1 16 Kelly, From Healesville to Mount Donna-Buang. [^October'' 



for neither going nor returning did I see a feather. This trip, as 

 you will see, was not- one that could by ordinary canons be 

 called a naturalists' excursion, but was undertaken by a party 

 who were otherwise not naturalists, with the object of getting 

 there to meet political visitors and point out the claims of 

 the Healesville route. 



Whilst on this subject it may not be out of place to discuss 

 the name of the mountain peak. I have used the name Donna- 

 Buang, as that is the one now adopted, but in my opinion 

 carelessly. In the first place, there is no " d " in the aboriginal 

 language. That the word " Donna " is, as one of our daily 

 journals says, the same in the language of our natives as in 

 the Spanish, is ridiculous. That the name in any form applies 

 to this peak is more than doubtful. The nearest approach to 

 " d " is " th." The range just above Malleson's, and between 

 that and Woori Yallock, is " Toole-be-wong." I have made 

 careful investigations, and find that the last name is a nearer 

 interpretation of the word, and Donna-Buang is a corruption. 

 Toole-be-wong faces towards the aboriginal station at Coran- 

 derrk. It and the ranges behind are the homes of the floating 

 mist. The old Yarra tribes included this part of the horizon 

 in one sweep with an expression which is nearly interpreted as 

 " Thuonna-be-wong," meaning " the place of the mist." 



Aboriginals, like many coloured races, have a weakness for 

 acquiescence to suggestion. For instance, the nearer range is 

 pointed out and the question is asked, " What name that ? " 

 " Thuonna-be-wong," or the ear may catch it as " Toole- 

 be-wong." The peaks beyond are pointed to ; the same answer 

 is given in slightly different inflection of voice, and perhaps by 

 another individual. It is all the land of the mists. Bearing 

 out this view, it is significant that in Brough Smyth's 

 " Aborigines of Victoria," vol. ii., p. i8S, Mount Riddell (which 

 is in that sweep of hills which, as viewed from Coranderrk 

 Aboriginal Station, extends from Mount St. Leonard to Toole- 

 be-wong) is called "' Koranderrk " or " Turnim-be-wong." On 

 page 162 of the same work the word " boo-rong " means mist. 

 The same word on page 135 is given as " the firmament." 



The late Mr. Joseph Shaw, for many years superintendent 

 of Coranderrk, always considered that the natives applied the 

 name "Thuonna-be-wong" to the eastward extension over 

 Malleson's Look-out of the part now called Toole-be-wong. 

 Some say that the name Donna-be-wong or Donna-buang 

 means "Queen of the Waters"; others that it means "the 

 place of rotten wood " : but in favour of these definitions no 

 evidence has been adduced. 



