Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: George W atson or Nyiyija (cl899-1991) w as a m agnificent indigenous scholar.H e was w ell-versed in the language, legends, songs and custom s of his ow n D ulgubarra M am u people, from east of Innisfail in no rth ern Q ueensland.H e also had a useful know ledge of W aribarra M am u, Jirrbal, G irram ay and N gajan (other dialects of w h at I call the Dyirbal language).G eorge w as one of m y m ain teachers and m y close friend from 1964 until his death.H e recorded m ore than 20 texts and traditional stories, his ow n life story (in three long instalm ents), other historical narratives, an account of olden-day m edi cines and the like.H e helped in the com pilation of a fair-sized dictionary across ten dia lects of Dyirbal, w ith equivalents supplied in the 'm other-in-law ' avoidance style for m ost w ords from the everyday language style.Together w ith biologist Tony Irvine, we identified about 700 species of flora, and docum ented their uses.A nd George explained the gram m ar to me, and answ ered all of m y questions.1 G eorge's birth w as the result of a casual encounter betw een his M am u mother, Jarrabirrjan, and a w hite carrier, A rth u r W atson.As George told the story, his m other had intended to kill him at birth (the fate of m ost 'half-caste' babies at that time and place) b u t her sister intervened and said she w o u ld bring G eorge up w ith Polly, her ow n 'halfcaste' child.In fact G eorge spent m ost of his early years w ith his m o th er's father, N yayw i, w ho passed on the age-old inheritance of his people-how the w orld cam e to be as it is, the uses of im p o rtan t plants in the rain forest, and how one should behave in the M am u way.O ver the years that I knew G eorge he talked often of his g randfather N yayw i and of the life they lived together around Jordan's Creek (a tributary of the South Johnstone River) in the jungle betw een Ravenshoe and Millaa Millaa, N orth Q ueensland.Early on, I enquired about G eorge's grandm other, N yayw i's wife.T never knew h er', G eorge replied, 'she w as shot by Palm erston, before I w as born.Palm erston used to come and shoot up a w hole cam p of blackfellows, those that d id n 't m anage to run off into the scrub.He got m y grandm other, h ad a intercourse w ith her, and then shot her dead '.Christie P alm erston had been born about 1850 (place and parentage unknow n).In 1869 he w as charged w ith theft at R ockham pton and sentenced to jail for two years.In 1878 Palm erston w as advertised as w an ted by the C airns police for an unspecified fell.See the published grammar, Dixon (1972), and an informal account of doing linguistic fieldwork in the area in Dixon (1983).
Source: Aboriginal History Journal
Author: R.M.W. Dixon
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2272009691