First Nations Language Collection

[left margin] M^r. S. May. with compliments FJ Watson

(1) Union Street, Toowong, S.W.1. Nov. 24th, 1942.

Re the place name Dundathu.

Dundathu was originally the name of a sawmill and its township situated on the bank of the Mary River some nine miles below Maryborough. This mill was established by Messrs Pettigrew and Sim in about 1860 and abandoned about 1880, but the locality and the adjoining river reach retain the name.

The name is derived from the local (Kabi) word, dhan-dauwa-dhu, meaning"Place of timber" , from dhan, a contraction of dhagun, dauwa, dry or withered, and dhu, tree or wood, the combined words, dauwa-dhu, being the nearest translation of the English word timber, i.e. sawn timber.

It has been generally accepted, probably on the authority of "Tom Petrie's Reminiscences" that the name, Dundathu ,was identical with the natives' name for the Kauri pine tree, which Petrie gave as dundardoom. This arose, no doubt, from the fact that at Dundathu the first Queensland kauri pine was milled and exported therefrom ,and it became generally known as Dundathu pine.

The habitat of the kauri pine, Agathis robusta, of South Queensland, is Great Sandy, or Fraser's Island and a restricted area of the mainland adjacent thereto ,including the area about Tin Can Bay, from whence this log timber used to be rafted to to Dundathu, and , later , to Maryborough sawmills.

The aboriginals' name for the kauri pine throughout the said area is "nunmula" (nunmoola).

FJ Watson

Note/

I have long been in possession of the above information but deferred recording it until I could obtain a statement, from a reliable aboriginal source ,substantiating the word nunmula, as the Wide Bay aborigines' name for the kauri pine tree, which I have recently been enabled to do.

FJW

COPY:

Union Street, Toowong, S.W.1. November 24th, 1942.

Re the place name Dundathu.

Dundathu was originally the name of a sawmill and its township situated on the bank of the Mary River some nine miles below Maryborough. This mill was established by Messrs. Pettigrew and Sim in about 1860 and abandoned about 1880, but the locality and the adjoining river reach retain the name.

The name is derived from the local (Kabi) word, dhan-dauwa-dhu, meaning "place of timber" , from dhan, a contraction of dhagun, dauwa, dry or withered, and dhu, tree or wood, the combined words, dauwa-dhu, being the nearest translation of the English word timber, i.e. sawn timber.

It has been generally accepted, probably on the authority of Tom Petrie's Reminiscences", that the name, Dundathu, was identical with the natives' name for the Kauri pine tree, which Petrie gave as dundardoom. This arose, no doubt, from the fact that at Dundathu the first Queensland kauri pine was milled and exported therefrom, and it became generally known as Dundathu pine.

The habitat of the kauri pine, Agathis robusta, of South Queensland, is Great Sandy or Fraser's Island and a restricted area of the mainland adjacent thereto, including the area about Tin Can Bay, from whence this log timber used to be rafted to Dundathu and later, to Maryborough sawmills.

The aboriginals' name for the kauri pine throughout the said area is "nunmula" (nunmoola).

(Signd.) F. J. Watson

Note:

I have long been in possession of the above information but deferred recording it until I could obtain a statement, from a reliable aboriginal source, substantiating the word "nunmula", as the Wide Bay aborigines' name for the kauri pine tree, which I have recently been enabled to do.

(Signed.) F.J.W.

COPY:

Union Street, Toowong, S.W.1. November 24th, 1942.

Re the place name Dundathu.

Dundathu was originally the name of a sawmill and its township situated on the bank of the Mary River some nine miles below Maryborough. This mill was established by Messrs. Pettigrew and Sim in about 1860 and abandoned about 1880, but the locality and the adjoining river reach retain the name.

The name is derived from the local (Kabi) word, dhan-dauwa-dhu, meaning "place of timber" , from dhan, a contraction of dhagun, dauwa, dry or withered, and dhu, tree or wood, the combined words, dauwa-dhu, being the nearest translation of the English word timber, i.e. sawn timber.

It has been generally accepted, probably on the authority of Tom Petrie's Reminiscences", that the name, Dundathu, was identical with the natives' name for the Kauri pine tree, which Petrie gave as dundardoom. This arose, no doubt, from the fact that at Dundathu the first Queensland kauri pine was milled and exported therefrom, and it became generally known as Dundathu pine.

The habitat of the kauri pine, Agathis robusta, of South Queensland, is Great Sandy or Fraser's Island and a restricted area of the mainland adjacent thereto, including the area about Tin Can Bay, from whence this log timber used to be rafted to Dundathu and later, to Maryborough sawmills.

The aboriginals' name for the kauri pine throughout the said area is "nunmula" (nunmoola).

(Signd.) F. J. Watson.

Note:

I have long been in possession of the above information but deferred recording it until I could obtain a statement, from a reliable aboriginal source, substantiating the word "nunmula", as the Wide Bay aborigines' name for the kauri pine tree, which I have recently been enabled to do.

(Signed.) F.J.W.

Union Street, Toowong, S. W. 1. March 5th, 1943.

Dear Sir,

Referring to your letter of 4th inst. with enclosure of memo from the Railway Commissioner's Office relative to the suggested place name Singola, I have to advise you that I have no knowledge of the word or its meaning. Probably, the initial letter S in the name is an anglicised version of that peculiar consonant used by the natives,which has no representative in the English language but which writers on aboriginal languages render variously as dh, t, d, eh and j, the former of which in my opinion is most appropriate. It is really a palatal converted to a dental which may be best imitated by, in pronouncing the word jam, to avoid touching the palate with the tongue , touching the teeth only. If it should be decided to use the name, I would suggest that, to suit English utterance, that it be spelled "Dhingola". I think the accent should be on the first syllable, as is usual in aboriginal orthoepy. The sibilant S does not occur in any South Queensland language, nor, I think, in any other Queensland language.

In a vocabulary of a native tribe near Mt. Mulligan in N. Q., by Francis Richards, which contains upwards of three hundred words, the letter S does not appear. The initial digraph, ch- however, frequently appears, and is probably is used in the place of the one which I have described as dh.

As an instance of the sibilant being miss-used in a North Queensland, I may mention the name Tarzali, on the Millaa Millaa branch line. A local resident who had been a good deal in contact with the local aborigines told me that its pronunciation should be Tardhali. (I am sorry to say that I forget whether it was the name of a tree or the personal name of a local native.)

Yours faithfully,

(F. J. Watson).

Mr. Sydney May, Hon. Secretary, Q. P. N. Committee, University of Queensland.

(I enclose herewith the memo from the Railway Commissioner's Office).

[left margin] Enclo.