Culture groups
Grouping the various peoples of Western Australia, the largest of these groups being called "culture blocs", is a subjective endeavour often done by anthropologists. [3] [4] 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". [5]
In Western Australia, some large cultural blocs that are well attested are: Noongar, Western Desert cultural bloc, Kimberley peoples and Yamatji. [6] [7] [8] 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". [6] [9] The Kimberley peoples are a collection of smaller cultural blocs in the region. [8]
Kimberley region
The Kimberley region is linguistically complex, containing around 27 languages in 5 language groups. It is also one of the major rock art regions of Australia, as well as being a trading focus of pearl shell, shields, myths, rituals and body paint patterns. [10]
Due to the region's rugged terrain and distance from coloniser population centres, it was one of the last areas to be colonised; graziers began moving in in the 1880s. Colonisation was resisted in "drawn-out guerilla warfare" but many massacres still occurred. It was only in the 1920s, after the Forrest River massacre, that public outcry resulted in Aboriginal people being treated in a "less brutal" manner. [10]
Aboriginal divers were often central to the region's pearling industry in the 19th century, this being a "major platform for black-white relations". [10] [11]
The peak Indigenous body in the region is the Kimberley Land Council. [12]
Noongar region
The Noongar people's homeland is the southwest corner of Western Australia. Dialects of the Noongar language were spoken across the region, estimates of the number of dialects range from 3 to 15. [13] [14]
The Noongar people exhibit a distinct material culture. Traditionally this includes wearing stitched kangaroo skin as an adaptation to the cool, moist winter climate, or using a particular style of axe and saw-like knife. Also constructed were temporary but waterproof semicircular dome huts made with a framework of tied branches and paperbark or grass-tree thatch. [15] [16]
Intensive contact with Europeans began in 1825 with the founding of a military base at Mammang Koort (King George Sound) and with the subsequent colonisation of the Swan River area from 1829. By 1840, seven massacres had taken place; this includes the Pinjarra massacre, where fifteen to eighty Pinjarup Noongar people were killed. [17] [18] Pushed off their lands, Aboriginal communities survived around small towns in the southwest while maintaining familial ties across the region. [19]
In 2022, the Noongar people began to be represented by six organisations known as "Noongar Regional Corporations", each representing a different region within Noongar Country. The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, previously the peak native title representative of the region, transitioned to provide administrative, corporate and financial services to the six Noongar Regional Corporations. [20] [21]
Western Desert region
The Western Desert cultural bloc covers much of Western Australia, as well as parts of South Australia and the Northern Territory, occupying area of approximately 670,000 square kilometres (260,000 sq mi). [22] The Western Desert language is a dialect continuum that extends over much of the region. [23]
A region of low rainfall and temporary rivers. Its aridity was a limiting factor on population densities, with areas of sandy desert potentially varying as low as one person per 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) to one person per 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi) in regions with more permanent water sources. People would gather at permanent water sources in summer and spread out after rain. Waterholes are prominent features of the stories, songs and paintings of the peoples of the region. [24]
Mission stations and pastoral properties greatly affected the Desert peoples who moved into them, creating large population centres, a number of which have come under Aboriginal control. There has also been an extensive outstation movement. [24]
Yamatji region
Originally a Wajarri word for 'man', it has become a general name for Aboriginal people from the northwest –the Murchison and Gascoyne districts –of Western Australia. [25]
The peak representative body in the region is the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, which also represents those in the Pilbara. [26]
Drainage basins and culture blocs
Australia's major drainage basins have been found to correspond with the main culture blocs. This has been explained as a result of the basins' margins being poor in plant, animal and water resources; consequently there is less cultural exchange on their margins than in their interiors. [27] [28] Simultaneously, drainage basins are not understood to be a strong indicator of historical or social similarities, and are instead one of many elements used in the analysis of social and cultural dynamics. [29]
There is also some correspondence between the traditional boundaries of language groups and Australia's bioregions. [30]
