'Marraman bajaja Sydney (A little flood in Sydney) as spoken by Margaret Sharpe. . Nguli Sydney, ngina, narnanga, an.gujaga ngaba, narlibalnga. Awuj ngalanga wulamburr walbirr bajajirr. Ruwu yamirni jir-nari wulamburr walbirr. Ngidmirr mijal naja-gunu, mijal yamirni. Marraman nari. Marraman gej-nawujala. Ngawurr-anna mambulud wulamburr awujji ngalanga. Gaya-ngurrnana arlibilnga. E-e! Warraburr-narla nuligi ruwu! Yamirni nuligi ruwu! Warraburr-nayiman balgirru. Warraburr-nayiman mambuludji. Ngidmirr. Yilngalangabarra yilwuyga jurd-jilujala pikjirryunu mudugirr yilunga. Guny-ngurranna nda majul yilmudugayi. Durr-yilanda. Yulmij yilmuduga yilunga. Ngarawany-jiliman gayi mambulud. Wirr-yiliman burdirru yilunga. Mirrindinyi bugi jurd-jilaja-gunu nda yillilmi. Ruwu nda jadba-yilujala ------ bing. Yilyaganna yej. Birriny-jilngadanyana nda mambulud. Jurd-jilaja-gunu mburdirru yilunga, awuj-jirru yilunga. . . . We were (living) in Sydney, I, my father, my mother, my younger brother. Our house was near a creek (walba ‘river, creek’ bajaja ‘little’). (I call it a little river because it almost always has water in it, not like some gullies in Alawa country.) A big tree was standing near the creek. One night rain came, big rain, (and) there was a flood. A flood was running. It covered (drowned) the road near our house. We two, my younger brother and I, heard it. Hey, that tree is falling down! (You don’t have to say ‘I’, because the verb says ‘we two (not you)’, so it must include ‘I’.) That’s a big tree! It fell to the ground (balga ‘ground, land’). It fell on the road. The road was blocked. (It was) in the night (ngidma ‘night’). Lots of our people (neighbours) were returning from the pictures (pikja ‘picture, cinema’) in their cars. We saw the car lights. They stopped. (They) left their cars. They went round by another path. They walked home. In the morning early the men came back. They were chopping the tree down, and finished The got it and threw it away. They cleaned the road. After that they got into their cars. They went back to their homes (burda ‘camp, home’), to their houses.

. Book available to download at Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages: http://laal.cdu.edu.au/record/cdu:45417/info/