Boonwurrung language Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Boonwurrung
Native to	Australia
Region	Victoria
Ethnicity	Boonwurrung (including Yalukit)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Kulinic Kulin Woiwurrung Boonwurrung
AIATSIS	`S35`

The Boonwurrung language, also anglicised as Bunurong, Bun wurrung, and other variant spellings, is an Aboriginal Australian language traditionally spoken by the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation of central Victoria prior to European settlement in the colony of Victoria. The last remaining traditional native speakers died in the early 20th century; however there is an active revival movement under way in the Boonwurrung community.

Geographic distribution
Related languages
Placenames derived from Boonwurrung language terms
Animals and plants
- Plants
- Birds
- Mammals
- Aquatic animals
- Insects
See also

Geographic distribution

Boonwurrung was spoken by six clans along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory.

Related languages

Boonwurrung is closely related to the Woiwurrung language, with which it shares 93% of its vocabulary, and to a lesser degree with Taungurung spoken north of the Great Dividing Range in the area of the Goulburn River, with which it shares 80%. Woiwurrung, Taungurong and Boonwurrung have been considered by linguists to be dialects of a single Central Victorian language, whose range stretched from almost Echuca in the north, to Wilsons Promontory in the south.

R. Brough Smyth wrote in 1878 that "The dialects of the Wooeewoorong or Wawoorong tribe (River Yarra) and the Boonoorong tribe (Coast) are the same. Twenty-three words out of thirty are, making allowances for differences of spelling and pronunciation, identical; five have evidently the same roots, and only two are widely different".

Placenames derived from Boonwurrung language terms

Placename	Origin
Allambee	Reported to mean "to sit and wait for a while", possibly from the verb ngalamba.
Barerarerungar	Country.
Beenak	Basket.
Buln Buln	"Lyrebird", same origin as the name of the Melbourne suburb Bulleen and the Bolin Bolin Billabong.
Bunyip	From the mythical water-dwelling beast, the bunyip.
Corinella	Unclear, some sources state "Running Water" whereas others claim "Home of the kangaroo"
Dandenong	Possibly derived from Tanjenong, the indigenous name of Dandenong Creek.
Darnum	Debated, some sources claim "Parrot", referring specifically to the crimson rosella. However, other sources claim this to be folk etymology. The name Datnum is recorded as the name of the parrot spirit who assisted Bunjil, one of six wirmums or shamans in Kulin mythology.
Dumbalk	"Ice" or "Winter"
Eumemmerring	Claimed to be a word meaning "agreement", early settler reports recorded "um um" as a word for "yes".
Korumburra	Thought to mean "Blowfly", recorded as karrakarrak in related languages.
Koo Wee Rup	Blackfish
Koonwarra	Black swan
Lang Lang	Unclear, may be connected to Laang meaning stony, although other sources claim the name derives from a different word meaning a group of trees, or from an early European settler named Lang.
Leongatha	From liang, meaning "teeth".
Meeniyan	Moon
Moorabbin	Unclear, possibly "woman's milk". Other sources state "resting place", or "people of the flat country."
Moorooduc	Unclear, some sources claim "flat swamp", others claim "dark" or "night".
Mordialloc	From Moordy Yallock. Yallock means creek or river, in reference to the Mordialloc Creek estuary. Some sources give "moordy" as meaning "small", whereas other sources have given it to mean "swamp".
Murrumbeena	Unclear, according to some sources named after a member of the native police. Identical with the word Murrumbeena recorded by Daniel Bunce in 1851 as meaning "you".
Nar Nar Goon	Unclear, said to be from a word for koala.
Narre Warren	Unclear, some sources allege connection to nier warreen meaning "no good water", although warreen usually refers to the sea. Other sources cite connection to narrworing, meaning "hot". Wathaurong sources refer to "warren" meaning 'towards the rising sun' or 'to the east' and "narre" meaning 'a long way' or 'far away'. Wathaurong from Ballarat and Geelong are known to have travelled to Narre Narre Warren for meetings of the Kulin Nation.
Nayook	From the word "ngayuk" meaning cockatoo.
Neerim	High or long.
Noojee	Often described as "place of rest", apparently literally means "done", "finished" or "complete".
Nyora	Native Cherry
Tarwin	From dharwin meaning "thirsty"
Tonimbuk	From the verb meaning "to burn".
Tooradin	Named from a Bunyip-like monster of local legend, which lived in the waters of Sawtell Inlet and Koo Wee Rup Swamp.
Warneet	One of the words for "river".
Warragul	A loanword originating from Dharug language around Sydney. Usually given as meaning "wild dog", although warragul was recorded as meaning "wild" for anything, including humans. Gippsland settlers used the word in derogatory way to describe Indigenous people.
Wonthaggi	Thought to be from the verb wanthatji meaning "get", "bring" or "pull". Other sources claim it means "home".
Yannathan	A form of the verb yana meaning "to go" or "to walk".
Yarragon	Thought to be short for Yarragondock, meaning moustaches.