Community & Remembrance
Term 3
THE IMPORTANT OF COUNTRY & PLACE!
ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE
Language is extremely important to the Aboriginal peoples. Languages 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 from place and identifies people and links to the land, country, the dreaming: they are all inherent in language, therefore it means the people,the land, everything.'' Yolngu Elder Laurie Baymarrwangga
- Use the interactive map to locate and identify the local language group-
SPIRIT OF THE LAND-POPPLET
PLACE NAMES
The aboriginal name for Shellharbour has been recorded as both Yerrowah (meeting place), and Wonwin,(place where there were big fish). The european name shellharbour refers to the large quantities of shells found in Aboriginal middens along the foreshores in the early to mid 19th centery. Due to the mining of shells in the mid 19th centery for the production of lime these vast middens no longer remain.