What’s in a place name? - Yangan

“Yangan” is a small township on Queensland’s Southern Downs.  The name is normally treated as an Aboriginal place name by various sources, however the word yangan appears in other languages too. Even if we accept that our local town is an Aboriginal place name, the meaning is not clear.

Aboriginal word options - verbs

‘Moving in relation to your present location’

The University of Queensland (2015) site “Queensland Places” suggests that Yangan, previously known as Upper Swan Creek, was so named in 1887 using the Aboriginal word for “going forward or upwards”. The people group for this word is not mentioned. [1]  This is certainly a cheerful name to give a township which has just found itself on a railway line. The SEQ location, Yangan, only appears in Trove after the opening of the railway.  The first mention is in a railway timetable of 1884. [2]

Portion of Railway timetable of 1884.
These are the 'up' trains, 'down' trains not included.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines notes that Yangan is “reportedly an Aboriginal word, language and dialect not recorded, indicating ‘proceed’ or ‘go away’.” [3] Similarly an article in The Queenslander of 1914, quoting a pamphlet describing the nomenclature of Queensland railway stations says, “Aboriginal for ‘To go on,’ or ‘Go away.’" [4]

This interpretation as “keep going” or “go away” is consistent with a trope in some place names of the White man not understanding either the language, humour or anger of the Aboriginal guide and recording something uncomplimentary as a place name, cf. the surveyor James Warner naming ‘Goodna’ after the Yuggera word for human excrement. [5]

In 1936, a large series of articles on the Nomenclature [naming conventions] of Queensland suggests that A. Meston, a prodigious writer on Aboriginal word meanings, favoured the “keep going”, “go away” option.

YANGAN.— A small township about half-way between Warwick and Killarney. It was originally named Logan's Vale, by Allan Cunningham, after Captain Logan. When the railway line was opened the name was altered to Yangan. The late Mr. Archibald Meston said it was a native word meaning "Let us go on" or "go away." [6]

This is quoted by the Warwick Daily News in 1938 in their nomenclature of the Warwick District. [7]

The Queenslander in the same year offers the following

Yangan, between Warwick and Killarney, is a native name. The late Mr. Meston said it meant "Let us go away", meaning that the blacks bestowed the name on the place when civilisation was beginning to impact severely upon them. [8]

It is a subtle shift in meaning … but it has moved the name from one of defiance to one of Aboriginal hopelessness.

Another verb option can be found in the language of the Bundjalung people … who are known to travel through the area, especially enroute to the Bunya Festival in the Bunya Mountains. Their word root ‘yangani’ can mean “bring to me" or "fetch”, with numerous variations. [9]

Aboriginal word options - nouns

It is risky to see an Aboriginal word in one location and assume it applies in another, which is the reason I am making observations about which people group are noted as using the word.

“Common property”

Despite L. A. Meston offering a different interpretation to that provided by his father A. Meston in one of his own articles (1929) he notes that ‘yangan’ can mean ‘common property’

"Yangan" was the word for "common property" in the Wiradhuri language of New South Wales. A number of words from this extensive language were used in Queensland dialects. [10]

“Dugong”

Interestingly, the most common translation of the word yangan is for the marine creature the dugong. In September 1859 two papers, the Moreton Bay Courier [11] and The (Melbourne) Argus [12], published extracts from a then new book by Edward Wilson, ‘Rambles at the Antipodes’ (available in electronic format at Internet Archive [13]). Edwards offers ‘Yangan’ as a name for the marine creature the dugong.

Lower down on the bay is CIeveland - interesting as being the resort of turtle, and "an animal more interesting even than turtle," "the yangan," or "dugong." The flesh of this animal is not only palatable, but actually curative, when fresh having the taste of tender beef, and when salted nearly resembling bacon. Every dugong yields an oil, which is found, in cases of scrofula and other diseases, to be more efficacious than cod liver oil. [14]

Similarly Dixon et al (2006) in their Australian Aboriginal Words in English [15] note that ‘yangan’ and a number of spelling variants refer to the dugong. They quote from sources to which I would attribute much weight, namely Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland (1904) and Rev Eippers Statement of the origin, condition and prospects of the German mission to the Aborigines at Moreton Bay, conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales (1841).

This may go some way to explain why Fisherman Island was known as Yangan by the Turrbal people. [16]

Okay … we are not going to see a dugong on the Western side of the Great Divide, but we do know that Aboriginal people from Moreton Bay travelled through the Yangan region on their way to the Bunya Nut Festival.  There would have been Aboriginal language speakers in the locality now known as Yangan at times for whom the word Yangan meant ‘dugong’.  Is it possible we have not understood the ‘humour’ or ‘anger’ of a guide?

“A woman”

Given the sailor stories of dugong being mistaken as mermaids (hence dugong belonging to the Genus Sirenia) the translation of ‘yangan’ as a “wife” or “marriageable woman” by the Gubbi-Gubbi and Butchulla people [17] is also of interest.  Similarly in the Bidjara language of South East Queensland ‘yanga’ is also a word for ‘mother’ [18].

“A specific edible orchid”

There is another fifth option though not the word ‘Yangan’, rather the word ‘N yangan’ (could we have an alternate spelling, or a phonetic spelling?).  This is the earliest use of the word I could find in Trove and it comes from the extracts for a Naturalist’s report in 1850, taken at a location with the Latitude 26 11 12 and Longitude 151 30 00 which when entered into Google Maps gives a location near Proston SEQ.

In the afternoon some blackfellows (sic) approached our camp, bringing in their hands gum leaves of an integral leaved wattle, or Acacia, as tokens of peace. They did not, however, come nearer than one hundred yards or so. I obtained the following words from them by pointing to different parts of my body and by signs … I also obtained their names for the following species of plants which I had then in my hand. - Tharrum, Capparis or Caper trees. N yangan, Cymbidiam (sic). This plant is an Epiphite (sic), and common in the forks of the dead or diseased gum trees. Its blossoms are a rich waxy peach white, very sweet and pendulans succeeded by clusters of fleshy like oblong and octangular seed pods, which are collected and eaten by the Natives. [19]

Variously known as the ‘small groove-leafed cybidium’, the ‘banana orchid’, or the ‘Queensland Black Orchid”, Cybidium canalicatutum is documented as being present in the region [20].  It is also well attested as an Aboriginal food plant. The Cribbs in their ‘Wild food of Australia’ state that …

The pseudobulbs are packed with starch. They can be eaten either raw or cooked but they are mucilaginous and insipid. If the pseudobulb is grated or pounded the starch can be washed out and allowed to settle. … The plant was at one time known as native arrowroot but this term seems to have fallen into disuse. The brown fruit which eventually splits  to release enormous numbers of seeds can also be eaten raw. [21]

Similarly Tim Low in his Bush Medicine notes the use of C. canalicatutum’s milky sap as a healing aid for sores and wounds, and that eating the base stems is a cure for dysentery, with the latter also being used as a cure by early settlers [22].

Non-indigenous word options

Trove offers two other ‘hits’ for the word Yangan prior to 1890 that may be worth noting, if only to disregard them after consideration.

Firstly, a press release on a significant fire in Constantinople which appears in at least 10 papers in the Nov-Dec of 1865, “In less than half-an-hour after the cry of ‘yangan var!’ (there is fire), at least a score of houses were ablaze” [23]. This observation is made more interesting when one considers that the Aboriginal people to the north of Yangan, the Goone-burra or  “fire blacks”, after whom Goomburra is named, were known for their use of fire to modify the landscape.

Secondly, several news article in October 1859 make mention of an execution, by the French, of British and American subjects in New Caledonia that has a focus on a port called Yangan, whereby persons were forbidden to enter the said port on ‘pain of death’ [24].  With the exception of this 1859 article it is very difficult to find any other mention of Yangan in association with New Caledonia.

A conclusion

If the word for the township was chosen by some bureaucrat in the railway department because of some poorly documented understanding of the Aboriginal language we may need to concede the meaning as “going forwards or upwards”, while at the same time acknowledging a somewhat crass cultural appropriation.

If the word was acknowledged as having currency in the region and therefore seemed an appropriate name to the railway bureaucrats then I would favour the orchid derivation, given its presence in the region...  appealing as a joke about dugongs may be.

As for the foreign options I am treating them as examples of the delightful and curious red herrings that a journey through an archive such as Trove throws up.  If I didn’t have more pressing investigations I would be interested in following the New Caledonia link further.

References

[1] University of Queensland (2015) Queensland Places - Yangan. Retrieved March 6, 2017 from http://queenslandplaces.com.au/yangan.

[2] Advertising (1884, May 31). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 7. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174680353

[3] Queensland Government (n.d.) Queensland place names - Yangan. Retrieved March 6, 2017 from https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/qld/environment/land/place-names/search#/search=yangan&types=0&place=Yangan38430

[4] QUEENSLAND RAILWAY NOMENCLATURE. (1914, April 25). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 8. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25506057

[5] Queensland Government (n.d.) Queensland place names - Goodna. Retrieved March 6, 2017 from https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/qld/environment/land/place-names/search#/search=goodna&types=0&place=Goodna48315

[6] NOMENCLATURE OF QUEENSLAND—318 (1936, October 6). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37005724

[7] ANOTHER LIST (1938, July 26). Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954), p. 6. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190396766

[8] What's In A Name? (1938, October 5). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 8. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18907608

[9] http://bundjalung.dalang.com.au/filedown/file/Language-EnglishH-Y.pdf accessed Mar 28, 2017

[10] ABORIGINAL WORDS. (1929, February 21). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 3. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21378490

[11] RAMBLES AT THE ANTIPODES. (1859, September 17). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3720370

[12] RAMBLES AT THE ANTIPODES. (1859, August 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5686975

[13] Rambles at the antipodes: a series of sketches of Moreton Bay, New Zealand, the Murray River and South Australia and the overland route. With 2 maps; and 12 tinted lithographs, illustrative of Australian life. Accessed March 6, 2017 from https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tsENAAAAQAAJ

[14] RAMBLES AT THE ANTIPODES. (1859, September 17). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3720370

[15] Dixon, R. M. W., Moore, B., Ramson, W. S. Thomas, M. (2006) Australian Aboriginal Words in English, second edition. (Oxford)

[16] Maroochy Barambah (n.d.) RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNALITY: AN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE ON KNOWLEDGE AND EXPRESSION. Retrieved March 28, 2017 from, https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/7325/1/Barambah_9781920899714_TEXT.pdf

[17] Bell, J. & Seed, A. (1994) Dictionary of the Gubbi-Gubbi and Butchulla languages. Retrieved March 6, 2017 from https://morayfieldeastss.eq.edu.au/Supportandresources/Formsanddocuments/Documents/Indigenous%20Resources/dictionary-of-the-gubbi-gubbi-and-butchulla-languages.pdf

[18] Yugambeh (n.d.) List of Bidjari Words. Retreived March 30, 2017 from http://www.yugambeh.com/gtcms/structured/strc__resource_482_103___List+of+Bidjara+Words.pdf

[19] JOURNAL OF A NATURALIST. (1850, July 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4768627

[20] Atlas of Living Australia (n.d.)Cymbidium canaliculatum R.Br. http://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/93196#overview accessed March 22, 2017.

[21] Cribbs, A. B. & J. W. (1974) Wild Food of Australia. Fontana.

[22] Low, T. (1990). Bush medicine: a pharmacopoeia of natural remedies. Angus and Robertson.

[23] THE FIRE AT CONSTANTINOPLE, (1865, November 23). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13122169 and others.

[24] MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. (1859, October 13). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 3. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64091350