Tharawal
/ˈθærəwɒl/noun
A historical spelling of Dharawal, referring to an Aboriginal Australian people, language, and cultural region of coastal New South Wales.
Did you know?Tharawal is one of several colonial spellings of the ethnonym now commonly written Dharawal; its original Indigenous meaning is not securely established in surviving records.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-colonial period
Dharawal
Dharawal
“Indigenous ethnonym and language name associated with coastal south-eastern New South Wales; the precise original meaning is uncertain.”
Late 18th Century
English records
Dharawal
“The name began to be recorded by Europeans in accounts of Aboriginal peoples and languages around the Sydney region.”
19th Century
English
Thurawal
“An alternate colonial spelling of the ethnonym appears in linguistic and ethnographic records.”
19th–20th Century
English
Tharawal
“Another established spelling used for the people, language, and associated district.”
Modern English
English
Tharawal
“A recognized historical variant of Dharawal, alongside the increasingly preferred contemporary spelling Dharawal.”
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