First published 2006. This revised edition published in 2025 by: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative 14 Bellwood Road
Nambucca Heads NSW 2448
Telephone: 02 6569 4294
Email: admin@muurrbay.org.au
Website: http://muurrbay.org.au/
Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative is a leading regional language centre that provides strategic support to revitalise the languages of seven Aboriginal communities of central and northern NSW. We work closely with Elders and local language, culture and educational organisations to conduct research, publish accessible grammar-dictionaries, and develop engaging education courses and resources.
MUURRBAY’S VISION
‘ . . . language is not just simply a means of communication; it also provides a means through which the culture, social values and world view of a particular language group can be identified and understood.’
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
Storyteller: Philip Shannon†
Illustrator: Frank McLeod
Co-ordinators: Uncle Ken Walker and Anna Ash
Editor: Steve Morelli
Linguistic editors: Gerhardt Laves†, Steve Morelli
Language researcher: Gary Williams
Map: Sue Tomkins
Design: Christine Bruderlin
(† deceased)
About this book
Philip Shannon, who told this story, was a Gumbaynggirr man (pronounced Goom-bayng-gearr*) from the Nymboida area of Gumbaynggirr country in coastal New South Wales, Australia. It was one of around fifteen stories that Philip Shannon told to the researcher Gerhardt Laves in 1929; Gerhardt Laves wrote the stories down.
Philip Shannon told the story as a kind of play; that is, in the direct speech of the characters: Dulaybam (Grey-faced Wallaby) and Dunggirr (Koala). It is a children’s story that contains a positive message about sharing and looking after each other. This version of the story is slightly shorter than the original telling.
The story is presented here as a narrative story in English. Also, the voices of the two characters, Dulaybam and Dunggirr, are shown in Gumbaynggirr in speech bubbles in the illustrations and can be read and acted out as a play.
More information about Gumbaynggirr language including a pronunciation guide can be found on pages 24 to 29.
More language-learning resources for Gumbaynggirr and other northern New South Wales languages published by Muurrbay can be found at muurrbay.org.au/home/publications-andresources/
*‘rr’ is a rolled or hard ‘r’, as pronounced by Scottish people
A glossary of the Gumbaynggirr words used in this book can be found on pages 26 to 27.
Dulaybam Dunggiirr
Grey-faced Wallaby and Koala
Dulaybam (Grey-faced Wallaby)
A Gumbaynggirr Dreaming Story
Told by Philip Shannon
Long ago in the Dreamtime, the Dulaybam had no tail and the Dunggirr was always thirsty. Dulaybam lives in the rocks. He asks himself, ‘Why, oh why don’t I have a tail? I think I’ll have a look for someone with a tail.’
What are you doing climbing up the tree all the time and then climbing down off it? Why are you going to the water?
Ngambii ngaaja ngaarlu; waandi jaliigirr.
I go for a drink and then climb the tree.
Dulaybam asks Koala, ‘Don’t you have a bowl?’
Biiway nginundi gulung? Don’t you have a bowl?
‘No!’ Dunggirr replies. ‘I have to come down to get a drink of water.
I don’t have a bowl. I don’t have a thing to carry water in.
I go empty handed, without a bowl.’
Biiway! Ngaya jalaaway
ngarluunggu ngambiigu.
Biiway nganyundi gulung.
Yuwarrgin ngaya yaanyji gulungbiya.
No! I have to come down to get a drink of water. I don’t have a bowl. I don’t have a thing to carry water in. I go empty handed, without a bowl.
Dulaybam says, ‘Here’s my bowl. I always carry it around in my head.’
Dunggirr is surprised. ‘Oh! Do you really carry a bowl around in your head?’
Ya nganyundi gulung. Ngaaja maanijay galiija.
Here’s my bowl. I always carry it around in my head.
Wa! Ngiidi? Ngiinda maaning galiija gulung?
Oh! Do you really carry a bowl around in your head?
Dulaybam explains, ‘I carry it right here in my head, friend. That’s the bowl I’ll give you. In return, you can give me that tail of yours!’
Dunggirr says, ‘Right on! I’ll give you my tail. In return, you give me that bowl from your head! Could you give it here, friend. I need to have a look at it.’
Ya-yarrang galiija gulung ngaaja
maanijay, guuyu. Ya ngaaja ngiina ngurraaw gulung. Ngiinda gala ngaanya ngurraa yarrang nginundi juun!
I carry it right here in my head, friend. That’s the bowl I’ll give you. In return, you can give me that tail of yours!
Here you are with the bowl, so you can drink water way up there in the tree.
Dunggirr takes the bowl and puts it on.
He says, ‘Wow! is this bowl for me?’
Galang! Yadi nganyu gulung ngarluunggu?
Wow! is this bowl for me?
‘Now, you give me the tail from the end of your spine!’ says Dulaybam.
Dunggirr replies, ‘All right, here’s the tail for you! I’ll give it to you now. Now I’ve loosened it and now I’ll tear it right out. Turn around! Let me get the tail in there and stick it on to your spine!’
All right, here’s the tail for you! I’ll give it to you now. Now I’ve loosened it and now I’ll tear it right out. Turn around! Let me get the tail in there and stick it on to your spine!
Ngurraa gala ngaanya
juun jagiinyarr!
Now, you give me the tail from the end of your spine!
Dulaybam calls out, ‘Come here! I’ve just got to get this bowl into your head. Right! Now drink some water, friend.
Fill up that bowl with water! Right! Now climb the tree carrying the bowl inside you! You won’t be thirsty again. You can stay up there for five days.’
Come here! I’ve just got to get this bowl into your head. Right! Now drink some water, friend. Fill up that bowl with water! Right! Now climb the tree carrying the bowl inside you! You won’t be thirsty again. You can stay up there for five days.
As for you, you can now go off into the distance, Dulaybam.
Now that you hop like a kangaroo, really speed along! Biiwayay. The end.
Ngiinda gala jawgirr muurri Dulaybam! Ngiigay bilagana, ngiinda jululgi! Biiwayay.
About Gumbaynggirr
Gumbaynggirr (pronounced Goom-bayng-gearr) is an Aboriginal language of the country between between the Clarence and Nambucca rivers in northern New South Wales.
Since 1986, the language has been revived by Gumbaynggirr people and others. There are now many books and resources in Gumbaynggirr language for the growing number of speakers and language learners.
Language notes
There have been a few adaptations from the Nymboidan dialect to suit the coastal dialects, as follows:
In the Nymboidan dialect, the -ndi ending is usually left off the pronoun: nganyu. Throughout this story the unabbreviated form nganyundi is used.
‘Tree’ is jaliigirr in the Nymboidan dialect. It is used in the northern coastal dialect, and the southern word biguurr has several other meanings. The ablative case ‘-na’ in jaliigina (away from the tree) is from the southern dialect. The grammar has been standardised eg. jaliigirr has been given the southern ending ‘-na’ - jaliigirr-na.
Page 6: Niigarr (man) has been replaced with ngabaamba.
Page 18: Nganyu has been changed to ngaanya ‘me’ here and at page 20 because this form is commonly used on the coast both North and South after ngurraa ‘give’. Yarrang has replaced yang here and on pages 20 and 24. Yarrang is the common coastal word.
Page 22: -di in yadi shows a question.
Page 24: Jagiinya (Nymboidan dialect) has been replaced with jagiinyarr (South). The root word is jaginy. The -ga ending on ngaaja and yaarri means ‘and now’ in a series of actions. This Nymboidan feature has been kept.
The sounds of Gumbaynggirr
1. Vowel sounds
Vowel Gumbaynggirr As in English
a g alang (gosh) but
aa ngaarlu (water) path
i ngayinggi (sit) bit
ii b iiway (not) feet
u gulung (bowl) put
uu guuyu (friend) boot
2. Consonant sounds
Vowel Gumbaynggirr As in English
b biiway (no) baby or puppy
Note: may sound like ‘p’; gaabi ‘wallaby’, can sound like gaapi.
d dunggiirr (koala) did or tot
Note: may sound like ‘t’; giduurr ‘sand’ can sound like gituurr
g gulung (bowl) gag or Kate
Note: may sound like ‘k’; for example, galang (gosh) sounds like kalang. It is never said like English ‘age’.
j juun (tail) no exact sound/closer to ‘dew’ than ‘Jew’
l yilaami (come here) lily
m minya (what) mum
n juun (tail) nan
ng ngiinda (you) sing
ny nyaagiliw (will see) onion
Note: may end a word, but is never said like English ‘many’.
r waaru (up) run
rr bularri (two) Scottish “r”
rl ngaarlu (water) like ‘poorly’
Note: is a forward flap of the tongue.
w waandi (climb) wow
y ya (here) yet (never as in why).
Glossary
balunggi thirst
biiway no
biiwayay end
bilagana run
biyagay not bularri-bularri-garlugun five bundul completely
bunggiima push in darruya well
-di in yadi shows a question
dulaybam* whiptail wallaby
dunggiirr koala
gala but
galang gee!
gaali
galiija
galiinga head in/at/on the head from the head
gulung
gulung garri
gulungbiya bowl made from a tree-knob having a bowl without a bowl
guuyu friend (Elder)
jaginy
jagiinyarr jaginyjarri tailbone from the tailbone turn one’s back to
jalaawa jalaaway jalaawaygu come down come(s) down will come down
jaliigirr jaliigida jaliigina tree on a tree from a tree
jawgarr so, then
jawgirr off
jirri doing what?
jululgi hop
junyirri
junyirrila have a chat let’s have a chat
juun
juun.garri tail with a tail
maani
maanijay maaning bring brings brought
maajaygurrala stick something on miiladama fill up
minya
minyaagu what? what for?
muluu over there
muluuna from over there
muurri to over there
* Philip Shannon called this ‘grey-face kangaroo’. This is the whiptail wallaby (Macropus parryi) also known as the pretty-face wallaby, grey-faced wallaby, grey flier or blue flier. A little smaller than the grey kangaroo, it has a dark face with a white stripe on the upper lip, and a long, thin tail.
ngaaja ngaajaga ngaanya I now I me
ngaarlu ngarluunggu water to the water
ngabaamba chap ngalii we two
ngambii ngambiigu drink to drink
ngaya nganyu nganyundi I for me my
ngarri that one ngayinggi sit, stay
ngii ngiibarr ngiidi ngiigay yes OK then really? Truly!
ngiinda ngiina nginu nginugali nginumbala nginundi you you (as in ‘I give you . . . ’) for you towards you at you your
ngurraa ngurraanda
ngurraaw ngurraawabarr give please give will give then give!
nyaagili nyaagiliw seek, look for will look for
nyaa nyaala see let’s see wa Oh! waandi waandiyay climb climb
waaru up wala maybe
wajaada on(to) the ground wala maybe
waruungga up there wurraa pull out
wurraang wurraaw pulled out will pull out
ya yadi that there is that . . . ?
yaanyji goes
yaarri yaarribarr yaarriga then here then now here
yarrang ya-yarrang that that there yilaami come yuwarrala let put in yuwarrgin empty-handed
Gumbaynggirr word meanings explained in English
PAGE 3
Dulaybam:
Galang biiway nganyundi juun?
Gosh not my tail?
Ngaaja wala nyaagiliw juun.garri ngabaamba. I maybe seek-will tail-with someone.
PAGE 4–5
Dulaybam:
Ya gala minya waruungga juun.garri? There but what up-at tail-with?
Jalaawanda ngiinda guuyu. Come-down-please you friend.
Ngurraa gala ngaanya juun jagiinyarr! Give in-return me-to tail tail-bone-from!
Dunggiirr:
Yaarribarr, nginu juun. Ngaajaga ngurraaw ngiina juun. Here-O.K, you-for tail. I-now give-will to you tail.
Yaarriga ngaaja wurraang, bundul wurraaw. Here-now I pull-off-did, entirely pull-off-will.
Jaginyjarri-gay ngiinda! Ngaaja bunggiimala, maajaygurrala. Turn-around-well you! I poke-it-in-let, stick-it-let!
PAGE 21
Dulaybam:
Yilaami ngiinda. Ngaaja galiija nginumbala yuwarrala gulung. Come here you. I head-in you-at put-let bowl.
Ngiigay ngiinda ngambii guuyu ngaarlu! Right you drink friend water!
Ngarri gulung miiladama ngarluunggu. Ngiigay! That bowl full-at-make water-with. Right!
Ngiinda waandi jaliigirr gulung-garriw Biyagay ngiinda balunggiw. You climb tree bowl-with-self. Not you thirst-will.
Ngiinda waruungga ngayinggi bularri-bularri-garlugun. You up-in sit two-two-one.
PAGE 23
Dunggiirr:
Ngiinda gala jawgirr muurri Dulaybam! You but off far Grey-faced Wallaby!
Ngiigay bilagana, ngiinda jululgi! Biiwayay Truly run, you hop! The end.
Dulaybam (Grey-faced Wallaby)
Dunggiirr (Koala)
Long ago in the Dreamtime, the Dulaybam (Grey-faced Wallaby) had no tail and Dunggirr (Koala) was always thirsty. Find out how they helped each other in this traditional Gumbaynggirr children’s story told by Philip Shannon, a Gumbaynggirr man from the Nymboida area of Gumbaynggirr country in coastal New South Wales, Australia.
This newly revised edition features delightful illustrations by Dhanggati illustrator Frank McLeod and includes Gumbaynggirr words and language information. It is part of the strong language and cultural revival movement of Gumbaynggirr and other Aboriginal people throughout the region.
