Brownie Doolan Perrurle (1918–2011) was an
Aboriginal tracker
Aboriginal trackers were enlisted by Europeans in the years following History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation of Australia, to assist them in exploring the Australian landscape. The excellent tracking skills of these Aboriginal ...
who was known for being the last person to speak the
Lower Arrernte language, the language becoming extinct when he died in 2011.
Gavan Breen
Gavan Breen (22 January 1935 – 5 October 2023) , also known as J. G. Breen, was an Australian linguist, specialising in the description of Australian Aboriginal languages. He studied and recorded 49 such languages.
Early life and education
Bre ...
, an Australian
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, was able to compile a dictionary of Lower Arrernte comprising about a thousand words by recording talks he had with Doolan.
[NOTE: Incorrect reporting of years of occupation (1925 and 1940).]
Doolan's mother Fanny, father Paddy
[ and grandmother, who lived south of Aputula, spoke the language.][ Doolan was uncertain of his date of birth, but a later search of the old native affairs branch records showed that he was born in 1918.][
Doolan was a stockman on the Andado Station in 1945-6 (age shown as 23–25), with wife Edie and two children.][ (Names of parents and brother Warry shown here.)] He later became a police tracker for both Finke and Kulgera police. Doolan and his wife Biddy are recorded in 1960s censuses of Finke, with Brownie recorded as a tracker, of the Purula group of Arrernte/Aranda people, born at New Crown station (not far south-west of Finke). Both sets of parents were deceased by this time. In 1963, young children Peter and Margaret were at home, with Sambo, Michael and Stanley apparently adults and elsewhere; Daisy the child of Biddy and a deceased father. (However, in 1965 Daisy is shown as daughter of Brownie.) Biddy is shown as of the Pananka group of Aranda people in 1965 and 1968, but Loritja
The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte ...
in 1963 and 1966. Her birthplace was Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle (district), Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide (municipality), Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort t ...
(which is Western Arrernte
Arrernte or Aranda (; ), or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are ...
country), and her occupation is shown as school cleaner in 1963.[Age then estimated at 55, when birth year was thought to be 1926.] He later did contract work on the Central Australia Railway
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and dismantled in 1980, was a Narrow-gauge railway, 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta railway station, Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gau ...
that used to pass through Finke.[ He was regarded as an icon in the town, much loved and respected by many, and the subject of an obituary in the NT Police News journal after his death in 2011.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doolan, Brownie
1918 births
2011 deaths
Indigenous Australians in South Australia
Last known speakers of an Australian Aboriginal language
Australian stockmen
20th-century Indigenous Australian people
20th-century Australian people