Blue Mountains: Three Sisters - Tamil names?

Introduction:

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Blue Mountains, 86 km away from Sydney. That was our (I & my wife) second visit to a place outside the Sydney city. At first, we reached Katoomba town and then a few places in and around the mountain area.  Our mode of transport was Train, which took roughly 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach the Katoomba station.

Blue Mountains Explorer:

We purchased one day unlimited Scenic World ride tickets and hop-on-hop-off pass (3 days unlimited rides) for A$99.

We were greeted in தமிழ் (Tamil) by the bus driver Mr. Jimmy. He enquired us about the origin and the mother tongue, for which we replied as India & Tamizh. Initially, I thought these questions were related to some data collection, statistics, and analysis. 

During the journey, Mr. Jimmy announced that "We have two friends from India and they speak Tamizh" and surprised us by saying "Vanakkam Guys" in typical English ascent.

We all know how Tamizh is being treated outside Tamilnadu(in India)  and when you hear someone who's nowhere related to you or your country greets in your language, I couldn't control myself from shouting out of joy, however, I forgot to click a photo with Mr. Jimmy was just a shame. Thanks to Blue Mountains Explorer service for giving us a homely welcome and I truly appreciate the effort put by all drivers to greet all the travelers in their language.

Blue Mountains Explorer Bus experience video:

Places Explored:

Katoomba Station:

Thanks to NSW service for maintaining the Rail service and ensuring the connectivity and the quality. The train journey was smooth and was on time. To get the train timings you can either visit the official NSW website or download the Trip View Lite app.

Katoomba:

Katoomba developed as a popular mountain resort town in the early part of the 20th century, a process aided by the advent of regular train services along the current line. The town reached an early heyday in the period between the wars, attested to today by the numerous examples of art deco architecture and shop fronts along the main street of the town. (Ref: WikiTravel)

Scenic World:

Scenic World Blue Mountains is a private, family-owned tourist attraction located in Katoomba. They have 4 discovery options.

1. Scenic Railway

The Scenic Railway is used for tourism from 1945 onwards. Until that it was used to carry the coal during the weekdays and passengers at the weekend. The incline is 52 degrees with a total distance of 310 meters which is 1020 feet above the sea level.  The ride was one of the scariest and a top-rated ride.

2. Scenic Walkway

Scenic Walkway is the best way to explore if you're fit an can walk for more than 4-6 hours. In that, you can visit The Ruined Castle, hiking, or explore the regular walkway.

3. Scenic Cableway

Scenic Cableway was my second favorite ride after Scenic Railway ride. It was scary and fun at the same time when you ride from the top to bottom, but it was pretty ordinary when it was the other way. It's a sin to not to mention the astonishing view of the mountains from the cable car.

WaaaaaaaaW! (Watch the video for WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooouuuuuuuuuuW)

4. Scenic Skyway

Scenic Skyway was my least liked ride because It was good, enjoyable, however, it didn't entertain me like the other options. The highlights of this ride were the fabulous mountain view, the transparent glass floor. I would recommend you to get in as early as possible to avoid the unbelievable crowd.

Honeymoon Lookout:

After spending quite some time in the mountains, you might tend to get bored with spectacular views; likewise, I'm no different.

Leura Cascades:

This is the best places for trekking and to get a fantastic view of the waterfalls. Also, don't miss to see the manmade caves. 

Echo Point - The Three Sisters:


The last topic I have to share with the public is about three sisters.

Who are they?
What are their names?
What's their story?

In the above three pictures, the three vertical mountains are called Three Sisters. According to the legend, the three sisters namely Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These three beautiful ladies fall in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, but the tribal law prohibited their marriage. Due to some reason, the sisters were turned into a rock by their father, Tywan.  To know more,  you can read the full story from this link: https://www.bluemts.com.au/info/thingstodo/threesisters/

The Similarities:

Katoomba is a derivative of the Aboriginal word ‘Kedumba’ meaning ‘shiny, falling waters’ after the natural beauty of the area. 

Katoomba - Kedumba - Kadamba - Kadambam - கதம்பம்

In Tamizh (Tamil) the meaning for Kadambam is (பல வகையான) பூக்களும் இலைகளும் வேர்களும் ஒன்றாகத் தொடுக்கப்பட்ட சரம், Flowers, Leaves, and roots are tied together which looks like a waterfall. 

Kadambam Image: 

(Image Ref: https://jaiflowers.com/product/mullai-kanakambaram-marikolunthu-mixed-kathambam/) 

The other meaning of Kadambam is everything together. In this instance, the trees, roots, flowers, fruits, mountains, waterfall, everything together called Kadamba.

Now let's concentrate on the names of the Three Sisters. As I already mentioned, the names of the three mountains are Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo.

Meehni - Meehna - Meena - மீனா / மீனாள்
Meaning: A girl's eye is as beautiful as a fish. மீன் போன்ற கண்கள் உடையவள் - மீனாள்
Even today the name Meena is popular in India, especially in Tamilnadu.

Wimlah - Wimla - விமலா
Meaning: Clean attitude or pure and it depends on the context.

Gunnedoo - Well, this name was difficult for me to get a proper Tamil name. But, after a few days of continuous thinking and few Google search I came up with the following:

Gunnedoo - Gunnadu - Gonmadi  - கோன்மதி  / கோமதி  

Here கோன் / கோ both denotes King. மதி   is knowledge. So the meaning of this name is The king of Knowledge or a Knowledgeful person.

Do I have a proof for these name transformations? My answer is a big NO.

Then what is the purpose of this article?

Well, it's simple. In my point of view, Many aboriginal words have the same meaning as in Tamil just like the similar words between Tamil and Korean, Tamil and Basha Indonesia, Tamil and Malay,  Tamil and Cameroonian, Tamil and Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

Conclusion:

I've started to read about the migration that took place many thousand years ago from India to Australia.

Official ref: ABC News article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-15/research-shows-ancient-indian-migration-to-australia/4466382

Is there any proven evidence that the Indigenous people's language related to Tamizh by any means?  Did they speak Tamizh? Did they carry the language this far? Is there any research related to this topic? Will anyone believe if I say that most of the aboriginal city names have the same Tamizh meaning? Is Tamizh a world language?

Too many questions I've asked and here's my final question, what do you think about this? Please correct me if I'm wrong.