50% of placenames in the Nyoongar region are of Nyoongar origin, but up until know there's not been a huge amount of study as to what they mean. So the Boodjar website has come into being to bring what is known to the public.
www.boodjar.sis.uwa.edu.au/clickable-regions-map The indefatigable Professor Len Collard, Research Associates Sandra Harben and Angela Rooney have worked together on this. Click on a region and pick a place, let's find out what it means.
Nyungar names for places are often very descriptive and you can garner a lot of knowledge from a place name. It's been quite difficult, though to find just what stuff means easily. The project is in fairly early days, so there might not be more than a handful of places but what there is I find fascinating.
Look at Daringdella - "meanding here at the edge of the opening is that very thing, the fresh pit froth, foam like spittle is situated here by this very place" a very evocative place name in translation, isn't it? http://www.boodjar.sis.uwa.edu.au/boodjar-placenames/Daringdella and then go to google maps and look at the satellite photo of the place. Those of us who've been to Wadjemup and see the foam get whipped up on the salt lakes might imagine that's what was being described. But the edge of the opening? Maybe thousands of years ago this lake connected to the sea and it frothed at the entry like the mighty Blackwood does today. Are we seeing the echos of ancient landscapes in language. I don't know - I'm not a coastal morphologist but it certainly makes you think.
http://www.boodjar.sis.uwa.edu.au/boodjar-placenames/Daringdella
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