Language                                                  Name

Noongar-Wudjari (W8):                           Djilgi

Noongar-Nyoongar/Baaduk (W41):      Yallah, Djilgi

Common name                                         Fresh Water Cray / Marron

Scientific name                                         Cherax quinquecarinatus

Group name for Animal 

Wudjari:                                                       Barna 

Nyoongar/Baaduk:                                    Barna

Group name for Crustaceans       

Wudjari:                                                       Djilgi

Nyoongar/Baaduk:                                   Yallah, Djilgi

Wudjari: This is the name for fresh water animal food. Marron - comes off the name marriny, meaning (food) - that is where the name marron comes from. Marron was big black thing. Djilgi would be small.

Looks like:
Nyoongar: Type of freshwater cray. About the size of your hand, but usually a bit smaller – like the size of your palm. The females carry their eggs under them. Brown but turn red when cooked.

Feels like:
Nyoongar: Hard on the outside, soft on the inside – an external shell. They will nip you.

Smells like:

Tastes like:
Wudjari: Tastes lovely, sweeter than a marron, like a prawn. 

Nyoongar: Freshwater prawns.

Food:
Wudjari: Yes.

Nyoongar: You can boil them or cook them on the hot coals; they taste like prawns – but not salty. You tie a bit of meat on cotton and chuck it out in the water – pull it in slowly and they'll attach so you can catch them.

Medicine:

Other Uses:

Wudjari: Fresh water lakes and dams.
 

Nyoongar: Dams, swamps and lakes – still water, not running water. Fresh water only.

Nyoongar: They are found in still, fresh water and will grab onto some meat on a string so you can pull them in, but sometimes they flip their tail to get away from you.

Nyoongar: Would be totemic, a food source.

Nyoongar: Catch them all year round. In Mokar/Mookaroo they go to sleep.

Birak
Wudjari: They like warm water - they are everywhere in the warm seasons.
 

Boonaroo
 

Djeran
 

Mookaroo
Wudjari: Don't like being caught in winter - then they go underground. They like warm water - then they are everywhere.
Nyoongar: In Mokar/Mookaroo they go to sleep.
 

Djilba
 

Kambarang
 

Nyoongar: They are integral to the ecological system of Australia, and Taalyaraak Country.

Wudjari: Get a cotton and tie a bit of kangaroo meat on it - throw it in the water, and we would feel them on the line and we would wrench them out of the water.
 

Nyoongar: People sometimes have them as pets.

Wudjari: They are the cousins of the salt water prawns. Also called the fresh water crayfish. Kangaroo meat is used to catch them.
 

Nyoongar: Turtles eat them. Tadpoles eat the djilgi eggs and kill them.

Nyoongar: All plants and animals have a connection to the outer world.

Nyoongar: Put it back in the water if you catch one with eggs under the tail to ensure there are more in the future. Put it back if they are too small - smaller than your hand is too small. It is essential to preserve these animals rather than destroy their habitats, because they only live in certain areas.