History The term 'Gin' to refer to indigenous females

[Millky95]

never heard it sydney refer to anything other than card games and s**t alcohol.

Same in Melbourne

 

[radiojake]

In year 10 English we read a book called 'Coonardoo' about a young aboriginal girl from a station being sent to the city to work as a house maid..

The word was pretty prolific in that book, and it was the first time I encountered it. On the rare time I hear or read the word 'gin', I instantly think of this book

 

[fleabitten]

The only time I've ever heard it used was when I was 15 and a mate's dad asked what I was up to with "that gin girl". I could tell from context that he was talking about my girlfriend but didn't know whether he was being racist or not. this was in regional Victoria but I suspect he'd picked the term up elsewhere (he was a truck driver) as I never heard anyone else say it (and I heard plenty of racial slurs in those days).

 

[Power Raid]

Yip.Here's one version of its etymology;suggesting it entered the lingo from NSW.
gin3
dʒɪn/
noun
Australian offensive
noun: gin; plural noun: gins

1. an Aboriginal woman.

Origin
View attachment 97046
from Dharuk diyin ‘woman, wife’.

yep, according Raymond Hickey - 2013 - ‎Language Arts & Disciplines

words like gin, koala, boomerang are all hybrid words anglicised from indigenous languages

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

It was common in the NT about 15 years ago. A wine bag or goon sack was known as a "gin's handbag".

Definitely racist.

 

[Power Raid]

I am not arguing it isn't racist (as I think it is) but it is interesting that a white person using an aboriginal word is racist

 

[Illinois Nazi]

I am not arguing it isn't racist (as I think it is) but it is interesting that a white person using an aboriginal word is racist

They aren't using it as an aboriginal word.

 

[scon]

Aboriginal History | Tuggeranong Homestead

They at my request good humorously prepared to exhibit the native dance or “Corobberie”:- adorning themselves with narrow streaks of white clay across the chest, down the front of their legs and arms, and in circles around their eyes:- Unbinding their long black hair and spreading it out, they first smeared it with fat and then plentifully besprinkled it with the snow white down of some water fowl, which the “gins” /or women/ generally carry about with them in small nets together with other ball materials.- Rouge they have not, but nature has supplied them with a valuable substitute in red ochre, and with this they impart a warmth of expression to the manly foreheads and war-like faces of the men and heighten the colour of their own soft cheeks,- thus arrayed they kindle a large fire on a grassy rise at a short distance from their huts.-

It can denote and connote.
Yes it is commonly used as a racist term,but that does not mean it can only be used thus.
I've been told things like ...No the gins aren't allowed to ...or Only the gins are permitted... etc

 

[Scotland]

I've heard it plenty of times. Don't think I've heard it in Perth, but in the Pilbara and Kimberley it's a lot more common - as are Aboriginal people.

IMO it's on about the same level of racism as 'Abo', i.e. people use it without necessarily intending it to be insulting but either don't understand that it might be or don't give a s**t. I haven't heard it used in the same context as 'coon', 'boong' etc. but I'm sure it would be.

 

[estibador]

Yeah you still hear it a lot up north... but generally the context is a lot closer to 'coon' or 'boong' than the more benign 'Abo' in my experience.

 

[Engimal]

Never heard of the word before this thread.

 

[pokerspiv]

There is a town not far from me called Gin Gin. One of the streets in our town is Coon St. There's been a lot of talk about changing it but it hasn't happened yet.

The name Gingin doesn't come from the same root as Gin (which was from NSW). Gingin was the local Aboriginal word for the area when it was first charted.

 

[kfc1]

The name Gingin doesn't come from the same root as Gin (which was from NSW). Gingin was the local Aboriginal word for the area when it was first charted.

I think rash is referring to Gin Gin in QLD (near Gladstone). There's also a Gin Gin in NSW (west of Dubbo).

 

[pokerspiv]

Either way it seems unlikely that the word has the same etymology. There were hundreds of unique aboriginal languages at the time Australia was settled. And it doesn't make logical sense to call an area "woman woman", unless it was a spot where you historically had a threesome, I guess.

"Gin" is very similar to the word "Squaw" used to describe native American women. They likely started out as benign descriptive terms, but are now considered offensive - not least of all because Native Americans, like Indigenous Australians, had multitudes of languages, so the term only made sense to a small group of them.

 

[Power Raid]

Never heard of the word before this thread.

I have heard it in SA, NT and WA

noongar was another name which I think is a tribe in WA. Given it is an actual name of a tribe the word itself is not derogative but its usage usually was.

 

[kfc1]

The NSW equivalent of noongar seems to be koori

 

[Feerits Elf]

Believe it or not this term was used frequently at quiz nights in cryptic quizzes for WA towns. Skinny aboriginal woman = Narrogin. Two aboriginal women = Gin Gin.

Cryptic is right.

Wow, what a brain teaser.

 

[Pie eyed]

There is a town not far from me called Gin Gin. One of the streets in our town is Coon St. There's been a lot of talk about changing it but it hasn't happened yet.

Near Mackay, North Queensland there in a rock formation called "Gin's Leap" where an indigenous woman supposedly leapt to her death with her child to avoid, variously, a violent spouse, an unwanted suitor not from her tribe or whites taking her baby.
Certainly in my circles and those of my parents the term Gin was considered a respectful term. I certainly never remember the term used disparagingly, say in relation to alcohol abuse or poor parenting, but of course this may well have changed and not be the case in other areas.
We mixed freely with the aboriginal children at Slade Point, swimming and fishing with them. Several attended my school and played footy etc.
I'm sure there was plenty of racism but not at my level as a young boy back in the early 60's

 

[Slax]

Was common across the country until the 60s.

 

[raskolnikov]

Near Mackay, North Queensland there in a rock formation called "Gin's Leap" where an indigenous woman supposedly leapt to her death with her child to avoid, variously, a violent spouse, an unwanted suitor not from her tribe or whites taking her baby.
Certainly in my circles and those of my parents the term Gin was considered a respectful term. I certainly never remember the term used disparagingly, say in relation to alcohol abuse or poor parenting, but of course this may well have changed and not be the case in other areas.
We mixed freely with the aboriginal children at Slade Point, swimming and fishing with them. Several attended my school and played footy etc.
I'm sure there was plenty of racism but not at my level as a young boy back in the early 60's

Mackay North Queensland? Them's fighting words.

 

[Sydney Bloods]

I've been asking my mates and relo's no one's been called a Gin and nobodys heard anyone else called one either.
are people sure this isn't regional? or generational?

 

[Kram]

As I said earlier it's an older saying probably used a lot less now but I'd say close to everyone other than maybe kids still knows what it means in WA, if you went into a pub over here with aboriginals around and started saying it loudly you would want to be ready to defend yourself..

 

[Bennett.]

I still can't help but think of a cask of wine as a 'gin's handbag'

 

[pokerspiv]

I have heard it in SA, NT and WA

noongar was another name which I think is a tribe in WA. Given it is an actual name of a tribe the word itself is not derogative but its usage usually was.

Nyungar people from my area still call each other Nyungars and don't mind if white people do either.

I think it's actually a word that's been reclaimed. I remember kids using it as an insult in the 80's, but modern Nyungar people are proud to call themselves that.

 

[RolandF1]

I have heard it in SA, NT and WA

In SA yeah. Some in the Eyre Peninsula still use it.