CONTENTS

The information in this website is largely the product of research and field trips made by Professor Peter Austin (Head of the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne) to the region of the Jiwarli, and the discussions and consultations he held with Jack Butler.

This site is structured around three stories told by Jack -

A story of traditional mythology
- A bat and a nightjar bird are killed by an angry mob.
An ethnographic text
- An echidna is tricked by the old men.
Some of Jack's reminiscences
- The day an old blind man, Jack's uncle, set his beard on fire.

You are free to browse the site in any order you please, however, we would suggest that the best step is to go to the stories first. You can discover how Jiwarli sounds when spoken by a Jack, and more about Jack himself. Learn about the region where the language was spoken, the kinship culture of the Jiwarli people, and some of the grammar of the language! The glosses give a breakdown of what each part of the Jiwarli words mean. We have also provided a page with links to other useful websites on Australian Aboriginal language and culture, and information about the people who put this website together.

We would love to hear any comments or questions you have about the information in this site. You can email us on webspider@linguistics.unimelb.edu.au. Enjoy!