pulingina to lutruwita (Tasmania) Place Names Map

pulingina to lutruwita (Tasmania) Place Names Map

Click here to open the map. The map can be used on computer, phones or tablet.

To mark 2019 International Year of Indigenous languages, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is excited to present this interactive map of the Aboriginal names of over 180 places in lutruwita.

The names are shown in palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.

Scroll over each name to hear it said, and open to learn some 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.

We ask that public uses of the names be accompanied wherever reasonably possible by the acknowledgment ‘In palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.’

You can learn more about the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre at http://tacinc.com.au/

About the palawa kani Language Program and reviving the names at http://tacinc.com.au/programs/palawa-kani/
About the European recorders of the names at  http://tacinc.com.au/tasmanian-aboriginal-place-names/
About Aboriginal and dual names gazetted by the Tasmanian Government at  http://tacinc.com.au/official-aboriginal-and-dual-names/
About other names of lutruwita  http://tacinc.com.au/11-more-aboriginal-dual-names-to-go-to-nomenclature-board-in-june-2017/

This site is still a work in process, with some histories still to be added and technical glitches dealt with as they arise. More names will be added they are revived. Please send us your feedback on any aspect of this site, as our aim is to make it as accessible and useful as possible.


palawa kani
Language program can be contacted at language@tacinc.com.au