1790s
Still common
Definition
A traditional Aboriginal shelter or hut fashioned from curved tree boughs, bark sheets, and foliage.
ð· See It
Where "Gunyah" Comes From
Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
"Gunyah" (also spelled gunya) comes from Dharug (the language of the Sydney region), first recorded in English in the 1790s.
Gunyahs were shelters made of bark, branches, leaves and grass, often built as lean-tos against a standing tree; design varied by region and climate.
Example Sentence
“The travellers built a quick gunyah out of fallen eucalyptus branches to shelter from the thunderstorm.”
How Aussies Actually Use It
Absorbed into general 19th-century Australian bush vocabulary alongside humpy and mia-mia.
Often used historically for any rough bush camp or temporary bark lean-to.
ð Sources & Further Reading
- Borrowings from Aboriginal Languages â Australian National Dictionary Centre, ANU
- List of English words of Australian Aboriginal origin — Wikipedia
- gunyah - Dictionary.com
- Humpy - Wikipedia
Part of our Aboriginal Loanwords collection →
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