Edward Cornally of Carnarvon (white man) Of Wandajee, Gascoyne and Minilya Carnarvon Magisterial District

Nyinda koolipa nuggera

Nyinda koolipa meenoo

Nagalyoo kardoo nyinnama

Nagalyoo yammajee nyinnama

Nganna nyinda mamma joora

Nganna nyinda mammangalya

Wandha karrboo (where country)

Wandha ngoora or parraja (where camp or country)

Binding the wounds; for pains in the legs a fire was made in the sand and the legs covered with the hot sand. A certain weed with a very offensive smell and with a leaf like a nettle was used both for sore legs and headache - palberree, native name of weed - it grows in gullies. The natives warm it by the fire and the plant sweats with the heat.

The balsam weed was put to soak in a woodenvessel and after a time it was squeezed and the water drunk.

Choondoonba - Gascoyne people (Mya tribe)

Chooroo - Warriwanga, and Ingarda

Chindilba, - Byong, Thadgardee and Bootena

Yarnda - Talinjee and Nooalla

Ka'rung - 150 E. of Carnarvon amongst the Irrawadjeri to Peak Hill and right away along the Murchison and about Boingarra and east of Geraldton.

In-doo- Champion Bay district

Karunga-pug-gerna

Tribal Differences in Dialect

Words peculiar to certain tribes in certain localities.

Ka'ra-ko-peen = to run away. Word used by Byong tribe only.

Ngoon'dera = to sleep; only used by the Mya tribe.

Ba-aw-wee, koo'-peen'-o = father sit down, a term used only by the Thadgardee and Bootena, both tribes contiguous to each other.

Nē-wardee New-ardee = directly, is used by the Talinjee tribes only. This word is changed on the Gascoyne to Cooardee and used by the Byong, and to Cooarree, by the Bootenas and Nooallas, Pinneegoora, Che-warlee and Warri-wongas.

Wan-dea = get up, is used by the Ingardas round Ryan's and Bush's, but not commonly used elsewhere.

The Ingardas are simply a Mya, living between the Mya and the Irrawadgeree. They use different words and with different meanings, but the fundamental language is the same.

Woorda-woorda = wait a bit, bye and bye, an Ingarda word, similar to boorda-boorda, bye and bye, of the Southern natives.

Along the Gascoyne the evil spirit is called warda.

Now along the Lyons and amongst the Thadgardee, Bootena, Pinneegoora and Bootena the word warda is used for "far away", though their name for the evil spirit is wardoo.

Over the Murchison, amongst the Agardees, the word juna, junga, or jung-arra is used for evil spirit. At Champion Bay and in the Carnarvon district the juna is a thick slightly curved stick with a flint let into the end of it which they use for making spears, etc. The joonga in the South is the kangaroo bone stuck through the nose.

Along the Gascoyne weeloo is a gum tree and on the eastward as far as Nabbari amongst the circumcised natives, weeloo is a river, and weela also is used by the same people for river; the name of the gum tree is yar-loo (a woman in the same tribes is nyarloo amongst the circumcised natives.)

There are four names for water amongst the Champion Bay tribes : appa, ow-wa, gabbi, abba.

Koomeroo, a firestick - Mya, Thadgardee and Bootenas.

Koomeroo, amongst the circumcised natives means blind. (The Irra-wadjerees, Thaawaries, Chewarlees, this word extends as far eastward of Champion Bay as the circumcised tribes advance.)

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The tribes from the Ashburton to Taamalee (the other side of Shark's Bay) may be distinguished by inflections in their voices in speaking, some speaking quickly, some rhythmically.

If Cornally was speaking to the undermentioned tribes and requesting them to bring him water he would use the following expressions :-

Byong koonda kongarnee - bring me water

Mya (proper) babba kongarnee bring me water

Tamarlee appa kongarnee bring me water

Champion Bay ow-wa o'-bar-too bring me water

Bootena Thadgardee Noalla ky'-allu kongarnee bring me water

Murn-bee (mainbee?) = the name for the bronzewing pigeon. Cornally has heard this name from Moore River to Mackay's on the Yule River.

Gooroo is a termination used on the Murchison as a diminutive or term of endearment.

As in English names, "Ned" becomes "Neddy", "Tom" "Tommy", so amongst the aborigines on the Murchison "Mar-jee" becomes "Marjee-gooroo", "Bil-bee" "Bilbee-gooroo" and so on.

This termination is not confined to masculine names only, "Ngun'-mee-gooroo" being a woman's name.

From the Nor'West Cape to Tamalee and about 150 miles east of Carnarvon this diminutive is used. It is also met with further North.

Bid'di or bir'-dee is also another termination used as a diminutive by the Thadgardee and Bootena tribes only. A few isolated instances may occasionally be found on the Gascoyne and elsewhere, but its use is mainly confined to the people above mentioned. Examples :-

Pan'dha biddi - feminine name

Ngo'-yo birdee feminine name

Ngan'-yoo biddi feminine name

Too'an-biddi - masculine name

Wan'ga biddi masculine name

Yak'oo biddi masculine name

All these names are to be found about "Twitchens", Williambury, Yan-yee-reddy and amongst all the Thadgardee and Bootena tribes wherever located. Chan'-ya-biddi is the name of a Thadgardee man belonging to Mount Thompson.

Cornally has seen two women, one a Peedong from the Upper Gascoyne, the other a Mya woman from the Lyons River, converse with each other on their first meeting, each in her own dialect. Certain minor changes in words would be noticeable, but these were two infrequent to prevent the women from understanding each other. The eastward or Peedong woman would probably say wad-jee for "no" and the Mya woman wan-nea "no", and so on, but these differences did not affect the main speech of the women, which each thoroughly comprehended. These women belonged to tribes 200 miles apart.

The eastward natives call death teen.

The southern natives call the morning star teean.