136 Proceedings of tJte Royal Society of Victoria. 



the vague secondhand repoi'ts connected with Mount Elephant 

 and Mount Leura ; for Dawson is probably the best available 

 authority for the aborigines of that district. Dawson did not 

 know the meaning of the name Bo'ok/ which is given by Brough 

 Smyth as Poork or Porrhuc, and it is said to mean "a cold in 

 the head,"^ probably implying that the mountain was as cold and 

 bleak, when it was first named by the aborigines, as it is now. 

 That Mount Shadwell was the last volcano in its district in 

 eruption is geologically improbable ; for it looks much older than 

 the craters of Mount Noorat, respecting which there are no 

 traditions. 



The meaning of the names of extinct craters always seems to 

 imply that the hills were in niuch the same condition when they 

 were named by the aborigines, as they are to-day. Thus Mount 

 Leura, or Lehuura, is said by Dawson'^ to mean "nose," referring 

 no doubt to the shape of the denudation curve of the northern 

 face of the mountain. Mount Buninyong is said^ to mean the 

 "knee hill," from " bunin " — knee, and " youang " — -a hill; the 

 latter term is familiar in the name of the You Yangs, and 

 occurs with the Loddon tribe under the form of Yon-arng, a 

 hill.' The name Buninyong was apparently given to the hill 

 from its i-eseniblance to the bent knee of a man lying on his 

 back. This fact indicates that Buninyong was in its present, 

 woi'ii down, denuded condition, when the aborigines named it. 



Mount Warrenheip, east of Ballarat, is said to mean emu 

 feathers, and was given from the feathery aspect of the tree 

 ferns that flourished on the slopes of the hill. The term again 

 suggests that the volcanic fires had been extinct, and that the 

 mountain was covered with vegetation when tlie aborigines first 

 knew it. 



VII. ^ — ^The Traditions and Geological Evidence. 



Another strong argument against the historic value of these 

 traditions is that tliey do not agree with the geological evi- 



1 Dawson, James: "Australian Aborigines, the Language and Customs of several 

 tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia," 1S81, p. 79. 



2 Smjth, Brough : "The Aborigines of Victoria," vol. ii., p. 214. 



3 Dawson, James: "Australian Aborigines," p. SO. 



4 Withers, W. B.: " History of Ballarat," 1870, p. 10. 



5 Smyth, Brough : " The Aborigines of Victoria," vol. ii., p. 162. 



