2-minute read

Not only is Australia home to some of the world’s most extraordinary wildlife, it’s also a top contender when it comes to delightfully distinctive creature names. If you’ve ever puzzled over the origins of some of the country’s more curious animal monikers like those given to the mini-marsupials woylie, kaluta, and nabarlek, here’s a quick look at the who and the why behind what’s in a name.

Although Europeans had their own ideas about what to call the feathered, furry and scaly they encountered when they began their settlement of Australia in 1788, the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders who had lived alongside native species on the island continent for over 60,000 years were well ahead of the new arrivals in the animal name game. The 500 clans which made up the population of indigenous peoples of 18th-century Australia had developed over 260 distinct languages and 500 regional dialects reflective of their unique cultures, close ties to the land, and custodial relationship with nature.

While a fair number of the animal names imported by European settlers that are in use today were inspired by similar-looking creatures in other continents such as emu from the Portuguese “ema,” and goanna from the Spanish “iguana,” indigenous names were passed down through thousands of generations and based on the experience and deep understanding gained from interacting with animals in their specific ecosystems and environments. Far from haphazard, indigenous ecological knowledge systems typically identified species based on purpose, relationship to other animals, age, and gender.

The Seussian-sounding indigenous names woylie, kaluta, and nabarlek originate from three different clans and languages. The extremely rare and now critically endangered brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata), or rat-kangaroo, was first dubbed woylie by the Noongar people of South West Australia. The name of nabarlek, given to the small, nimble hopper also known as the little rock-wallaby (Petrogale concinna), comes from the endangered Aboriginal language of Kunwinjku spoken by the Bininj Kunwok people, who live in the rocky terrain of West Arnhem Land in the northern part of the country. And the little red kaluta (Dasykaluta rosamondae), an auburn colored, carnivorous species of marsupial, the male of which heroically bears the burden of dying after mating, has a hybrid name: kaluta from the language of the Nyamal tribe of north-western Australia and the Latin rosa mundi, after Rosamond, King Henry II’s red-headed mistress.

Despite the fact that many of the commonly used names of Australian animals are those adopted by the Europeans, there is growing momentum to rechristen native species with names chosen from the country’s hundreds of Aboriginal languages and dialects. Brisbane biologist Tim Low, author of Where Song Began, points out that there is also a trend to incorporate indigenous names in the official scientific classification of species in recognition of the Aboriginal  peoples’ language and cultural heritage which is as richly diverse as their country’s wildlife.

You can learn more about an ongoing project aimed at promoting indigenous knowledge of Australia’s flora and fauna from the Atlas of Living Australia. And if you’d like to read about the fascinating, sometimes comically contentious process of naming Australia’s bird species, check out Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings, by Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray.