Author(s): Steve Morelli

Indigenous Australians

The homelands of the Gumbaynggirr lie between the Clarence and the Nambucca rivers in northern New South Wales. The Baanbay people to the West speak the same language. As with many Aboriginal Australian languages, Gumbaynggirr had fewer speakers and was in danger of extinction. All that changed in 1986 when a small group of Elders took steps to revive it, and this book is a tribute to their efforts. Brother Steve Morelli's research is based on the recordings of Gumbaynggirr Elders, written sources and the knowledge of Gumbaynggirr people today. This book includes more than 2700 word entries, easy-to-read grammar section, a semantic fields section which groups words such as birds, emotions, insects or artefacts. A new words section lets people use Gumbaynggirr in a modern context, a section on traditional families as well as two new maps depiciting the Gumbaynggirr world and several pictures to complement the word entries.