Updated Australian National Dictionary Is Here to Teach You ‘Dinkum’ Aussie English

From my latest post for Global Voices: The Updated Australian National Dictionary Is Here to Teach You ‘Dinkum’ Aussie English

Australian National Dictionary 2nd Edition.

When I was a teacher, an unfamiliar student approached me in the schoolyard during play lunch, or the mid-morning break. "Is it true you read the dictionary for fun?" he enquired. His response to my positive answer was, "You're a sick man!" You've been warned.

Over the years, Global Voices editors and translators have wondered about some of the words in my posts. For those struggling with or just interested in 'Australianisms', the updated Australian National Dictionary may be a timely addition to your library.

To most English-speaking people, Australian English, otherwise known as Strine, must seem like a foreign language. Take the sentence below:

Any true blue, dinkum Aussie battler from Astraya's Deep North knows that Canberrans are really Mexicans.

Translation:

Any genuine Australian from Northern Queensland knows that residents of Canberra, the national capital, are from south of the border (and hence inferior).

Interstate or regional rivalry down under is present in a lot of Australian English terms (both geographical references in the sentence above carry derogatory connotations). For example, Taswegians, who are from the southern island state of Tasmania, are proud of their contributions to the Australian National Dictionary, and as such their bragging might qualify them as a 'yaffler', or a loudmouth.

Taswegians view the rest of Australia as 'mainlanders':

Tourism pitch to 'save a mainlander' - ABC News (Australian ... http://t.co/WiQVsXDT

— Manny Papadoulis (@TourismSMM) June 4, 2012

Two new additions to the dictionary are related to Australia's capital, Canberra: 'Canberran' is a person from Canberra, and 'Canberra bashing' is somewhat of a national political pastime. The local chief minister had a message to the online oligarchs to fix their spellcheckers:

Canberran has finally made it to the dictionary but it's time for that underline to go #Microsoft #Apple #Twitter pic.twitter.com/ND10ElyjwB

— Andrew Barr (@ABarrMLA) August 23, 2016

Another Canberra politician, member of the House of Representatives Andrew Leigh, helped launch the second edition of the dictionary, 28 years after the first. In his remarks, he highlighted some of the phrases that made it into the publication:

• 'callithumpian' (a lack of adherence to any religion)
• 'rurosexual' (a fashionable young man living in a country area)
• 'sea changer' (a change of lifestyle, especially moving from the city to a seaside town)
• 'doesn't know whether he's Arthur or Martha' (to be in a state of confusion)
• 'your blood's worth bottling' (you are of exceptional value)
• 'do a Bradbury' (to become the unlikely winner)
• 'carry on like a pork chop' (to behave foolishly, make a fuss)
• 'happy as a bastard on father’s day' (extremely unhappy)
• 'straight to the pool room' (expressing the great value of a gift or prize, etc.)
• 'wouldn't know if a tram was up him unless the conductor rang the bell' (extremely stupid)

He also pointed out some of the Indigenous words that now feature, such as 'gubinge', which is a type of plum, and 'migaloo', meaning a white person.

'Migaloo' is only one of over 500 words from 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, as Australian National Dictionary editor Bruce Moore explained on news and analysis site The Conversation in a post titled 'Do you know a Bunji from a Boorie? Meet our dictionary’s new Indigenous words'.

While all these entries are touted as 'new', many are only new to the dictionary. During the 1960s, for example, my father claimed that he always wrote 'callithumpian' as his religion on the Census form.

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Australians Tweeting for #MotherLanguage Day

What is your first language? Do you use it on social media or in other communications? From my latest post for Global Voices:

Even though more than 7,000 languages are spoken in the world, the Internet is dominated by a handful of them. For International Mother Language on 21 February 2015, Global Voices was part of an international community which promoted the campaign to Tweet in Your #MotherLanguage.

In Australia, it is estimated had between 300 and 400 Indigenous languages at the time of British colonisation in 1788. Of those remaining today, perhaps only a few dozen remain strong while many of the others are threatened.

Australians Shake Up Internet With Indigenous #MotherLanguage Tweets

Anita Heiss: Is She Black Enough For You?

Given Tim Wilson's new career, reading Anita Heiss' memoir Am I Black Enough For You? turned out to be very topical.

My review can be viewed here.

Spencer and Gillen's Extraordinary Online Legacy

Spencer and Gillen A Journey through Aboriginal Australia is a new website launched at Museum Victoria on 5 May 2013.

It is the result of a collaboration that has involved a large number of institutions around the globe.

'This website showcases notebooks, films, audio recordings, illustrations and photographs collected during Spencer and Gillen’s studies in anthropology between 1875 and 1912.'

This impressive collection currently contains 5314 objects including 1858 of their photographs, 26 audio recording, 16 moving images and 1199 documents. Documents such as journal and diary entries and letters include the original plus a transcript. All objects can be magnified for easy inspection.


The work of Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen, and their extraordinary legacy, are a vital part of Australia's heritage that all of us should learn more about.

'No Winners, No Losers: Just Truth, Justice and Mercy'

"I have a growing disquiet that asking, that expecting, the majority of Australians to vote YES in a referendum to include first peoples in the body of the Constitution and to removing the clause that allows discrimination based on race, in the next three to five years or so, will fail."

Dr. Kerry Arabena, Professor and Director of Research for the School for Indigenous health in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, addressed the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Conference on 20 July 2012.

The program notes for her presentation 'No Winners, No Losers: Just Truth, Justice and Mercy - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Constitutional Reform' included:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a history being framed by Australians as either competent or lacking competence; whether we need to be controlled or whether we can take responsibility; whether we are affected by the problems or we are the problem; or whether we are one of you and able to be included, or we are different and need to be excluded. In this presentation, Kerry Arabena explores national discourses relating to Constitutional reform and explores how language is being used to bring about a 'Yes' vote in the referendum. First she reviews the current discourses framing the First Peoples' responses to the Constitutional reform process. Second, she identifies a campaign based on a concept of preciousness by way of providing an alternative discourse than that which is currently popularised in some media. Finally, she explores what a discourse would need to achieve - what compelling narratives do we need to build a positive public response that allow us all to participate in nation building projects across Australia?

Fury Follows Aboriginal Tent Embassy Protest

From Australia Day: Fury Follows Aboriginal Tent Embassy Protest - my roundup for Global Voices:

Australia Day ceremonies are usually the dullest of events. But not when Australia’s political leaders are together just walking distance from a gathering at the contentious Aboriginal Tent Embassy. When the crowd there heard a report that earlier in the day Opposition leader Tony Abbott had suggested its removal, a spontaneous protest took place at the Lobby restaurant where Prime Minister Julia Gillard was awarding emergency medals. 

The fracas quickly turned to farce. Developments have included: that Mr Abbott’s remarks were misreported; the original tip-off came via Tony Hodges, one of the PM's media advisors (who has since resigned); accusations of a media beat-up of violence; a shoe lost by Ms Gillard was returned after suggestions of an ebay auction; a go-between was named followed by strong denials. At least that’s the best guess at the moment. 

...Perhaps modern politics is more about image than about reality. And a contest amongst both media and commentariat to be the most outraged. Ironically too many were ready to chastise the tent embassy crowd for reacting hastily to incorrect information, only to do the same thing themselves to media reports.

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Vale Lionel Rose

Boxing legend Lionel Rose dies

Lionel Rose: World Champion and 1968 Australian of the Year

From my post for the 40th anniversary of Lionel Rose's title victory:

Lionel became World Bantamweight Champion on 26 February 1968 by defeating Figthing Harada in Tokyo. He was the Australian of the year for 1968, the first aborigine in that role. He was only nineteen.

Lionel was not a political person in his youth unlike his American counterpart Muhammad Ali. Ali's boxing licence had been suspended a year earlier because of his refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam War. He was also stripped of his world title.

You didn't have to be into boxing to watch Lionel's bouts. We all did. There was no traffic in Melbourne if it was televised. His trainer was Jack Rennie - no relation, though it is a family name.

When he became the greatest boxer in Australian history, he was only nineteen.

Kimberley Coast: Save James Price Point

ABC 7.30 Program 19 April 2011

There is still time to save James Price Point near Broome. The Browse Basin gas project must locate its hub somewhere else.

Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

FMG Great Native Title Swindle video

Fortescue Mining and Twiggy Forrest are trying to stop these videos:

FMG Great Native Title Swindle





Watch it while you can.

Our Generation: Melbourne Launch

The Melbourne launch of Our Generation on 22 October 2010, a documentary on aboriginal rights in Australia, by filmmakers Sinem Saban and Damien Curtis.

Our Generation - Melbourne Launch from Kevin Rennie on Vimeo.

for more information please visit their website Our Generation