Community & Remembrance
Term 3
The Importamce of Country & Place
Aboriginal Language
Language is extremely important to the Aboriginal peoples. Language carry cultural
knowledge, so the loss of a language means the loss of cultural, of Aboriginal people's
connections to their ancestors.
*The important thing about language and what it means is that language contains the essence of our ancestors, every word comes place
- Use the interactive map to locate and identify the local language group.
The local language group for the illawarra is Tharawal
It is also known as
What Their Language Means To Them
Language is important to Aboriginal people because, it is their own language they own it, they designed their own language (not like us) Taking it away is like taring apart a heart. The cool thing about it is that every different group has their own special way of communicating.
Place Names
THe aboriginal name for Shellharbour has been recorded as both Yerrowah (meeting place), and Wonwin, (place where there were big fish). The Eurpoean ame for Shellharbour refers to the large quantities of shells found in Aboriginal middens along the foreshore in the early to mid 19 century. Due to the minning of shells in the mid 19th century for the production of lime these vast middens no longer