lien | State Library of Queensland “Word of the Week” Week Twenty-Three.

As part of State Library’s commitment to the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, we will be promoting a ‘word of the week’ from one of the 125+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and dialects from across Queensland.
State Library’s ‘word of the week’ for Week Twenty-Three is Bwgcolman [pronounced bwook-a-mun], from the Manbarra language of Palm Island. It means ‘many tribes, one people’. Another reference indicates it is the traditional name for Palm Island. The word coincides with Bwgcolman Day which is a day to honour and respect those in the community that were brought to Palm Island from their homeland.