Wiradjuri

English

Alternative forms

Over 60 different spellings of the name have been recorded.

• Wiradhuri
• Obsolete forms: Waradgeri, Waradgery, Wiradhari, Wiradhurri, Wiradthuri, Wiradyuri, Wiragere, Wiraiari, Wirradgerry, Wirradhuri, Wirradhurri, Wirratherie, Wirrathuri, Wooragurie, Woradgery

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɪˈraːd͡ʒuriː/

Noun

Wiradjuri pl (plural only)

1. An indigenous people of Australia who live in a large area of New South Wales west of the Blue Mountains.
   • 1896, R. H. Mathews, “The Būrbŭng of the Wiradthuri Tribes”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 25:

     The tribes who attended the Būrbŭng described in this paper were some of those belonging to the Wiradthuri community, which in former times was both numerous and important, occupying a wide tract of country in the interior of New South Wales, extending from somewhere about the Murray River northerly nearly to the Barwan river, where they were joined by the great Kamilaroi tribes.

Proper noun

Wiradjuri

1. The Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken by the Wiradjuri.
   • 1873, William Ridley, “Australian Languages and Traditions”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 2:

     Mr. Günther’s and Mr. Watson’s treat of the same language, the Wīrādhurri, or, as some aborigines pronounce it, Wīrāgĕrĕ, a language spoken over a wide extent of country, from the Upper Namoi, the Castlereagh and Liverpool Plains in the north and east, to the Bawun or Darling west, and the Lachlan in the south. [...] I suppose this “Northerumberland dialect” was not spoken over more than one-fiftieth of the extent of country over which Wiradhuri or Kamilaroi is known.

   • 1892, John Fraser, An Australian Language:

     The Wirradhuri dialect, or as I call it, the Wirádhari, covers the whole heart of N. S. Wales; [...]

   • 1904, R. H. Mathews, “The Wiradyuri and other languages of New South Wales”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 34:

     The native tribes speaking the Wiradyuri language occupy an immense region in the central and southern portions of New South Wales.

   • 2002, R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development:

     We can recognise Wiradhurri and Ngiyambaa as constituting a branch within the subgroup, [...]

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Wiradjuri terms

Further reading

• Ethnologue entry for Wiradjuri, wrh ⁠
• Colin Yallop, Australian Aboriginal Languages, Andrew Deutsch, 1982, →ISBN.