A Kuku Yalanji yarn
Bubu
country · home
A day with an elder — told over turtle and kangaroo, fire and stars.
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The visit
Manda
nephew · sister’s son
bingabinga — elder, old man
One morning the young man came down the road to sit with his bingabinga — his old man, his elder.
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Family
Bambal
family
They yarned for hours — about kin and country, who belongs to who, and the ones who came before.
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Sharing food
Nukal
to eat
ngawiya — sea turtlemayarriji — kangaroo
They ate together the old way — ngawiya, the sea turtle, and mayarriji, the kangaroo.
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Into the bush
Madja
rainforest
duduy — bush
When the heat dropped, they walked out into the duduy — the bush — following tracks the elder had known all his life.
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Making fire
Baya
fire
kubu — smoke
They gathered wood and lit a fire. Kubu — smoke — rose into the trees as the light went soft.
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Making camp
Bayan
camp
They made bayan for the night, close to the warmth, the fire keeping watch.
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Under the stars
Wujurr
night
dawar — star
Through the wujurr they talked on, until the dawar — the stars — filled the whole sky.
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Daybreak
Muduwaju
dawn · daybreak
By muduwaju, the stories had passed from elder to nephew — and the language lived another day.
Look up muduwaju in the dictionaryRobert Linsdell · CC BY 2.0