Luise Hercus

Indigenous and Minority Placenames: Australian and International Perspectives

Overview: This book showcases current research into Indigenous and minority placenames in Australia and internationally. Many of the chapters in this volume originated as papers at a Trends in Toponymy conference hosted by the University of Ballarat in 2007 that featured Australian and international speakers. The chapters in this volume provide insight into the quality of toponymic research that is being undertaken in Australia and in countries such as Canada, Finland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Norway. The research presented here draws on the disciplines of linguistics, geography, history, and anthropology. The book includes meticulous studies of placenames in central NSW and the Upper Hunter region; Gundungurra cave names; western Arnhem Land; Northern Cape York Peninsula and Mount Wheeler in Queensland; saltwater placenames around Mer in the Torres Strait; and the Kaurna in South Australia.

Looking at some details of Reuther’s work

The surviving work of J. G. Reuther fills 13 volumes and is an easy target for comments about Germans’ meticulous attention to detail (see Lucas and Deane, Chapter 4, this volume, for details). A single word in Reuther’s 4,035-word Diyari dictionary may have well over 30, and in a few cases even over 60, illustrative sentences. These sentences are important not only for their anthropological content, but also linguistically: they contain special idioms and turns of phrase that are characteristic for a whole area. The richness of detail is characteristic of his massive work, compiled at the Lutheran mission at Killalpaninna.