Multiple Aboriginal placenames in western and central Victoria
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Indigenous and minority placenames : Australian and international perspectives (Aboriginal history series) Chapter 13 p. 239-250
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In a recent paper on transparency versus opacity in Australian Aboriginal placenames, Michael Walsh (2002: 47) noted that in 'Aboriginal Australia it is relatively common for a given place to have multiple names'. In providing an overview of multiple naming practices Walsh (2002: 47) stated the 'simplest case is one place having two names. Such doublets can be intralectal or crosslectal. For intralectal doublets where there are two names for the one place in the same lect, both placenames may be opaque, both transparent, or one opaque and one transparent. ... The same applies to crosslectal doublets where two names for the one place come from different lects'. Walsh (2002) observed that he was unclear on how multiple naming works and what its function is. Other than some case studies (Schebeck 2002 re Flinders Ranges, Sutton 2002 re the Wik region, Cape York, and Tamisari 2002) we are yet to gain a comprehensive pricture for Aboriginal Australia. This paper adds to this discussion through a consideration of multiple naming in western and central Victoria using the results of research conducted by Clark and Heydon (2002) into Victorian Aboriginal placenames. The paper refers to examples from three languages in central and western Victoria Kulin, Wathawurrung, and Maar.
Introduction : Indigenous and minority placenames - Australian and international perspectives
- Authors: Clark, Ian , Hercus, Luise , Kostanski, Laura
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Indigenous and minority placenames : Australian and international perspectives (Aboriginal history series) Chapter 1 p. 1-10
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This book is the third volume in a series dedicated to Australian placenames. The earlier volumes are Koch and Hercus (eds) 2009, 'Aboriginal Placenames : Naming and re-naming the Australian landscape' (The Australian National University EPress and Aboriginal History), and Hercus, Hodges and Simpson (eds) 2002, 'The land is a map : Placenames of Indigenous Origin in Australia' (Pandanus Books and Pacific Linguistics, Canberra). As in the earlier volumes, many of the papers in this volume originated as papers at a placenames conference, in this cas one hosted by the University of Ballarat in 2007 that featured Australian and international speakers who spoke on aspects of Indigenous and minority toponyms. Added to these papers are three papers that are recipients of the Murray Chapman Award: Nash (Chapter 2) and Wafer (Chapter 4) won the award in 2011, and Nash (Chapter 3) in 2012. This award is sponsored by the Geographical Names Board of NSW. The papers have been arranged geographically, starting with New South Wales and ending with four international papers presented at the Ballarat conference.
Indigenous and minority placenames : Australian and international perspectives
- Authors: Clark, Ian , Hercus, Luise , Kostanski, Laura
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book
- Relation: Aboriginal history
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This book showcases current research into Indigenous and minority placenames in Australia and internationally. Many of the chapters in this volume originated as papers at a Trends in Toponymy conference hosted by the University of Ballarat in 2007 that featured Australian and international speakers. The chapters in this volume provide insight into the quality of toponymic research that is being undertaken in Australia and in countries such as Canada, Finland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Norway. The research presented here draws on the disciplines of linguistics, geography, history, and anthropology. This book includes meticulous studies of placenames in central NSW and the Upper Hunter region; Gundungurra cave names; western Arnhem Land; Northern Cape York Peninsula and Mount Wheeler in Queensland; saltwater placenames around Mer in the Torres Strait; and the Kaurna in South Australia.
Dissonance surrounding the Aboriginal origin of a selection of placenames in Victoria, Australia : Lessons in lexical ambiguity
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Indigenous and minority placenames : Australian and international perspectives (Aboriginal history series) Chapter 14 p. 251-272
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: When studying the history of some 3,400 Aboriginal toponyms in Victoria, Australia, the majority of placenames were found to have no equivocalness or ambiguity about them (Clark and Heydon 2002). Although it was not possible to find meanings fro every one of these Aboriginal placenames, in terms of historical accounts and folk etymology there was no ambiguity - the vast majority of the placenames are accepted in the source material as being of Aboriginal origin. This paper concerns some 26 placenames for which there is dissonance or a lack of agreement about whether or not they are Aboriginal in origin. These names are considered in some detail in an effort to resolve their lexical ambiguity and an attempt is made to explain the reasons for the ambiguity and to find any patterns and causal factors. The merits of the claims and counter claims in each case will be examined and an attempt made to categorise the assertion of Aboriginal etymology as either grounded in the historical evidence, or likely to be explained by folk etymology - that is, a false meaning based on its structure or sound that may lack historical basis but has been accepted through common practice, or explained as a false etymology that neither accords with historical evidence nor equates with folk etymologies.