Grouping the various peoples of Western Australia, the largest of these groups being called "culture blocs", is a subjective endeavor often done by anthropologists.[3]:40[4]:290–293 Groupings have been made that do not reflect how the Aboriginal peoples included in the groupings saw themselves, one example being the "aggregation of clan groups in north-east Arnhem Land who lack a single name for themselves", but whom Warner collectively labels the "Murngin".[4]:293
In Western Australia, some large cultural blocs that are well attested are: Noongar, Western Desert cultural bloc, Kimberley peoples and Yamatji.[5]:7[6][7] Of these, Noongar and Yamatji are (at least post-colonisation) often self-identified, with the former being a cultural system that has existed prior to colonisation. Western Desert cultural bloc refers to a dialect continuum which contains many communities that before colonisation recognised "their own dialectical affiliations, and [had] no overall term for themselves".[5]:7[8]:204–208 The Kimberley peoples are a collection of smaller cultural blocs in the region.[7]:3
Ecoregions and culture blocs
There is some correspondence between the traditional boundaries of language groups and Australia's bioregions.[9]:42 Australia's major drainage basins have also been linked to the main culture blocs.[10][pageneeded]
Nyakinyaki type: Alternate generational levels similar to Western Desert type, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Ballardong and Nyakinyaki.
Bibelmen type: Patrilineal moieties and patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bibulman and Mineng.
Wudjari type: similar to Nyakinyaki except they have named patrilineal totemic local descent groups.
Nyunga type: similar to Wangai with two endogamous named divisions (Bee-eater and King fisher), in which marriage took place within one's own division but children were in the opposite, modified from the Western Desert system. Includes Nyunga.
Nganda type: Patrilineal totemic local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Nganda and Nandu.
Inggadi-Badimaia gtype: Sections not well defined, Patrilineal totemic local clans grouped into larger divisions. Includes Inggada, Dadei, Malgada, Ngugan, Widi, Badimaia, Wadjari, and Goara.
Djalenji-Maia type: Sections correlated with kin terms, Matrilineal descent groups. Includes Noala, Djalenji, Yinigudira, Baiyungu, Maia, Malgaru, Dargari, Buduna, Guwari, Warianga, Djiwali, Djururu, Nyanu, Bandjima, Inawongga, Gurama, Binigura and Guwari.
Nyangamada type: Sections with indirect matrilineal descent, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bailgu, Indjibandji, Mardudunera, Yaburara, Ngaluma, Gareira, Nyamal, Ngala, and Nyangamada.
Galamaia-Gelago type: Like Nyunga, but practising circumcision. Includes Galamaia, Ngurlu, Maduwongga, and Gelago.
Mirning type: Patrilineal local totemic descent groups, No moieties or sections. Similar to the Western Desert type. Includes Ngadjunmaia, Mirning.
Kimberley peoples - in the Kimberley region - speaking a variety of languages and affected from the 1870s onwards, represented today by the Kimberley Land Council.
Garadjeri type: As for Nyangamada. Includes Garadjeri, Mangala, Yaoro, Djungun, Ngombal, Djaberadjabera, and Nyulnyul.
Bardi type. Patrilineal local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Warwar, Nimanburu, Ongarang, Djaul Djaui.
Ungarinyin type: Patrilineal. Includes Umedi, Wungemi, Worora, Wunumbul
Ngaanyatjarra - occupying the Central Desert region - and being much less affected than the other Aboriginal groups of Western Australia.
Aboriginal traditional cultures have been greatly impacted since the colonisation of Australia began. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was assumed that Aboriginal Australians were a dying race and would eventually disappear.[12]
While Aboriginal populations in Western Australia did decline until the 1930s, they have since increased.[citation needed] Today, all Aboriginal cultures have been impacted by degrees of marginalisation and exclusion from participation in the dominant culture of Australia. This has resulted in higher than average rates of infant mortality, and lower life expectancy, education and rates of employment.[citation needed]
191 Aboriginal languages have been documented in WA,[1] but as of 2018[update] only 31 were spoken.[13]
1 2 Berndt, Ronald M.; Berndt, Catherine H. (1980). Aborigines of the West: their past and their present (2nd rev.ed.). Perth: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN0855641894.
↑ Palmer, Kingsley (2016). Noongar people, Noongar land: the resilience of Aboriginal culture in the South West of Western Australia. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN9781922102478.
Bates, Daisy (1985) The native tribes of Western Australia (edited by Isobel White). Canberra: National Library of Australia. ISBN0-642-99333-5
Davidson, Daniel Sutherland, (1938) An ethnic map of Australia Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. p.649-679 Reprint of Philadelphia: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 79, no. 4, 1938. and A preliminary register of Australian tribes and hordes, by D.S. Davidson. Philadelphia (Pa.), 1938. Published by the American Philosophical Society.
Douglas, Wilfrid H. The Aboriginal Languages of the South-West of Australia, Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1976. ISBN0-85575-050-2
Green, Neville, Broken spears: Aborigines and Europeans in the Southwest of Australia, Perth: Focus Focus Education Services, 1984. ISBN0-9591828-1-0
Haebich, Anna, For Their Own Good: Aborigines and Government in the South West of Western Australia 1900 - 1940, Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1992. ISBN1-875560-14-9.
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