kangaroo name origin
It is derived from the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru refaring to the grey kangaroo. Sir Joseph Banks, botanist on James Cook's first voyage, noted the name of the kangaroo as  gangurru  when he tried to communicate with the Aborigines regarding the name of the strange hopping animal noted on Australia's shores.he word is â¦ believed to have come from the Aboriginal word gangurru, a Guugu Yimidhirr word referring to the Grey Kangaroo. Captain James Cook's botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, first recorded the word as kangaru when the Endeavour was damaged on the Great Barrier Reef near modern-day Cooktown.