VOCABULARIES OF THE GEELONG AND COLAC TRIBES, 847 
PREFATORY NOTE, 
Wod-dow-ro, Dantgurt, or Kolijon denotes both the language 
and the tribe. 
The meaning of Wod-do has not been ascertained, but wiro (lips) 
figuratively means speech or language ; and as East Australians 
frequently named themselves after their language, most probably 
so did the aborigines, who naturally spoke Wod-dow. 
But Dantgurt-kuddet and Kolijon-gnundet seem to be the 
completed forms of the second and third name, the suflixed word 
in each instance signifying either tribe or language. 
Wod-dow-ro is F. Tuckfield’s form of the word, as obtained from 
the aborigines who once occupied the Geelong district. Watorrong, 
Witowurong, Witowro, Witouro and Woddowrong are variants. 
Witowro is given as the dialect of the aborigines of the Ballarat 
district who roamed in the vicinity of Buninyong and Lake 
Burrumbeet. Comparing it with the Wod-dow-ro now available, 
shows, however, that the Geelong and Ballarat aborigines spoke 
the one language, and, no doubt, they were but different sections 
of the same tribe. 
The Wod-dow-ro was a good type of the Australian coast 
dwellers, but we can only conjecture as to whether the tribe was 
numerous or not. The Geelong sections—Corio and Barabil— 
are variously estimated by early settlers as consisting of 170 
or 300 souls. 
The hunting ground of the Wod-dow-ro was extensive, well 
watered, and, from all accounts, generally furnished an abundance 
of game. Broadly speaking, it included the whole of the present 
county of Grant and part of Grenville on the north. 
The Kolijon is spoken of as a small tribe roaming in the 
vicinity of Lakes Colac and Corangamite. 
The Dantgurt was only a section of a tribe named Manmait, 
whose hunting ground touched the western boundary of the 
Kolijon. With the advent of the whites, the sectional name 
seems to have supplanted the tribal. 
LETTERS. 
Nineteen letters are used in writing these dialects—a, b, d, e, 
g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, 0, p, r, t, u, w, y. The natives were unable 
to pronounce f, ¢, h, s, x, and z. Many of them could not distin- 
guish between the labials b and p, nor the palatals d and t. 
Obs. Tuckfield uses h in the aboriginal in one or two instances 
only. He says but sixteen letters were necessary to form an 
aboriginal alphabet. 
