AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key

Indigenous Australian peoples traditionally classified food sources in a methodical way. Below are a few examples.

Central Australia

In Central Australia, people used innovative means to obtain a balanced diet.

The food categories, and their Arrernte names are:

Arrernte name	Foods
kere	food from animals; meat, fat, offal, blood
merne	food from plants; fruit, vegetables
ntange	edible seeds
tyape	edible grubs and insects; witchetties, cicadas, galls
ngkwarle	honey-like foods; nectar, wild honey, lerps, gum

Some other category words from Arrernte that are used in relatin to food include:

• thipe fleshy flyiing creatures; birds (not emus), bats
• kwatye water in any form, sources of water; water, rain, clouds
• arne trees, shrubs, bushes, woody plants, some grasses
• ure fire, things to do with fire.

Top End

In the Top End, seafood plays an important part in the diet. The food groups and their Yolngu names are:

MARANHU (foods)

Yolngu name	Foods
Murnyaŋ' (plant or vegetable food) Alternative names: Dhakadatj; Nayaŋay', Buku-bira'	Gonyil (meat, shellfish, eggs) Alternative names: Matha-yal, Merrpal' Matha-bira, Nanarr-yal
1. Borum— fruits	1. Warrakan'— land animals and birds
2. Guku— bee products	2. Miyapunu— marine mammals
3. Natha— root foods	3. Naranydjalk— rays and sharks
4. Manutji Natha— seeds	4. Guya— fish
5. Mudhuŋay— cycad foodstuffs	5. Maypal— shellfish, crabs
	6. Mapu— eggs

Richard Trudgen writes that the old people would talk about the need to eat from both murŋyan' and gonyil food groups and the need to supplement their diet with gapu (fresh water). While this balance was maintained, the people knew they were eating correctly.

References

• Trudgen, Richard, Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, ARDS, Darwin, 1996, ISBN 0646395874, p 140
• Turner, Margaret-Mary, Arrernte Foods, Foods from Central Australia, IAD Press, Alice Springs, 1994, ISBN 0949659762 pviii