river; black-tip shark', bububay 'black tip shark', kilkirr 'tiger shark' and bayilbayil 'peewee, mud shark' are the dictiona

Sleepy cod

kurrubalOxyeleotris lineolata

kurrubal is 'fresh water cod', and the freshwater cod of these rivers is the sleepy cod, Oxyeleotris lineolata, a thick, mottled, big-headed fish that lies on the bottom among snags and roots by day and hunts by night, a

Spangled perch

kuyuLeiopotherapon unicolor

The spangled perch is the fish that turns up in the dam, the bore drain, the wheel rut and the puddle: 'Australia's most widespread native freshwater fish', a hand-long silver-grey grunter freckled with bronze spots, 'we

Stingrays

yawu · walbul-walbul · jarramali

yawu is the stingray, and the dictionary's note on it is a rule: 'Long ago only old people were allowed to eat it, but now this isn't followed much. Spearing one will bring on thunder and rainstorms'. The barb, the serra

Cherabin (freshwater prawn)

wukujuMacrobrachium species, chiefly the giant river prawn M. spinipes (formerly M. rosenbergii) and the long-arm prawn M. lar

Wukuju is the Kuku Yalanji word for 'freshwater prawn, the big one with long legs': the big river prawns that north Queenslanders call cherabin. The largest, the giant river prawn (Macrobrachium spinipes), is a prized ca

Freshwater mussels (mukirr)

mukirrVelesunio angasi

mukirr is the mussel: 'found in fresh and brackish water. There are many up the Daintree near Bairds, some up Granite Creek. Has to be cleaned from the black stuff that tastes like tobacco. First roast it, then clean the

Mud crab

kijuScylla serrata

Kiju is the Kuku Yalanji word for the mud crab, the big, heavy-clawed crab of the mangroves (Scylla serrata). Eastern Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners name kiju among the important food animals that breed in their mangrov

Oysters

marrkabina · julul · juwarru · yulbaSaccostrea and other rock oysters

Seven words for oysters: marrkabina 'edible oyster'; julul 'kind of oyster, larger than juwarru'; juwarru 'mud oyster. It is like a barnacle, only it clings to rock and mangroves. Smaller and flatter than julul'; yulba '

Cicadas, grasshoppers, grubs and the other insects

yinja-yinja · dujandujan · jimu · durra · kuran · jingka-jingka · murrmun

The dictionary knows its insects: yinja-yinja the cicada, dujandujan the 'locust, large cicada found in mountains', kurrmbal 'species of cicada or locusts', jimu and yiljun the grasshoppers, yijil-yijin the cricket, durr

Green ants

munjurr · nyirran · yangkaOecophylla smaragdina

The green ant is three things in the dictionary: munjurr, the ant; nyirran, 'the big green ant that is eaten, comes in December–January'; and yangka, the medicine, 'used as a medicine for the common cold and other chest

Native bees and sugarbag

dabu · kuja · kalburiji · mawal · kawar · mandi-mandi · dabadaba · wuju · wunbaTetragonula and Austroplebeia spp. (native stingless bees); Apis mellifera (wunba, the introduced honey bee)

Sugarbag is the honey of the small native bees that nest in hollow trees and in the ground. Kuku Yalanji has a whole vocabulary for it: dabu and kuja for bees and their honey, kawar for the 'honey bread', mandi-mandi for

Termites and ant beds

jawurraji · kabay · jungu-jungu · jiljayAmitermes, Nasutitermes, Microcerotermes and Mastotermes termites

jawurraji is the 'large ant bed' and kabay the 'small ant bed', jungu-jungu the 'white ant eggs' and jiljay the 'grub found in antbed'. The 'ant bed' is the termite mound, and the termites are not ants: 'termites were on

Things that bite and sting

kamu · diri-diri · waja · karrkil · murma · biringal · birinjil · nyumbil · malal

The dictionary has a word for everything that bites in a camp: kamu the mosquito, diri-diri and munyurri the sandfly, biray the 'grey March fly', kamay the 'yellow March fly' and waja the 'big yellow March fly', karrkil

Witchetty grubs and green ants

mujurr · jambun · kuran · jiljay · kurran · durra · munjurr · kurrmaja · kalbalWood-boring larvae of beetles and moths (mujurr is a beetle larva); Oecophylla smaragdina (green tree ant)

Mujurr is the fat white grub found in rotting wood, which turns into the beetle ngirran. Kuku Yalanji also names a grub of green wood (kuran, a case-moth larva), a grub found in antbed (jiljay) and one in dry grass trees

Red ochre

murbuy · wuba · makirr · makarra · kambarIron-oxide earths (haematite, ferruginous clay); kaolin (white clay)

Murbuy and wuba are red ochre. Makirr is yellow ochre, makarra 'streaky yellow ochre' and kambar 'white clay'. Together with charcoal, these earths were the paint box of the Bloomfield. They were used for painting the bo

Stone

jangka · kulji · jalngarr · jinali · jundi

Jangka is stone in Kuku Yalanji, and the dictionary has a word for each kind that matters: kulji 'pebbles, small stones', jalngarr 'flat rock', jinali 'smooth rock' and jundi 'pumice stone, carborundum stone'. Stone was

Bailer shells and shell tools

warkal · milbar · jurungurr · mukirr

The warkal is the baler shell, the big Melo volute of the northern coast, and the dictionary says exactly what it was: 'used in the old time for a billy'. Roth wrote that boiling 'is done in a bark-trough ... or more usu

Bark blankets and bedding

bilangkurr · kararr · kakarr

On a cold dry-season night on a sand bed the dictionary has a word, kiway-kiway, for how that feels. The answer was paperbark: 'Sheets of soft tea-tree (Melaleuca) bark are often to be found used as blankets in cold weat

Bark troughs and coolamons

dubal · kunjarri · warkal

The dubal, the bark trough or coolamon, is the container that made almost every other job possible: it carried water and honey, caught the mash when yams and zamia were leached, held the meat in the earth oven, boiled wa

Beeswax, gums and resins

yikari · nyumbirr · jila · kanunjul

Nothing in the old toolkit held together without cement. The spear point was bound and then sealed, the axe head was set in its haft, the woomera peg was fixed, the crack in a trough was mended and a broken twine was joi

Canoes, rafts and crossing water

kaljan · marrakan · birungubay

The Kuku Yalanji boat was the kaljan, the outrigger canoe: a hull dug out of one log of red cedar (marrakan), candlenut (bilar) or cotton tree (wawuburra), burnt and scraped hollow, with a float of lighter wood held out

Digging sticks (juwal)

juwal · bakal

The juwal is the yam stick, and the dictionary gives it the same word as the yam: a staff of strong, heavy wood, two to five feet long, flattened to a spade at one end and hardened in the fire, that a woman carried every

Huts, shelters and camps

bayan · warrbi · wurun

A bayan is 'house, camp, shelter', and the Kuku Yalanji house was the warrbi, the 'beehive house' of grass: a dome of saplings stuck in the ground, bent over and tied into crossing hoops, thatched from the top down with

Rafts and log floats

walmba · walngkal

A raft is what a river in flood gets when there is no canoe: 'these log-rafts are used rather in times of flood than at others, and are generally discarded after use'. The dictionary has the parts, walmba 'log' and walng

Sinew (biyal)

biyal

biyal is 'gristle, sinew, string, blood vessel (especially wallaby tail sinew)': the long tendons that run the length of a wallaby or kangaroo tail, pulled out at the kill and used as the strongest fine binding on countr

Stone axes and adzes

kulbanmuku · waymbil · warrbi

The kulbanmuku, 'axe, originally a stone axe', was the tool that opened the trees: it felled the canoe logs, cut the steps up a honey tree, chopped out the sugarbag and the grubs, and took the bark sheets for troughs and

Shields, swords, clubs and boomerangs

kunjuri · wakay · mirru · nala-nala · wangal

kunjuri is the shield, wakay the 'wooden sword. The Port Douglas and rain forest people used them', mirru the 'club, nullanulla', nala-nala the 'waddy club', and wangal the boomerang. Roth mapped the shield in 1909. The

Spear and woomera

kalka · balur · Milbayarr · mirrba · mingu · ngurmu · mumal · dara · wulburr · duwar · yinba · yirrmba · jindal · jinil · manbir · murrangkal · dajal · dikarra · kuyan · yingkan · kukuni

Kalka is the spear, and especially the fishing spear. Balur, Milbayarr and mirrba are the woomera, the spear-thrower whose hook, mingu, fits into the end of the spear. Every Yalanji spear was a hard shaft morticed into a

Firestick and fire

jimal · jimal damal · dama-murnil · baya · kunjin · jirramar · ngunjil · kubu · ngalku · miyilkura

The jimal is the fire drill: two sticks, one twirled upright between the palms against the other until the wood dust smoulders and lights a pinch of tinder. Roth recorded it on the Bloomfield River as tchi-mal (his 1904

The waterhole

yarru · dajali · yalkan · wawubaja

A waterhole, yarru in the dictionary's sense of 'deep water hole', is the pool that is left when a sand-bed river like the Mitchell stops flowing. Through the dry season such a river is a chain of pools joined by trickle

The ironbark and bloodwood woodland

bubu · babajaka · kayjurr · marbaji · ngalku

Most of Karma Waters is not river at all. It is the country between the pools: rolling hills of ironbark, box and bloodwood woodland with a sparse understorey and a grassy floor, the regional ecosystem that Queensland's

The Mitchell River

wawubaja · yikin · jalungkarr · yarru · jukar

wawubaja is the river, yikin its bank, jalkar 'high bank', yilki a creek, binda 'fork in a tree or river', bada 'down, down river, down hill', jalungkarr the flood, kima-kima 'easy crossing of water, water isn't rushing

Damper, billy tea and camp cooking

damba · diyi · kalbanbina · jungkalu · juka · jandu · dunju · dirka

damba 'damper', diyi 'tea', kalbanbina 'tea leaves', jungkalu 'billycan', juka 'sugar', jandu 'starch, a food made from flour cooked in water, which is thick, not soupy', dunju 'soda bicard' and dirka 'cream of tartar' a

Earth oven

kurrma · bangkal · dukul-dukul · jidu · dindal · wayjul · waju-l · nyamal · muyu wayjul

The kurrma is the earth oven: a pit of hot stones, lined and covered with leaves, then sealed with earth. On the Bloomfield River and at Cape Bedford, Roth recorded that the stones were heated in a fire and pulled out wi

Wild plums, apples and cherries

kurruy · bulngkar · ngalkarran · banday

The dictionary has more words for fruit than for almost anything else on country, and most of them are glossed only 'species of tree with edible fruit', with a month: ngalkarran 'edible red seed like an apple, ripe in Au

Wild rice and grass seed

jikan · kakarr · jumul-jumul · diburr · janbanOryza australiensis; Panicum, Sporobolus and the other seed grasses

jikan and kakarr are grass, diburr is seed, jumul-jumul 'the grass seeds that get stuck in clothes, which come during the wet season', and janban is the dictionary's word for rice, taken from English. The Kuku Yalanji of

Bush medicine: the recorded remedies

dukunjaka · bangkan · yangka · kabal

dukunjaka is 'bush medicine', and the dictionary records a handful of remedies in its own words: bangkan, 'a kind of root, a medicine for sores. Boil the roots and wash the sores with the water'; kabal, the Leichhardt tr

Choosing a camp, and firewood

bayan · baya · kubu · ngunjil

bayan is 'house, camp, shelter', baya 'flame, fire' and 'firewood', kubu smoke, ngunjil 'charcoal; hot coals or hot ashes', nulu ashes, jakalambal 'start a fire, start to cook food', and balnji, 'doing something right',

Cooking meat: coals, oven, trough and grill

wayjul · dindal · jani · kurrma · bangkal

The dictionary cooks in detail: wayjul 'to cook food; to burn something', dindal 'to roast on coals', jani 'well cooked, done', jirra 'burnt, as food', jirra-bungal 'to overcook, to burn the food', kayal 'raw', jika food

Dilly bags

balji · ngunyin · kakan · ngurran · bilanji · mawu · wukurril

A balji is a 'ladie's dilly bag, made from grass or black palm', and a ngunyin is a dilly bag: on the Bloomfield River, the men's bag of fig-fibre twine. Anderson describes three main Bloomfield kinds: a black palm fibre

Finding water

bana · jirka · yaral · ngabal · wawu-wulay

bana is water, yaral fresh water, jirka a spring, yirri running water, dajali deep water, yalkan shallow water, daburri 'brackish swamp water', ngabal a soak, and wawu-wulay thirsty. Every river has its own year, so chec

Fish poisoning

miyil · kuli

Fish poisoning stuns fish in a still pool with crushed bark, leaves, seeds or fruit. The fish float up dazed and are picked out by hand. Across North Queensland it was done in small lagoons and in water-holes 'which are

Fish traps and weirs

wukurril · kanbil · milmarr

Fish traps catch fish without hook or spear. A cane cage, a stone dam or a fence of sticks blocks a stream, and the fish are taken as the water falls or as people drive them in. Neither Roth's Bloomfield records nor Ande

Fishing nets

makarr · warrur · ngunyin

A makarr is a fish net. The dictionary records nets made of warrur bark, 'dragged through the water in the dry season when the water goes down'. Roth, writing in 1901, thought fish-nets were not used on the Bloomfield, t

Games, toys and string figures

kinkay · ngujuri · nguju · kuya · baki · biray · mala-kural

kinkay 'play' and ngujuri 'to play', nguju and kuya 'fun', nguju-wuri-y 'to fool around, play about, dance in a funny/playful way', nguku maniway 'playing together', baki 'toy', yajarril 'to laugh', mala-kural 'good dive

Hooks and lines

badur · mandurr · ngarruy

Fishing with badur, 'hook and line', was a year-round Kuku Yalanji method that worked even in muddy water, when spearing could not. At Bloomfield it was mostly women's work. In salt water the line was twisted from the ba

Hunting with fire

ngalku · duli · balbi · baya · kangal · karangaji · kubu

Kuku Yalanji hunting on land was usually a matter of one or two men, but in the dry season whole groups held wallaby drives with fire. Fires were 'carefully lit to create a ‘wall’ of fire going in one direction with only

Leaching poisonous plant foods

ngabal · julurril · nyurrbal · dirka · marrbal · jinali

Leaching is how Kuku Yalanji people made poisonous plant foods safe to eat. The food was cooked, broken down very fine, sifted, and then washed in running water or in bark troughs of fresh water until the bitter taste, w

String, twine and rope

karra · ngurran · kuralbi · warrur · ngunyin · biyal · murnil · kajal

Karra is 'rope, cord, string'. Kuku Yalanji people made string from the inner bark of figs and other trees, from grasses and palm fibre, and from wallaby-tail sinew. It became fishing lines, nets, dilly bags, turtle-harp

The law on hunting, fishing and gathering

bama · bubu · minya · kuyu · mayi

bama on their bubu, 'a person's Country, where they belong', taking minya, kuyu and mayi: meat, fish and plant food. The law that frames that today has layers. Native title: where native title has been determined, sectio

Tracks, signs and scents: reading the ground

baral · jina · duburan · balbi · nyumal

baral is 'road, path, track, trail', jina the foot, jinabu dungay 'to go by foot, to walk', balbi 'hunt for, search for', nyumal 'to smell or taste', and duburan 'directional sign, one placed in position, (not a motion),

The year on country: seasons and their signs

kambar · wangariji · jarramali · kiway · kaba

Kuku Yalanji people count five seasons, not two, and each is read from the country rather than the calendar: from what is flowering, what is fruiting, which insects have arrived and which way the thunder is. In the dicti

Weather, sky and stars

jiri · kaba · muyar · ngurrban · jarramali · balbay · wadjal · yiril · wungar · dawar

jiri 'sky', jiri bajaku 'fine day, cloudless sky', kaba 'rain', muyar 'wind', kumbamu 'trade wind, fair wind', ngurrban 'cloud', kurrinkurrin 'mackeral sky', ngurrbal 'fog', wurrbal 'fog, mist rising from the river', nga