Hi all
Actually, the purported origin from the Brisbane Aboriginal langauge Jagara may
be correct. However, I believe that the information in the first edition of the
Australian National Dictionary (1988 - the one available on the web now) has
been discarded.
That Jaraga had a word for "wandering white man" (as opposed to a sedentary
white man??) is highly suspect, especially the "wandering" part.
>From the early evidence, it seems that the Aboriginal communities around
>Brisbane/Moreton Bay were using the word "jackeroo" to refer to the recently
>arrived white settlers from at least the 1840s, which is when the word first
>appears in English texts. And the earliest evidence is in reference to white
>(German) missionaries. (Oxley explored and started a settlement in 1823-24)
It is clearly a local Aboriginal word, but what it's literal signification was
is, as far as I know, still a mystery. At any rate, it must have been a
neologism at the time, for the Aboriginal people wouldn't have had any word for
white men until they actually first encountered them.
It may have quite plausibly been a word for a noisy bird, as a type of slur at
the whiteman's funny-sounding language (cf. the word "barbarian"). But, it may
have been something else.
It was only later, from the 1860s onwards, that the term began being used to
refer to novice colonists or "new chums", and those that were trying to learn
how to run an Australian station.
James Lambert
>From:
>To:
>Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 11:55:27 +1100
>Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Pied Crow Strike - SMH
>
>The Oxford Australian National Dictionary (now available free online
>at http://203.166.81.53/and/ ) gives this etymology for 'Jackeroo'
>
>Jagara dhùgai-iu wandering white man
>
>So, yes, the Aboriginal language of Brisbane, but no noisy birds.
>
>John Leonard
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