Placenames and Features of Derbal Nara

Placenames of Derbal Nara

The place names of Derbal Nara have meanings that are connected to cultural stories, cultural practices, animals, plants, relationships and the weather. Place names may not be fixed with singular meanings. Rather there may be multiple descriptions or phenomena and complex layers of meaning attached to the same place.

An 1833 issue of Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal shows how the colonial settlers realised that Nyungars had substantial biophysical knowledge and cultural appreciation of their own country:

The following distinctions in the description of the country, will show that these savages are not destitute of geological knowledge. It is highly probable that in their poetical compositions would be found allusions to the origin of the different divisions in the country here enumerated, and all lying to the Westward of the Blue mountains (i.e. Darling Ranges); for a doubt can now be hardly entertained that the whole of Quartania is of recent formation.¹

Place	Audio pronunciation	English	Additional information
Beeliar		The suburb of Beeliar	Lat and Long 32° 7'40.77"S 115°47'33.98"E
Booyeembara		Booyeembara Park	Rocks. The division along the coast, consisting principally of limestone rock; and generally bearing the Balga (Xanthorrhoea) and a few Eucalpytus (white gum). Booyeembara Park was recently developed behind Fremantle and named after this usage. Lat and Long: 32° 3'24.53"S 115°45'59.56"E
Coolbellup		North Lake	The place to move to the water. Coolbellup now also refers to a whole suburb. Lat and Long: 32° 4'39.35"S 115°49'30.51"E
Derbal Nara		Cockburn Sound	This includes Mangles Bay, Cockburn Sound, Owen's Anchorage, Gage Roads, and the whole space from the main to the islands, and from Collie Head to the Northern entrance beyond Rottnest.  Lat and Long: 32°10'46.42"S 115°42'13.26"E
Gilgit Nyunakil		Fishing Boat Harbour
Jilbup		Thompsons Lake	Place of grass.  Note that the season Djilba is a time when green grass is abundant. Lat and Long: 32° 9'1.00"S 115°49'39.10"E
Kogolup		Kogolup Lake	Place of the quokka. Lat and Long: 32° 7'54.28"S 115°49'56.07"E
Manjaree		Bathers Beach	A place where a fair or place of trade occurs; where families of people gather for kinship and in-law making; where mothers, fathers, and old people get together; and where young men and women whom have cone of age meet future husbands and wives.  Lat and Long: 32° 3'28.16"S 115°44'28.74"E
Meeandip		Garden Island	Blood root, wounded. Lat and Long: 32°11'49.84"S 115°40'27.23"E
Ngooloormíyup		Carnac Island	The place of my brother in-law; little brother.  Lat and Long: 32° 7'17.36"S 115°39'44.07"E

Swipe to see more

Features of Derbal Nara

The named features of the coastal environment are key to understanding the cultural landscape in which Nyungar live.

Feature	Audio pronunciation	English
Boodjar		Land
Boodjar-gordo		An island
Boorda		Valley
Booyee		Rock
Dalagooroo		The sound of the wind blowing
Dogee		Rain
Gabbee-wodin		Main ocean
Gooiara		Sand
Katta		Hill
Maaman mar		Sea breeze
Maar-book		The firmament - also used to denote air
Meeka-derbaga		The moon is set
Nanga-banya		A hot or sweating sun
Nanga-ngnardog		The sun is setting
Nangar		The stars
Walgen		Rainbow
Wardan		Sea
Wardan gaba boodjera		Sea side
Yorga mar		Easterly land breeze

References

1. Lyon, R. M. ‘A Glance at the Manners, and Language of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Western Australia; With a Short Vocabulary’, Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 20 April 1833, 63-64.