Putuwa

The Cammeraygal were the Aboriginal group living near my home in Sydney at the time of the European settlement in 1788. They were members of the Eora language family group, one of hundreds of languages and dialects native to Australia.

In Eora, the word Putuwa means "to warm one's hand by the fire and then to squeeze gently the fingers of another person."

The language was first documented by William Dawes, a member of the First Fleet to Australa, a surveyor, engineer, astronomer and botanist. Dawes learnt Eora from a Cammeraygal girl called Patyegarang, being the first European to learn an Aboriginal language- a feat Europeans found incredibly difficult, although the Eora had no problems mimicking English.

Against his wishes Dawes was sent from Australia on the first voyage of marines back to Britain, for his refusal to join punitive expeditions against aborigines. By the early 19th century the Eora people had become extinct, due to European disease and decline in natural food sources.

"Putuwa" and the acts of Dawes are a reminder of how kind humans can be when we choose. The settlement, his expulsion and the extinction of the Eora people seem a clear lesson of the destructive danger of indifference.

With thanks to "Cacophony", by Lewis Nowra, The Best Australian Essays 2005.