birding-aus

names

To: Michael Hunter <>
Subject: names
From: Denise Goodfellow <>
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2017 22:28:50 +0000
There is a choice  (depending, I guess, on which one you can pronounce most 
easily).

Galarawidwid; Kurraguyangguyang (meaning “long-leg”).  These are names given to 
me back in the 1980s by different Kunwinjku elders.


Denise









On 25 Jan 2017, at 7:31 am, Michael Hunter <> wrote:

> So what is the Aboriginal name for  " Jacana " ?   Petit Djagana ?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Russell 
> Sent: Tuesday, 24 January 2017 2:00 PM
> To: 'Denise Goodfellow'; 'michael hunter'
> Cc: 'birding-aus'
> Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] names
>
> Well I reckon we should call it DJAGANA then.  Surely no other bird in the
> world has that name. I'm changing my birdlist now.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus  On Behalf Of
> Denise Goodfellow
> Sent: 24 January 2017 02:05
> To: michael hunter
> Cc: birding-aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] names
>
> When I asked the question on Facebook most replied that they called the bird
> 'Jabiru' even though some were aware of the official name.  A Bininj
> grandson in Gunbalanya wrote "Yeah at top end area we called it jabiru big
> name but aboriginal name its DJAGANA".  And he's right, as far as Kunwinjku
> and related peoples are concerned - in my experience they all use 'Jabiru',
> as do most of the people I guided over thirty years.
>
> Much of Australia's avifauna (and other fauna) is known by European names,
> although there is no close taxonomic association. And 'Bandicoot'  is the
> common name of a genus of Asian rodents.  I don't see anyone calling for
> these names to be changed.
>
> Denise Lawungkurr  Goodfellow
> PO Box 71
> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
> 043 8650 835
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 23 Jan 2017, at 3:56 pm, michael hunter <> wrote:
>
>>
>>  Once again a few academics, mostly not Australian, if not
>> Un-Australian,
> are foisting otherworldly names onto us Aussie birders.
>>
>> Common names , NOT ENGLISH names, for Australian birds are names
>> commonly
> used by about 99% of Australian birdwatchers for our birds. It is appalling
> that colourless English names like Black-necked Stork have been inflicted on
> us by a few pseudo-academics who are presumably incapable of memorising
> Scientific names.  Jabiru may be the common name of a South American Stork,
> but changing the official "common" name for any birdwatcher witless enough
> to confuse the two in the field was an amazing arrogance. One justification
> was that people reading birdguides will be confused in not justified.
>>
>>  These people are meddling with our Australian common names, which
>> are ,
> or were, spontaneous non-scientific vernacular.
>>  Among many examples, "Jabiru" and "Torres Straits Pigeon" had
>> romantic
> (in the broad sense folks) connotations lost in the bland generics we are
> told to use instead. As a youth my first sighting of the legendary Jabiru
> was very exciting, and stimulated a life-long interest in Birding.  Seeing a
> Black-necked Stork would not have.
>>
>> "Willy Fantail"   They must be joking.
>>
>>        Resist.
>>
>>               Michael
>>
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