gurre kamilaroi facts for kids

A page from the book gurre kamilaroi or Kamilaroi Sayings

gurre kamilaroi or Kamilaroi Sayings was a special book created in 1856. It was like a teaching guide for the Kamilaroi people, written in their own language. The book helped them learn about the Bible.

It was made by a person named William Ridley and was published in Sydney, Australia.

About gurre kamilaroi

This book was very important because it was written specifically for the Kamilaroi people. It helped them understand Christian teachings in their native tongue. This made it easier for them to learn and connect with the lessons.

The title, gurre kamilaroi, means "Kamilaroi Sayings." It shows that the book contained important messages and teachings for the community.

Making the Book Easy to Read

William Ridley, who wrote the book, wanted to make sure it was very easy for people to read. He knew that many people were just starting to learn how to read. So, he made some clever choices to help them.

For example, he avoided using capital letters. This meant that readers only had to learn one shape for each letter. This made the learning process much simpler and faster.

Special Letters and Sounds

Ridley also thought carefully about how sounds were written. He used a special single letter, ‹ŋ›, to represent the "ng" sound. This is because "ng" is actually one sound, not two separate ones. Using a single letter made it clearer.

He also made sure that certain letters sounded like their names. For example, he wanted the letters ‹g›, ‹h›, ‹r›, ‹w›, and ‹y› to be called ge (like in "get"), he, re, we, and ye. This helped the letter names match the sounds they made in words. These choices made the book more helpful for new readers.