AustLit

'The Ngarigu language was traditionally spoken in the inland south-eastern part of New South Wales. The name was especially applied to the Monaro region, but varieties of the same language were spoken:

• in the Tumut region, where the people and their language were called Wolgal or Walgalu;

• the Canberra-Queanbeyan and upper Murrumbidgee region by people known in the nineteenth century as Nyamudy (Namwich, Yammoitmithang, etc.);

• the Omeo region of Victoria (Koch 2011a).

'Since Schmidt (1919) the language has been classified as belonging to the Yuin group, now a subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan language family, along with its northern neighbour Ngunawal-Gundungurra and the coastal languages Dharawal, Dharumba, Dhurga, Jiringayn, and Thawa (cf. Wafer and Lissarrague (2008: chapter 4), and for the coastal languages, Besold 2012).' (Introduction)

'This collection honours the work of Luise Hercus. Luise Hercus has been a leading figure in the documentation of Australian Indigenous languages for more than 50 years. Her work ranges from salvage studies to detailed descriptions, all richly contextualised by documentation of songs, stories, land and biographies.' (Introduction)

'The contributors to this book highlight current practice in language documentation, drawing on insights from anthropology, digital humanities, education, ethnography, history, linguistics and musicology. The book shows how the value of this multi-faceted documentation has become clear over the last 50 years.' (Publication summary)

'Aboriginal approaches to the naming of places across Australia differ radically from the official introduced Anglo-Australian system. However, many of these earlier names have been incorporated into contemporary nomenclature, with considerable reinterpretations of their function and form. Recently, state jurisdictions have encouraged the adoption of a greater number of Indigenous names, sometimes alongside the accepted Anglo-Australian terms, around Sydney Harbour, for example. In some cases, the use of an introduced name, such as Gove, has been contested by local Indigenous people.'

'The 19 studies brought together in this book present an overview of current issues involving Indigenous placenames across the whole of Australia, drawing on the disciplines of geography, linguistics, history, and anthropology. They include meticulous studies of historical records, and perspectives stemming from contemporary Indigenous communities. The book includes a wealth of documentary information on some 400 specific placenames, including those of Sydney Harbour, the Blue Mountains, Canberra, western Victoria, the Lake Eyre district, the Victoria River District, and southwestern Cape York Peninsula.' (Source: Publishers website)

'Long ago, in the Dreamtime, Arelpe the Moon Man and Thangkenharenge the Bird Women created Kaytetye (pronounced kay-ditch) Country – a land of dry spinifex plains, low rocky outcrops and flat-topped hills. Kaytetye Country brings together for the first time the stories of the Kaytetye people of Central Australia. They tell the stories of their ancestors, of the coming of the white men bringing the Overland Telegraph Line, and the conflicts for land and resources which followed. They tell their own stories, from the days of travelling and living in the bush to the present day, living and working white people. These stories of good times and hard times help define a new history of Australia. They are told with humour and honesty by the Kaytetye themselves, the people who belong to Kaytetye Country.' (Source: Publisher's website)

'It is a sad task to have to announce the death of someone as brilliant, lively and witty as Don Laycock. He was born in Newcastle on 6 October 1936 and died in Canberra, 27 December 1988 after a short illness. Don was a man of wide interests whose publications include such diverse items as the book The Best Bawdry (1982), articles on extraterrestial languages and on the history of card-games. Although his professional work was primarily concerned with the New Guinea area, he had an involvement with Aboriginal studies going back thirty years.'   (Introduction)