About the Dhurga Dictionary
“I would really like to encourage teachers (pre-school, primary school, high school, tafe) to come online and have a look at what we’ve done because you’re getting the real deal – you’re not having to create resources out of information from other places.”
OUR APPROACH:
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 and Samanthan Ellis, their Aboriginal Education Support Workers. 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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
– 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
BACKGROUND:
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 dictionaries is Dhurga, Djiringandj, and Dhawa.
