The Bayala databases arose after a newcomer arrived in Sydney and started reading about the First Fleet in 1788. An upheaval when European interlopers encountered First Australians. Some wrote about it, noting some of the language.  Sydney language words recorded back then were jotted on a bookmark. The list of them grew. And grew. Eventually databases came about. These grew too. To cover the Sydney language. Then north to the Queensland border, and south to Victoria Then over the great dividing range to inland NSW. Then to cover Nyungar in S-W Western Australia, even Tasmania. Eventually everywhere, from Darwin to Hobart, Cairns to Albany.   Bayala in Sydney means ‘converse’. The databases ‘talk’ to you, and you to them. They are big, and surprisingly informative. Wouldn’t it be nice if other people knew about them too?