Ebook: The Muruwari language

Besides the major contribution made by speakers of Muruwari detailed in the preface, I wish to
acknowledge the work of Judy Trefry in transcribing Jimmie Barker's tapes, and her own material
collected from Bill Campbell in the Lidcombe Hospital.
I also acknowledge access to Ian Sim's hand-written comparative word lists ofYuwaliyay, Guwamu
and Muruwari, collected at Goodooga in 1955. I have included any of Sim's material that
complements mine.
I have transcribed and used Janet Mathews' field tapes of Ruby Shillingsworth at Weilmoringle, and
Mrs Horneville (Ornable) at Goodooga, as well as all the Barker linguistic tapes. I am also indebted
to Janet Mathews for general information relating to the R.H. Mathews' material and the Muruwari
area in general, and for some photographs.
I am grateful to many linguist friends, who have shared knowledge and given advice, particularly to
Barbara Sayers and Robert Young of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and to Joan and Murray
Rule, for their perceptive insights and editorial help in the final stages of the write-up. I am also
appreciative of the constructive comments and suggestions of Drs Peter Austin and Graham Scott
(LaTrobe University), and Dr Luise Hercus (Australian National University) who read an early draft
of the manuscript. Finally, I am deeply indebted to Drs Alan and Phyllis Healey (Summer Institute of
Linguistics) for their painstaking editing of the fmal version of the manuscript.
Funding for this work has come from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. The Institute
initiated the Muruwari project in 1973, funded field trips and financed research 1973-1976, and gave
two further grants-in-aid in 1986 and 1987 to help finalise the writing of the gr amm ar.
In describing the new Jerusalem, the book of Revelation says that 'the glory and honour of the
nations' is to be an essential part of it. This book seeks to enshrine some little part of what was once
'the glory and the honour' of the Muruwari. It is my prayer that this halting attempt to capture the
essence of the Muruwari language and culture may endure as a continuing memorial to them.