Olkola

DISCLAIMER:

The locations of the language varieties of Cape York Peninsula shown on this map are not intended for Land Claim use, and are an approximate guide only. Individual language project locations are based on information from publicly available documents.  

This map is a work in progress and is to be regarded as a dynamic draft. Pama Language Centre welcomes additions and corrections to the draft map and to information about the language varieties listed.

Thelma Martel (Illingsworth 1990:27) recounts that in 1948 “a small tribe, one of the last clans to cling to the bush and carry on a partly traditional lifestyle” used to settle for part of the year by the Strathleven cattle station her husband Eric was managing at the time. “The tribe spent about 6 months of each year on Strathleven and the other 6 on walkabout, following the seasonal fluctuations of plant and animal life as their people had always done” (Illingsworth 1990:29). This was “Johnson’s tribe”, an Olkola man. Johnson told Eric Martel that as a child and later as a young man he and his people had ranged the Palmer’s length from the mining town of Palmerville  downstream to Strathleven and beyond to Drumduff at the Palmer’s junction to the Mitchell. 

Johnson’s daughter, Jessie Shepherd, remembers how “Dad used to talk to us in Aboriginal, in Walkoola language. There were two tribes on the Palmer, the Mikki and the Rok. The Mikki was the owl. ” (Illingsworth 1990:133). “Dad used to sing songs, then make corroboree, dancing. ” (Illingsworth 1990:35).

AUSTLANG referenceAIATSIS code: Y73
AUSTLANG reference nameUw Olkola
OTHER REFERENCE CODE(S)ISO 639-3 code: olk
LANGUAGE VARIETY NAME, PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION[‘ɔlkɔlə]
LANGUAGE VARIETY NAME, PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION/’ɔlkɔlə/
LANGUAGE VARIETY COMPLEXKunjen, as described by Bruce Sommer (1969).
LANGUAGE STATUS8a Moribund (EGIDS)

Revitalisation

PRACTICAL ORTHOGRAPHIESTo our knowledge no orthography has been in use to date.
PAST LANGUAGE REVIVAL ACTIVITYAudio recordings archived at AIATSIS and at the Sommer Collection (Fryer Library, Brisbane).
DICTIONARY Philip Hamilton`s wordlist including Olkola

http://www.oocities.org/athens/delphi/2970/olkola.htm

FIND A TRANSLATOR
CONNECT WITH SPEECH COMMUNITY Olkola Aboriginal Corporation.

Street address: Level 2,143 Buchan Street, Bungalow Cairns 4870.

Postal address: PO Box 523, Westcourt Qld 4870.

Phone: 07 40 410 492