Aboriginal Place Names

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See Also: Wiradjuri Words, Other Indigenous Words

The Wiradjuri were the local Budgee Budgee clan. Their tribal area stretched as far as Wellington and the Mudgee region was only a small part of their hunting grounds. Aboriginal place names abound in and around the district.

Time has already obliterated any physical Aboriginal presence but the place names live on to remind us of the past. Here are the meanings of some of them:

MUDGEE: a nest. Allegedly derived from a word in our indigenous language—Moothi, a place of rest.

BURRUNDULLA: a kind of reed found in a swamp.

WILBETREE: from wilbur-dree; a long switch

EURUNDEREE: a tree in the vicinity (the actual tree is not known)

PIPECLAY: dabburang or clay for pipes.

GULGONG: a ditch or gully.

BUMBERRA: sneaking after game.

BURRENDONG: very dark, darker than usual.

GOREE or GURAI: sneaking after game.

WOLLAR: from the word wallar, a waterhole in the rocks.

COOYAL: guyal meaning dry.

GUNTAWANG: quima-wabg, a stony crossing.

MEROO: worroo, a nose.

MENAH: flat country.

PUTTA BUCCA: puttaba, the name of a hill near a creek and bugga, stinking fish.

BUDGEE BUDGEE: Not known if this is an Aboriginal word. See Budgee Budgee on this web site for further details.

There are many others but no definitive list of local Aboriginal place names appears to exist. Aboriginal nomenclature was a consummate art.