Career
Sharpe completed her doctoral dissertation on the language of the Alawa people at the University of Queensland in 1965. After a further stint of fieldwork between June 1966 and May 1968,this was updated and issued as a monograph under the imprint of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1972. In the meantime she worked with one of the last speakers of Yugambir,Joe Culham,then in his eighties,and managed to write up the results in a 53-page analysis published shortly after his death in 1968.
As part of her work on Alawa,she translated both Alawa-language stories and kriol versions of the same given by her informant Barnabas Roberts concerning violent encounters between white settlers and the Alawa, and,according to one reviewer,their juxtaposition underlined that Aboriginal story-telling in their English dialects can be at times as,if not more,revealing as what is recorded of an event in their mother tongue. [lower-alpha 1]
Sharpe went on to do extensive work as lecturer at the Department of Aboriginal and Multicultural Studies of the University of New England,on the Yugambeh-Baandjalung dialect chain. She has also been active in teaching indigenous groups about the disappearing languages their forefathers spoke.
Sharpe has written three novels,one of which,A Family Divided,deals with interracial conflict and friendship.
Sharpe speaks a version of Bundjalung,"though not terribly fluently" and has recorded talk in conversations with the Yugambeh language instructor Shaun Davies. She remains an adjunct lecturer,and is now returning to her original interest in science by completing a PhD in astrophysics.
The Alawa people are an Indigenous Australian people from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The suburb of Alawa in the Darwin's north, is named in their honour.
Yugambeh, also known as Tweed-Albert Bandjalang, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Yugambeh living in South-East Queensland between and within the Logan River basin and the Tweed River basin, bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean and in the west by the Teviot Ranges and Teviot Brook basin.
Yugambeh–Bundjalung, also known as Bandjalangic, is a branch of the Pama–Nyungan language family, that is spoken in north-eastern New South Wales and South-East Queensland.
The Gidabal, also known as Kitabal and Githabul, are an indigenous Australian tribe of southern Queensland, who inhabited an area in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales, now within the Southern Downs, Tenterfield and Kyogle Local Government regions.
The Bundjalung people, also spelled Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of a region from around Grafton in northern coastal New South Wales to Beaudesert in south-east Queensland. The region is located approximately 550 kilometres (340 mi) northeast of Sydney and 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Brisbane that now includes the Bundjalung National Park.
Brisbane suburb names with Aboriginal names show that some Australian Aboriginal languages are still preserved today, in the form of placenames. Similarly, F. J. Watson explains the meanings of Queensland suburb names.
Githabul, also known as Galibal, Dinggabal, and Condamine – Upper Clarence Bandjalang, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Githabul living in South Queensland and North-East New South Wales.
The Yugambeh, also known as the Minyangbal, or Nganduwal, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, their territory lies between the Logan and Tweed rivers. A term for an Aboriginal of the Yugambeh tribe is Mibunn, which is derived from the word for the Wedge-tailed Eagle. Historically, some anthropologists have erroneously referred to them as the Chepara, the term for a first-degree initiate. Archaeological evidence indicates Aboriginal people have occupied the area for tens of thousands of years. By the time European colonisation began, the Yugambeh had a complex network of groups, and kinship. The Yugambeh territory is subdivided among clan groups with each occupying a designated locality, each clan having certain rights and responsibilities in relation to their respective areas.
Luise Anna Hercus, née Schwarzschild, was a German-born linguist who lived in Australia from 1954. After significant early work on Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (Prakrits) she had specialised in Australian Aboriginal languages since 1963, when she took it up as a hobby. Works authored or co-authored by her are influential, and often among the primary resource materials on many languages of Australia.
The Kombumerri clan are one of nine distinct named clan estate groups of the Yugambeh people and the name refers to the Indigenous people of the Nerang area on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Australia
The Anēwan, also written Anaiwan and Anaywan, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional territory spans the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales.
The Yukul, also written Jukul, were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.
The Western Bundjalung or Bundjalung people are an aggregation of tribes of Australian Aboriginal people who inhabit north-east NSW along the Clarence River, now within the Clarence Valley, Glen Innes Severn Shire, Kyogle, Richmond Valley, and Tenterfield Shire Council areas.
The Geynyon, also written Keinjan, are an indigenous Australian people of southern Queensland. According to research done by Queensland South Native Title Services (QSNTS) entitled South East Regional Research Project (SERRP) 'Geynyan' are in all likelihood an dialect/estate group of the wider Githabul peoples. In May 2021 the Githabul peoples lodged a Native Title claim over much of the former Warwick Shire within the Southern Downs Regional Council area.
Waalubal (Wahlubal), also known as Western Bundjalung, Baryulgil, and Middle Clarence Bandjalang, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Western Bundjalung living in North-East New South Wales.
The Kalibal (Gullibul) were an Indigenous Australian people of New South Wales.
The Mununjali clan are one of nine distinct named clan estate groups of the Yugambeh people, an Aboriginal Australian nation whose traditional lands are the Beaudesert area in the Scenic Rim, Queensland, Australia.
The Wanggeriburra clan are one of nine distinct named clan estate groups of the Yugambeh people and the name refers to the Indigenous people of the Tamborine area in the Scenic Rim, Queensland, Australia.
The Yugambeh–Bandjalangic peoples' are an Aboriginal Australian ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of one of more of the Yugambeh–Bundjalung languages and shared cultural practices and histories. There are roughly 15 individual groups, who together form a wider cultural bloc or polity often described as Bundjalung or "Three Brothers Mob".
Shaun Davies is an Aboriginal Australian language activist, linguist, radio personality, and actor. He is known for his advocacy work with the Yugambeh language and culture, as well as appearances in various media.
