Hi Tahitibob,
Ta question m’ayant intriguee, je me suis renseigne aupres de plusieurs collegues au Department of Indigenous Affairs. Voicil la reponse (en anglais de l’un d’eux:
How does « terra nullius reclaimed » sound?
Seriously I do not think there was a generic term for the whole of Australia in any Aboriginal language. On the other hand all the languages would have had a name for their ‘territory’ and names for the ‘territories’ of their neighbours.
One fairly universal word would be Ngurra . This word literally means ‘home’ and is used in conjunction with other words. It is common to a large number of language groups belonging to the Pama-Nyungan language family that stretches from the south-west to the north-east only leaving out the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Cape York at the top of the continent and south-east below Murray River and Tasmania.
I hope that will be of assistance.
Peter R
La premiere phrase est une boutade qui fait reference au fait que lors de sa decouverte, l’Australie fut declaree « Terre Vierge » (non habitee)
NGURRA serait donc le bon mot
CU
Xavier
, le il y a 20 années et 4 mois.
