Dhawa Dictionary

baadhal

swim

baagu

swim

baanamandula

stand

badha

neck

badhal

camp

badjgin

boomerang

bagari

sun

bana

rain

banda

penis

bandundha

sick

bangadj

swan

baragan

boomerang

baramadha wangga

bring

bari

barugadha

sated

barugara

full

biil

man

bimbiya

shield

bina

ear

binaring

black snake

binina

ear

birabambalu

dive

birribanj

emu

birriwarr

spear

biyanung

father

Dhawa	English	Audio
baadhal	swim
baagu	swim
baanamandula	stand
badha	neck
badhal	camp
badjgin	boomerang
bagari	sun
bana	rain
banda	penis
bandundha	sick
bangadj	swan
baragan	boomerang
baramadha wangga	bring
bari	no
barugadha	sated
barugara	full
biil	man
bimbiya	shield
bina	ear
binaring	black snake
binina	ear
birabambalu	dive
birribanj	emu
birriwarr	spear
biyanung	father

Related Dictionaries

Djiringandj

The primary source of the Djiringandj words was Jutta Besold’s 2013 thesis titled “Language Recovery of the NSW South Coast Aboriginal Languages”. The thesis identified 1604 Djiringandj words, including 595 words in common with the Dhurga language. The language collected in the thesis was recorded in the late 1800s before the creation of reserves and missions. Each word is referenced with the name of the recorder/s, the informant/s and the place of origin. It is the most concise, authentic and valid representation of the Djiringandj language to date.

Language Teachers Patricia Ellis and Kerry Boyenga found some anomalies in the Dhurga and Djiringandj languages, which required consultation with the linguist Jane Simpson of the Australian National University in Canberra who provided direction on where to find the suffixes spread throughout the thesis and how to use them.

The beautiful artwork was created by Year 1 students at Narooma Public School, strongly supported by the Principal Paul Sweeney and teachers Virginia Hodge and Sharon Pearce with direction from Lynne Thomas. The students have been learning the language for the past eight months, commencing in kindergarten and will continue learning language until Year 6. The art supplies were generously donated by Mercurius Australia.

We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in the process of creating the Djiringandj online dictionary.

– Words spoken by Gary Campbell
– Pronunciation training by Patricia Ellis
– Words recorded by Judy Norris
– Words mastered by Sean Lilico
– Words and audio uploaded by Kerry Boyenga
– Artworks by students at Narooma Public School
– Artwork digitisation and upload by Isobel Knowles

Three online dictionaries were developed throughout 2025 as part of the Yuin Digital Keeping Place Project, led by a Project Working Group of ten family representatives from Moruya to Eden, and developed in collaboration with SharingStories Foundation. The Working Group acknowledges that various spellings have been used throughout history. The spelling agreed upon by the Working Group for the purposes of the project is Dhurga, Djiringandj, and Dhawa.

Dhurga

The “Dhurga Dictionary and Learner’s Grammar-A South-East coast, NSW Aboriginal language” publication was used to create the Dhurga online dictionary. This language resource authored by siblings Patricia Ellis, Kerry Boyenga and Waine Donovan with substantial contributions from Eleanor Jorgensen and Jane Simpson was published in 2020.

The 730 Dhurga language words were extracted from Jutta Besold’s 2013 thesis titled “Language Recovery of the NSW South Coast Aboriginal Languages”. The language collected in the thesis was recorded in the late 1800s before the creation of reserves and missions. Each word is referenced with the name of the recorder/s, the informant/s and the place of origin. It is the most concise, authentic and valid representation of the Dhurga language to date. Dhurga words were entered by and spoken by Patricia Ellis, and recorded by Brooke Small over three days, reading from the dictionary.

The amazing artwork for the online Dhurga dictionary was provided by the Aboriginal students of Carroll College Broulee, strongly supported by the Principal Jacqui Heffernan and Teacher Michelle Katuke. Years 7 through to year 12 participated in the drawing. Initially this was under the guidance of their language teacher Patricia Ellis, and more recently with instruction by Riley Nolan, their Aboriginal Education Support Worker. The students have been learning the Dhurga language for the past six years and are familiar with the drawings in the dictionary. The art supplies were generously donated by Mercurius Australia.

We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in the process of creating the Dhurga online dictionary.

– Words spoken by Patricia Ellis
– Words recorded by Brooke Small
– Words mastered by Sean Lilico
– Words and audio uploaded by Patricia Ellis and Kerry Boyenga
– Artworks by students at Carroll College
– Artwork digitisation and upload by Isobel Knowles

Dhawa

Two language resources were used to create the online Dhawa dictionary including: “The Thaua Language: An Aboriginal Pictionary From The NSW Far South Coast” and an old cassette recording of Anne Wirrimah Thomas captured in an interview with Kristina Sands, a linguist at ANU.

“The Thaua Language: An Aboriginal Pictionary From The NSW Far South Coast” was authored by John Liston and published by The Country Area Program, South Coast, Department of School Education in 1993. Kristina Sands was engaged in the project to locate and standardise the language for The Country Area Program. On the recording of Anne Wirrimah Thomas speaking the words, Sands explains there are 21 words in the Dhawa language that are common with Djiringandj.

A total of 214 words were recorded for the online Dhawa dictionary, of which 21 are words used in common with the Djiringandj language. The words were spoken by Lynne Thomas, daughter of Anne Wirrimah Thomas. The beautiful artwork was created by Year 1 students at Narooma Public School, strongly supported by the Principal Paul Sweeney and teachers Virginia Hodge and Sharon Pearce with direction from Lynne Thomas. The art supplies were generously donated by Mercurius Australia.

We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in the process of creating the Dhawa online dictionary.

– Words spoken by Lynne Thomas
– Words recorded by Brooke Small
– Words mastered by Sean Lilico
– Words uploaded by Lynne Thomas and Brooke Small
– Audio uploaded by Brooke Small
– Artworks by students at Narooma Public School
– Artwork digitisation and upload by Isobel Knowles

a pronounced as	u in cup
u pronounced as	oo in foot
i pronounced as	i in fit
aa pronounced as	ar in far
ii pronounced as	ee in feel
r pronounced as	a rolled r

dh pronounced as	dh in duty
dj pronounced as	j in judge
nj pronounced as	ni in onion
ng pronounced as	ng in sing
ii pronounced as	ee in feel
ngg pronounced as	ng in finger

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Dhawa Dictionary

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

ABOUT THE DICTIONARY

Pronunciation Guide for Dhawa Language

Phonemes - vowel and consonants

Digraphs - a combination of letters representing a sound

Filter by category

baadhal

baagu

baanamandula

badha

badhal

badjgin

bagari

bana

banda

bandundha

bangadj

baragan

baramadha wangga

bari

barugadha

barugara

biil

bimbiya

bina

binaring

binina

birabambalu

birribanj

birriwarr

biyanung

Related Dictionaries

Djiringandj

Dhurga

Dhawa