Bidhawal

The Bidhawal were an Australian Aboriginal tribe of Gippsland, Victoria. According to A. W. Howitt, the Bidhawal were composed of "refugees from tribal justice or individual vengeance" from neighbouring tribes.

Language

The Bidhawal spoke a dialect of the Kurnai language, which was also spoken by the Kurnai tribes to the west. However, the Bidhawal dialect had borrowed a number of words referring to mammals, birds and celestial bodies from Ngarigo, as well as a smaller number of words from Thawa and Dhudhuroa.

The Bidhawal called their own dialect "mŭk-dhang" ("good speech"), and that of the neighbouring Kurnai "gūnggala-dhang". The Kurnai, however, called "their" own dialect "mŭk-dhang", and that of the Bidhawal "kwai-dhang" ("rough speech").

References

*cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |authorlink=R. M. W. Dixon |year=2002 |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=43–44
*cite journal |last=Howitt |first=A. W. |year=1886 |title=On the Migrations of the Kurnai Ancestors |journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=15 |pages=419–420 |doi=10.2307/2841818
*cite book |last=Howitt |first=A. W. |year=1904 |title=The Native Tribes of South-East Australia |location=London |publisher=Macmillian |pages=79–81
*cite journal |last=Mathews |first=R. H. |authorlink=R. H. Mathews |month=Oct.–Dec. |year=1907 |title=Language of the Birdhawal Tribe, in Gippsland, Victoria |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=46 |issue=187 |pages=346–359