Where "Kurrajong" Comes From
Photo by John Tann, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
"Kurrajong" comes from Dharug garadjung, the language of the Sydney basin, a word for a fishing line made from the tree's bark, which English speakers seem to have taken as the name of the tree.
First Nations communities used the bark fibre to make twine, fishing lines and nets. The leaves are still used as emergency drought fodder for stock.
“Cattle huddled under the shady canopy of the old kurrajong tree during the heat of the afternoon.”
How Aussies Actually Use It
Planted extensively along rural driveways and town streets across inland New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.
Gave its name to towns, suburbs, and geographic features, including Kurrajong in the Blue Mountains.
ð Sources & Further Reading
- Borrowings from Aboriginal Languages â Australian National Dictionary Centre, ANU
- List of English words of Australian Aboriginal origin — Wikipedia
- kurrajong - Wiktionary
- kurrajong - Dictionary.com
- Brachychiton populneus - Wikipedia
Part of our Aboriginal Loanwords collection →
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