VOGABULAEIES OF THE GOWEBUREA AND 

 KOOLABUREA TEIBES. 



By JOHN SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 



(District Inspector of Schools). 



[Bead he/ore the Eoijal Societij of Queensland, February 8, 1896,] 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the mountainous country between Taromeo and Kilkivan 

 stations, there live two tribes of native blacks, evidently the 

 remains of once powerful races, and having much in common in 

 their langua<;es, both bemg branches of the Wakar tongue, thus 

 possibly pointing to a common ancestry. The Gowrburra 

 occupy the tableland, forming part of the Burnett basin, between 

 Nanango and Kilkivan, drained by Barambah Creek and its 

 tributaries. The Koolaburra roam over the mountainous tracts 

 between Taromeo and Nanango, which form the watersheds 

 between the Brisbane and Burnett to the north, and the Bris- 

 bane and Condamine to the west. 



From the names of the tribes it seems likely that the 

 laughing jackass (Dacelo gigas), and the native bear (Phascolarc- 

 tus cinereus), give them their tribal appellations, and these 

 animals are probably their totems or tribal marks. A study of 

 the aboriginal drawings, in the districts named above, might 

 supply some interesting information as to the use of these and 

 other animals as hieroglyphics. It would be well also to ascertain 

 whether the animal, which gives a tribe its name, is eaten by 

 members of that tribe, as the creature selected as totem is, in 

 many parts of the world, tabooed to the tribe it is supposed to 

 represent. 



