This website is presented as an homage to the Sydney Aboriginal people's knowledge and culture.  It is presented as a tribute to the skills and humanity of William Dawes.

Project staff

 

Thanks

The project co-ordinators would like to extend their thanks to the following people for their expressions of support and contributions of various kinds that made this website and its companion book possible:

 

Funding and resources

The co-ordinators gratefully acknowledge funding, equipment and other resources received from:

 

 

                            

 

 

   
Linguistic Resources and Language Learning Links

Dharug (NSW), ABC feature page with links to video of Dharug teacher Richard Green and students learning the language at Chifley College

NSW Board of Studies: Aboriginal languages. Includes information about K-12 syllabus and practical advice.

The Aboriginal Language of Sydney: a partial reconstruction of the indigenous language of Sydney based on the notebooks of William Dawes of 1790-91, informed by other records of the Sydney and surrounding languages to c.1905, by Jeremy Steele. 2005. MA Thesis (Macquarie University)

The Sydney Language, by Jakelin Troy. 1993. Canberra: Published by Troy with the assistance of the Australian Dictionaries Project and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

The Sydney Language notebooks and responses to language contact in early colonial NSW, by Jaky Troy. Originally printed in Australian Journal of Linguistics, 1992, 12, 145-170 (modified version)

A handbook of Aboriginal languages of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Jim Wafer and Amanda Lissarague (editors), 2008. Nambucca Heads, NSW. Book can be purchased through Google Books.

naabawinya, by Jeremy Steele. A blog of articles on some Aboriginal languages drawing on comparative lexical databases. See http://naabawinya.blogspot.com/.

 

Historical Links

An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales by David Collins.  Account mentions many of the events involving Dawes in Sydney.  Available from both Project Gutenberg and The Internet Archive.

A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, by Watkin Tench. Detailed and readable account of events in Sydney and expeditions involving Dawes, as well as about the language.   Available from both Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive.

Dawes, William (1762-1836), by Phyllis Mander-Jones. Australian Dictionary of Biography

Pemulwuy. Wikipedia article on the man who led Aboriginal resistance against the colonisation of Sydney.

The first fleet and early settlement documents. University of Sydney and NSW State Library. Includes items by Phillip and Tench mentioning William Dawes.

William Dawes: Australia's First Meteorologist, by R.J. McAffee. 1978 essay about William Dawes and his meteorological work, includes sketches of Dawes and his 'observatory'

 

Press articles

A few words from William Dawes and George Bass. by Keith Vincent Smith. Detail on the history of the Dawes notebooks and of Dawes' role in documenting the language. In National Library of Australia News.Volume XVIII, Number 9, June 2008.  Pp. 7-10.

Darug people's new dreaming - the return of the land they called home, by Daniel Lewis. Sydney Morning Herald article featuring Jacinta Tobin and with information about the contemporary Darug community

Event-Grammar: The Language Notebooks of William Dawes, by Ross Gibson, in Meanjin. A literary essay on Dawes, Patyegarang, and the context in which the notebooks were written.

Lost Aboriginal Language Revived, by Phil Mercer. BBC news story on revitalisation of Dharug at Chifley College Dunheved campus in Sydney. Includes a short glossary of useful words.

On fact and fiction, by Keith Vincent Smith. In The Australian newspaper.

 

Organisations

Darug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation. A Darug community organisation. This website has links to various Darug resources.

Endangered Language Project, SOAS. Information about endangered languages worldwide, documentation grants, academic programs, and digital archive.

NSW Aboriginal Languages Research and Resource Centre. New South Wales, Australia. Information about Aboriginal languages in NSW and grants for revitalisation activities.

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. Aboriginal cultural protection activities across the Sydney area.

The Koori Centre. Programs, services and facilities supporting Indigenous students at the University of Sydney

Warawara - the Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University. Teaches Indigenous studies and provides access for Indigenous students..

 

Project contacts

• Endangered Language Archives at SOAS, University of London.
• The Archives & Special Collections at SOAS, University of London
• NSW Aboriginal Languages Research and Resource Centre. New South Wales, Australia.

 

Sydney language contacts

• NSW Department of Education and Communities.  Links to resources for Aboriginal language learning.
• NSW Aboriginal Languages Research and Resource Centre. New South Wales, Australia. Information about Aboriginal languages in NSW and grants for revitalisation activities.