Burramys and the historical reconstruction of zoological etymology

The marsupial genus Burramys (Burramyidae: Diprotodontia) was established by Robert Broom in 1895 from fossil material recovered near Wombeyan Caves, New South Wales, Australia. Broom stated that Burramys was formed from ‘Burra’, ‘the Aboriginal name for the district’ where the fossils were found. Decades later, Troughton asserted that ‘Burra Burra’ meant a place of ‘many very large stones’, an interpretation subsequently repeated in popular and scientific accounts of the Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus. Historical review identified no primary linguistic or locally attributable evidence supporting this meaning for the Wombeyan–Taralga district. Broom’s original explanation is best understood as geographical rather than descriptive, while the later ‘very large stones’ interpretation appears to have entered the literature through repetition rather than primary linguistic verification.