Brownie Doolan Perrurle (1918–2011) was an
Aboriginal tracker
Aboriginal trackers were enlisted by Europeans in the years following British colonisation of Australia, to assist them in exploring the Australian landscape. The excellent tracking skills of these Aboriginal Australians were advantageous to set ...
who was known for being the last person to speak the
Lower Arrernte language
Lower Arrernte, also known as Lower Southern Arrernte, Lower Aranda, Lower Southern Aranda and Alenjerntarrpe, was an Arandic language (but not of the Arrernte language group). Lower Arrernte was spoken in the Finke River area, near the Overla ...
, the language becoming extinct when he died in 2011.
Gavan Breen
Gavan Breen (born 22 January 1935), OAM, also known as J.G. Breen, is an Australian linguist, specialising in the description of Australian Aboriginal languages. He has studied and recorded 49 such languages.
Life Early life
Breen was born at ...
, an Australian
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, 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
Andado Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Alice Springs region of the Northern Territory. The traditional lands of the Arrernte people before European settlement, the first pastoral lease was granted in ...
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 in 1963 and 1966. Her birthplace was Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...
(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 A ...
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 Australian Railway
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...
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