coolamon

English

Etymology

Coolamon (top left) lined with paperbark.

From Gamilaraay guliman (and similar forms in neighbouring languages).

Noun

coolamon (plural coolamons)

1. (Australia) A vessel with curved sides, typically of wood or bark, used by Australian Aboriginals for holding water, collecting berries etc. [from 19th c.]
   • 1992, Jimmy Pike, Yinti, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 140:

     Yinti was perishing for a drink of water. He fell down on the sand, and put his mouth to the coolamon.

   • 2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 47:

     Wiradjuri people in New South Wales also built large dams, and then carried fish and yabbies in coolamons over large distances to stock the new waterholes.

Synonyms

• pitchi

Anagrams

• Lomonaco