I’m in the process of starting a new body of work after the Pilliga series. This time, I am looking closer to home – a farming property where I live called ‘Piyawoola’, located just south of the village of Curlewis and not far from Gunnedah.
In the 20 years since we have lived here, I’ve often wondered where the property’s name came from. Returning World War I veteran Rex Stanger originally took up the farm around 1920. In conversation with his daughter Clara, I learned that she had been told the name meant ‘nest’.
Our property is on the western end of Long Mountain. Despite the name, it is not exactly a tall or extensive mountain range but rather a series of rocky outcrops and cliffs overlooking the Mooki and Namoi floodplains. The word nest, therefore, made perfect sense.
The word for ‘nest’ or home in the local Gamilaraay language is Walaay, which was a close match to the last part of the property name.
The letter ‘p’ is not used in the Gamilaraay language, and it would most likely be a word beginning with ‘b’ instead. Biya is the word for Whistling Kite, so combining the two words Biya Walaay is where ‘Piyawoola’ most likely originated I like to think – Nest or Home of the Whistling Kite in Gamilaraay.
