*Initial capital letters for place names are now standard practice.
pulingina – welcome to Lutruwita/Tasmania, Palawa/Tasmanian Aboriginal country.
Visit the place names map to see, learn about and hear over 200 names in palawa kani – Lutruwita place names map (external link).
To mark 2019 International Year of Indigenous languages, we are excited to present this interactive map of the Aboriginal names of over 200 places in Lutruwita.
The names are shown in palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.
Scroll over each name to hear it said and learn some of the history of each name.
Only a handful of places in Lutruwita still bear their original names, although in English spellings which do not convey the original sounds – Triabunna, Ringarooma, Boobyalla are some. What seem like ‘Aboriginal names’ on signs and maps – Yolla, Marrawah, Poatina etc – are all in English spellings too, and were plucked straight from wordlists by various municipal authorities. None of those names are the original names for those places, and are not from the language of that place or area.
But the original names of our beautiful country have been retrieved over many years work by the palawa kani Language Program, to be spoken once again by Tasmanian Aborigines.
We are proud to now share these names with all residents of Lutruwita, and beyond. We encourage you all to speak and use them to acknowledge the Aboriginal history of this island, and to honour the resilience of Aboriginal languages.
The Aboriginal community makes this gesture in the spirit of generous cultural sharing: it is not an invitation to appropriate any of the names for any commercial purpose.
palawa kani place names are available for public use when used in reference to the places themselves. Secondary uses of the names – in artworks, signage, murals, meeting rooms etc. – require approval under the Aboriginal Community Policy and Protocol for use of palawa kani Aboriginal Language:
https://tacinc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Policy-Protocol-for-Use-of-palawa-kani-Aboriginal-Language-2019-1.pdf
We ask that public uses of the names be accompanied wherever reasonably possible by the acknowledgment ‘In palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.’
For more information, visit our palawa kani page (internal link).
The palawa kani Language Program can be contacted at language@tacinc.com.au.
