What was Sydney really called?

It is often claimed that the Aboriginal the name for Sydney was Warang. Your Amateur Researcher

previously speculated about this in the post ‘Warrang or Warrane — or ngurang?’

Certainly the compiler of the Anon notebook thought Sydney Cove was Waran:

Anon Notebook c:36:1 https://www.williamdawes.org/ms/msview.php?image-id=book-c-pages-52-53

Even William Dawes used the name Warang for Sydney Cove, or Sydney:

Dawes Notebook b:33:4.2 https://www.williamdawes.org/ms/msview.php?image-id=book-b-page-34

But was this right? Might there have been a single instance of a misunderstanding, when a

European was trying to ascertain the name of Sydney Cove, possibly mainly by gestures, and

when the Sydney man he was speaking to was doing his best to understand what the European

was wanting to know, the resulting answer given about being on one 'side' of the cove or the other

being copied erroneously ever since as being the name of the cove?

Evidence from the Bayala databases that warang might have meant ‘side’ is in the following table:

Australian	respelt	English	EngJSM	source
"[wur´ran-a-wâree]"	warana-wari	"[This other side [the hill]]"	side-at far	Mathews 8006/3/7- No 7 [:26:24.21] [Gga] [nsw] []
"Wurrananggi"	waranangGi	"the other side"	side-xxx [?]	R.H. Mathews Qld NSW Vic Languages:  [:166:20.1] [Drgn] [nsw] [1902]
"Worrong-woóree"	warang-wuri	": On this side (the water) :"	side far	Dawes (b) [b:22:3] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]
"[Warrungalwundu]"	warangal-wundu	"[on the other side]"	side far	Mathews DWL 1901 [:147:13.2] [Dwl] [nsw] [1901]
"[warrungalee]"	waranGali	"[the hill along the side of go I]"	side along	Mathews DWL 1901 [:147:24.1] [Dwl] [nsw] [1901]
"Warrin-gah"	warinGa	"Middle Harbor (South Side)"	[side south]	James R. Tyrrell, 1933 [:51:27] [Syd] [NSW] [1933]
"[wurrijanthung]"	wari-dya-nDung	"[around at the farther side of the tree]"	distant far side	Mathews DWL 1901 [:147:18.2] [Dwl] [nsw] [1901]
"[wur´-rin-jung]"	wari-ndyang	"[run, run to the other side of the hill]"	side-far	M&E: GGA 1900 [:268:4.22] [Gga] [nsw] [1900]
"Warriyung [?]"	wari-ya-ng	"the other side of thee [?]"	side [far] thee-of	Mathews 8006/3/5 -5 [:157:16] [Dwl] [nsw] [
"wurrigalla na"	warigala na	"You come close to the edge"	side that	KAOL Ridley: Tales [:147:15] [Dga ] [nsw] [1875]

These are all wara-/wari- words, with the most compelling entries being the group in the middle of the table coming from various NSW coastal languages, in particular the entry by Dawes, warang-wuri.

There were numerous other words for ‘side’ in the records: bida, dandi, duruwan, dyang, gawida, gawinda, gayin, ngadin-wala, ngalam gida, ngunin-bil and yawali-ya, again from various coastal languages. Given the variable quality of the records, it is not possible to be certain about any of the above.

Could there have been a more authentic name for Sydney Cove?

Below is a presentation of Dawes’ first notebook, Notebook a, in which he intended to cover the verbs in Biyal Biyal, the Sydney language. The illustration below presents the notebook as a series of double spreads, as would appear if the reader flipped from one page to the next:

The notebook is mostly text, with a few blank pages. Closer inspection shows that on the left-hand side of a double spread there is a table. This is a ‘paradigm’, or arrangement in which Dawes presented each verb. It shows, on the left-hand page, what he had found out for the ‘number’ (I, thou, he we, you, they) and ‘tense’ (present, past future) of each of the twenty of so verbs featured. On the opposite or right-hand page he showed examples of the use of the verb concerned in sentences or phrases. Dawes headed these right-hand pages ‘Other inflections’. Sometimes he had no examples to offer, and in such instances he left the pages blank, presumably waiting until he heard the verb being used, when presumably he would have added the example just heard to the notebook in the appropriate place.

There are, however, several double spreads that do not quite match this format. The last two are written upside down. When he started, Dawes was a beginner both in the study of the language, and in how to most usefully arrange what he learnt in this notebook. The first entries he wrote were the upside-down ones. They were not neatly written, basically jottings, and in fact were messy. He himself must have realised this, and decided he could do a much better job. So he turned the notebook round and started again at the other end. This is why two of the verbs—‘to go’ and ‘to see’—appear twice, at each end, but in the re-started new arrangement they are tidily done.

However, even when Dawes started again, he still did not get it right first time. Because, on the very first double spread, he put the paradigm on the right-hand page. He must then have realised it would be better for it to be on the left, with examples on the right, as this is what he then did and subsequently followed for all the entries in the rest of Notebook a.

He used that first left hand page for something else. Let us look to see how he actually handled that very first double spread, the one he abandoned, with the paradigm on the right. Here it is:

The paradigm is on the right, but what is that on the left. Scribbles? Doodles? Nonsense?

Dawes' notebooks can be viewed on the internet (https://www.williamdawes.org/index.html), where a high resolution version of this page can be enlarged and scrutinised.

In fact, when this page is looked as carefully as possible, and especially when the feature circled

around and labelled ‘Memel’ is noticed, it can be seen that it is a map. Memel is the Biyal Biyal name of Goat Island in Sydney Harbour.

After considerable further staring at this page, and on turning the page round to get north at the top, the reader can make out what is shown alongside:

This might, with some guesswork, be matched to Sydney Harbour as follows:

Of the names featured, some are well enough known from the records: Mimil, Gawang, Dara:

"Memel"	mimil	""	Goat Island	Dawes (a) [a:0:4] [BB]
"Dara"	Dara	""	Dawes Point	Dawes (a) [a:0:6] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]
"Cow-wan"	gawan	"Ross Farm"	[[Peacock Point]]	Anon (c) [c:38:16] [BB] [NSW] [1791]
"Wari wal"	wariwal	""	fishtype [Elephant Fish]	Dawes (a) [a:0:3] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]

But others are not, notably Koowarinang (guwarinang). It is this particular placename that is of special interest—for if the Dawes sketch map really is a map, it is the only name of the three not featured in the table above (i.e. Kaneagang, Ilkan Maladul, Koowarinang) whose precise location is practically certainly known. For it is clearly marked as situated to the right or east of dara (Dawes Point), and the only place that it could realistically be is Sydney Cove.

What might guwarinang mean?

Are there any likely meanings for guwarinang in the records? Not really, but some possibilities are given in the table below:

"Koowarinang"	guwarinang	"NO TRANSLATION"	Sydney Cove [?]	Dawes (a) [a:0:7] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]
"Kow-er-ring"	gawaring	"1 Native name Kow-er-ring ..."	mollusc King Scallop	Painters [::0.1] [BB] [NSW] [c.1792]
"kaoari"	gawari	"flathead"	flathead	KAOL Rowley GeoR [:104:39] [DG] [NSW] [1875]
"Cowry"	gawari	"Satin Bird"	bowerbird satin	Caley’s Bird Notes [:216:8] [DG] [NSW] [1800-10]
"Kaoúwarin breakfast"	gawarin BREAKFAST	"Let us breakfast first"	first BREAKFAST	Dawes (b) [b:12:7] [BB] [NSW] [1790-91]
"keewarra"	giwara	"hair"	hair	Smith, Isaac [:34.1:6] [BB] [NSW] [1770]
"Gee-warrōō"	giwaru	"Hair of the head"	hair	Cunningham, Allan [:1:18] [DG] [NSW] [c 1825]
"goowarra"	guwara	"wind"	wind	Monkhouse [:34.1:18] [BB] [NSW] [1770]

Of these, ‘hair’ is the most unlikely on the grounds of not being close enough to the word guwarinang. Of the remainder, might 'mollusc', 'flathead', 'bowerbird' or 'wind' have anything to do with guwarinang? Who knows?

The final example, about ‘breakfast’, was possibly misunderstood by Dawes. He has it as meaning ‘first’, but it might have been a negative, ‘no’. Either way, gawarin seems unlikely to have a connection to the word for Sydney Cove, guwarinang.

Observations

If Dawes’ sketch drawing is a map, and a map of Sydney Harbour near where he was living at Dara, later Dawes Point, then he appears to have indicated a placename, guwarinang, for where Sydney Cove would be.

While living on his own where he did, he was visited by Aboriginal people, including children who went swimming nearby. He befriended them, had conversations with them, and learnt the language from them. He must have heard the name guwarinang somehow, and also have learnt where it was—not far away. If Guwarinang was indeed the name for Sydney Cove, this name could reasonably be adopted in the present day as the correct Aboriginal name for Sydney itself. For it is possible—though definitely not known for certain—that the generally accepted name for Sydney, Warang, arose from a single instance of misunderstanding between an Aboriginal person and a European, as illustrated in the cartoon above.

JEREMY STEELE

20 September 2024