gunyah

n.

aboriginal name for a black-fellow'shut, roughly constructed of boughs and bark; applied also toother forms of shelter. The spelling varies greatly: inCol. Mundy's book (1855) there are no fewer than four forms.See Humpy and Gibber. What Leichhardt saw (seequotation 1847) was very remarkable.

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New SouthWales,' in an aboriginal vocabulary of Port Jackson, p. 610:

«Go-nie – – a hut.»

1830. R.Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 70:

«One of their gunyers (bark huts).»

Ibid. p. 171:

«A native encampment, consisting of eight or ten `gunyers.'This is the native term for small huts, which are supportedby three forked sticks (about three feet long) brought togetherat the top in a triangular form: the two sides towards the windare covered by long sheets of bark, the third is always leftopen to the wind.»

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. I. c. ii. p. 78:

«We observed a fresh-made gunneah (or native hut).»

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interiorof Eastern Australia,' c. ii. p. 35:

«Three huts, or gunyahs, consisted of a few green boughs, whichhad just been put up for shelter from the rain then falling.»

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 10:

«Their only habitation . . . is formed by two sheets of barkstripped from the nearest tree, at the first appearance of astorm, and joined together at an angle of 45 degrees. This,which they call a gunnya, is cut up for firewood when thestorm has passed.»

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 238:

«Behind appears a large piece of wood hooded like a `gunnya'or `umpee.'»

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 290:

«We saw a very interesting camping place of the natives,containing several two-storied gunyas.»

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or, Recollections of SixteenYears' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 211:

«I coincided in his opinion that it would be best for us tocamp for the night in one of the ghibber-gunyahs. These arethe hollows under overhanging rocks.»

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' ed. 1855, p. 164:

«A sloping sheet of bark turned from the wind – – in bush lingo,a break-weather – – or in guneeahs of boughs thatched with grass.» [p. 200]: «Guneah.» [p. 558]: «Gunneah.» [p. 606]: «Gunyah.»

1860. G.Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 114[Footnote]:

«The name given by the natives to the burrow or habitation ofany animals is `guniar,' and the same word is applied to ourhouses.»

1880. P. J. Holdsworth, `Station, Hunting':

«hunger clungBeneath the bough-piled gunyah.»

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 19:

«The sleepy blacks came out of their gunyahs.» [p. 52]:

«A gunya of branches.»

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. ii. p. 16:

«Where this beautiful building now stands, there were only thegunyahs or homes of the poor savages.»

1890. A. J. Vogan, `Black Police,' p. 98:

«One of the gunyahs on the hill. . . . The hut, which isexactly like all the others in the group, – – and for the matter ofthat all within two or three hundred miles, – – is built of sticks,which have been stuck into the ground at the radius of a commoncentre, and then bent over so as to form an egg-shaped cage,which is substantially thatched on top and sides with herbageand mud.»