Acknowledgement of Country should be everyone's responsibility. Why is the term "Aunty" and "Uncle" used so widely in the Aboriginal Community? Put simply - RESPECT! It also relates to recognition of Aboriginal Elders, kinship and extended families.
Titles such as Aunty and Uncle are used as marks of respect for Elders in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
In some communities men and women are elders with equal standing; in others it may be a few men who hold that status. Elders are usually addressed with "uncle" or "aunty" which in this context are terms of respect. They are used for people held in esteem, generally older people who have earned that respect.
They know who their real mother and father are, but under these societal (kinship) laws, other family members have equal importance. The common terms of endearment among Aboriginal peoples are 'brother' or 'sister' when talking to people. These are derived from the kinship terms and associations.
Assimilationist terms such as 'full-blood,' 'half-caste' and 'quarter-caste' are extremely offensive and should never be used when referring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, avoidance of eye contact is customarily a gesture of respect. In Western society averting gaze can be viewed as being dishonest, rude Page 2 or showing lack of interest.
They might go to some of their other relations, they don't call them uncles they call them konk and their brother-in-law they call them ngoorlja.
Pap(a) is also found as 'mother', mainly in Victoria. Other kinship roots (for grandparents) have been shown to have a split distribution with one root dominating in the east and one in the west for what is apparently a single proto-meaning.
Although most men had only one wife at a time, polygyny was considered both legitimate and good. The average number of wives in polygynous unions was 2 or 3. The maximum in the Great Sandy Desert was 5 or 6; among the Tiwi, 29; among the Yolngu, 20 to 25, with many men having 10 to 12.
Tidda: Means sister and can also be used when referring to female friends.
'Aborigine' is generally perceived as insensitive, because it has racist connotations from Australia's colonial past, and lumps people with diverse backgrounds into a single group. You're more likely to make friends by saying 'Aboriginal person', 'Aboriginal' or 'Torres Strait Islander'.
Koori (or Koorie)
Koori is a term denoting an Aboriginal person of southern New South Wales or Victoria. 'Koori' is not a synonym for 'Aboriginal'. There are many other Aboriginal groups across Australia (such as Murri, Noongar, Yolngu) with which Indigenous Australians may identify themselves.
For example, in Bardi the maternal grandmother (on Mother's side) is Garminy whereas the paternal grandmother (on Father's side) is Golli. By the same token the maternal grandfather (on Mother's side) is Nyumi and the paternal grandfather (on Father's side) is Galoonoordoo or Gooloo for short!
Aboriginal people refer to an Elder as 'Aunty' or 'Uncle'. However, it is recommended that non-Aboriginal people check the appropriateness of their use of these terms as referring to an Elder or leader as Aunty or Uncle may not be appropriate for an outsider unless a strong relationship has been established.
Gubbah, also spelt gubba, is a term used by some Aboriginal people to refer to white people or non-Aboriginal people. The Macquarie Dictionary has it as "n. Colloq. (derog.) an Aboriginal term for a white man".
More appropriate
'Nation', 'community', 'people', 'mob' or the local language or Page 3 culture group name is usually preferable to 'tribe'. 'Mob' is an Aboriginal English word and as such may be more appropriate, but community acceptance may be required before using this word.
Polygamy in Australia is illegal. Polygamy is legal in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and usually involves more than one wife. Polygamy is also common in certain religious groups in other countries, such as Mormons in the United States.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
Since legislation for Indigenous people was a state matter, each state found its own definition for 'Aboriginal'. Examples: Western Australia: a person with more than a quarter of Aboriginal blood. Victoria: any person of Aboriginal descent.
'Aborigine' is a noun for an Aboriginal person (male or female).
kesalul - I love you.
"Koori" comes from the word gurri, meaning "man" or "people" in the Indigenous language Awabakal, spoken on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. On the far north coast of New South Wales, the term may still be spelt "goori" or "goorie" and pronounced with a harder "g".
In many Indigenous families, aunties are the matriarchs who carry forward our traditions. Though the moniker “Native auntie” is more of a term of endearment for Indigenous elders. They can be your literal aunts, a close family friend, or a respected figure in your community.
The letters t, n, l and r can be written with a line underneath, called a retroflex. A retroflex on an n, l or t tells us to curl our tongue back slightly in the mouth before pronouncing the letter. This produces a sound similar to an r sound.