AustLit

'In the Dalabon language of Arnhem Land, the noun root malk can mean ‘place, country’, but also ‘season, weather’ as well as ‘place in a system’, e.g. one’s ‘skin’ in the overarching system of kin relations, or the point on a net where the support sticks are fixed. The verb root wonan basically means ‘hear, listen’ but is regularly extended to other types of non-visual perception, such as smelling, and to thought and consideration more generally. Combined with malk, it means ‘think about where to go, consider what to do next’. The generous polysynthetic nature of Dalabon — where polysynthetic denotes a type of language which can combine many elements together into a single verbal word to express what would take a sentence in English — gives us the word ngûrrahmalkwonawoniyan.' (Introduction)

'In 1911 a man named McKenzie obtained a government lease which, according to Queensland law, gave him title hold over all of Sweers Island and a large portion of Bentinck Island. In the 1980s Roma Kelly told linguist Nicholas Evans about the brutal massacre led by McKenzie in 1918 at Rukuthi, for which he was never punished.' (Source: Online)

'Featuring the work of artists from Mornington Island Arts and Craft, The Heart of Everything explores the history and visual culture of the region and its wide-ranging contemporary art. This volume also includes a collection of paintings by the Kaiadilt artists of nearby Bentinck Island, including essays by Dr Paul Memmott, Dr Nicholas Evans and art writer Lousie Martin Chew. ' (Source: Online)

'Song brings language and music together. Great singers are at once musicians and wordsmiths, who toss rhythm, melody and word against one another in complex cross-play. In this paper we outline some initial findings that are emerging from our interdisciplinary study of the musical traditions of the Cobourg region of western Arnhem Land, a coastal area situated in the far north of the Australian continent 350 kilometres northeast of Darwin. We focus on a set of songs called Jurtbirrk, sung in Iwaidja, a highly endangered language, whose core speaker base is now located in the community of Minjilang on Croker Island. We bring to bear analytical methodologies from both musicology and linguistics to illuminate this hitherto undocumented genre of love songs.  (Publication abstract)

'Details of a 1918 massacre of Kaiadilt Aboriginal people living on Bentinck Island by one McKenzie, who was part of a European party attempting to occupy Bentinck Island, are presented. A transcription, gloss and English translation of the text on the massacre are presented.' (Source: Abstract)