AustLit

'This book has a lexicon of over 300 meanings of Aboriginal place names in Perth and Western Australia's south-west from Geraldton to Esperance - places which have retained the names given by Aboriginal people long before Anglo-European settlement. There is also an extensive introduction to the Nyoongar people.

The book also includes a comprehensive dictionary of the Nyoongar language as an aid to restoring and renewing the language. "Nyoongar was traditionally a purely oral language," said Abbot Bernard, "and there are very few people today who speak it fluently. It is in real danger of disappearing and needs to be actively promoted." He explained that, while there are Nyoongar dictionaries already available, they lack uniformity and a consistent spelling system.

Working together during the 1980s, representatives of the south-west Indigenous people, university linguists and Abbot Bernard created an authorised system of spelling known as the Marribank orthography. The Nyoongar Legacy employs this and provides one of the most comprehensive and 'user friendly' dictionaries of the language yet published.' Source: www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au/ (Sighted 28/10/2011)