Abstract
Birds Australia is the premier ornithological organization in Australia, dedicated to the scientific study of birds and their conservation. This report is likely to attract the notice of ethnobiologists, linguists, anthropologists and indigenous studies specialists largely because of the promise of the title, and thus warrants bringing to the attention of the readership of this journal.
Between 1990 and 2006 Birds Australia in association with Oxford University Press (Melbourne) published the seven-volume Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB). The series condenses the state of scientific knowledge of the birds of the HANZAB region, presented in systematic (taxonomic) order, and has won wide critical acclaim in ornithological circles. Each volume (with the exception of volume 3, Snipe to Pigeons) includes appendices listing indigenous (Australian Aboriginal and New Zealand Maori) names for bird species, where known. The present report conveniently brings together the HANZAB material on Australian Aboriginal names with some minor emendations and, importantly, supplies indigenous names for the species covered in volume 3, notably the bio-culturally important Columbiformes (pigeons and doves).
The present report includes a brief six-page introduction with a very basic overview of Aboriginal languages of Australia, the role of birds in Aboriginal subsistence and culture, and the role played by Aboriginal people in the development of scientific ornithology in Australia. The bulk of the report is taken up by two sections: a systematic list of Australian bird species, with ‘corresponding’ Aboriginal names; and a list of the regions from which Aboriginal names were collected.
In the systematic list, Aboriginal names are arranged in alphabetical order. A superscript number appended to each name refers to one or more of the almost 50 regions listed. These are arranged by state, subdivided into the numbered regions loosely identifying bio-geographic areas, such as the southeast Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula (Queensland), the Great Victoria Desert (South Australia) and East Gippsland (Victoria). There are also ‘unknown’ or ‘unspecified’ localities listed for several states. Under each region is a list of from one to 15 references from which Aboriginal names were derived. A bibliography of sources completes the report.
Aboriginal names are drawn exclusively from published sources spanning the period from the latter half of the 19th Century to 2004. Peter notes that only a selection of Aboriginal bird names are included, but fails to clarify the basis of selection. Many of the names chosen reflect the inadequate Anglo-centric orthography of naïve recorders, some of questionable reliability. About two-thirds of sources are from the ornithological literature, perhaps reflecting Peter's background. Most of the rest is from a limited range of publications in linguistics. Although ethnobiology is an underdeveloped field in Australia, there is a small but growing body of relevant literature, none of which is cited.
There is an implicit assumption that the Aboriginal names are equivalent to Linnaean named categories. While ethnobiologists are wary of such assumptions, the non-specialist user of the report may not be.
To my mind, the greatest problem with this report is that the indigenous languages from which the listed names are drawn are not identified. In some cases the relevant languages are identified in the sources consulted, but in many cases they are not and the cultural contexts of Aboriginal names remain obscure. Anyone using this report with a view to identifying names for particular species in particular Aboriginal languages will be sorely frustrated. For example, there are 28 Aboriginal names listed for the Magpie Goose of northern and northeastern Australia. Seven of these names bear the superscript code number 44, which refers to Eastern Arnhem Land, southwestern Gulf of Carpentaria and Groote Eylandt. There are ten published sources listed for this region (though several key linguistic and ethnographic sources are omitted). Which of the several languages in this area are represented by the seven names can only be discovered by examining all ten references. In short, without access to the original sources in specialist libraries, this report is of questionable usefulness.
Although Peter gives no indication of the purpose of compiling this report, a compendium of this sort is potentially of value to varied users—not least ornithologists, ethnobiologists and indigenous Australians. The report may be of interest to those seeking a glimpse of the variety of Aboriginal names for birds. Regrettably, the approach adopted falls well short of any practical utility the report might serve as an entrée into a fascinating area of study. Hopefully, anyone else contemplating a similar exercise for other parts of the world may avoid the same pitfalls.