Makassar people from the region of Sulawesi in Indonesia began visiting the coast of Northern Australia sometime around the middle of the 18th century, first in the Kimberley region, and some decades later in Arnhem Land. They were men who collected and processed trepang, a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary value generally and for its supposed medicinal properties in Chinese markets. The term Makassan is generally used to apply to all the trepangers who came to Australia.
Macro-Pama-Nyungan is an umbrella term used to refer to a proposed Indigenous Australian language family. It was coined by the Australian linguist Nicholas Evans in his 1996 book Archaeology and linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in global perspective, co-authored by Patrick McConvell. The term arose from Evans' theory suggesting that two of the largest Indigenous Australian language families share a common origin, and should therefore be classified as a singular language family under "Macro-Pama-Nyungan".
Gaagudju is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the environs of Kakadu National Park, in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
The Gunwinyguan languages, also core Gunwinyguan or Gunwinyguan proper, are a possible branch of a large language family of Australian Aboriginal languages in Arnhem Land, northern Australia. The most populous language is Kunwinjku, with some 1500 speakers.
Maningrida, also known as Burarran, is a small family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in northern Australia. It includes four languages, none closely related:
Giimbiyu is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language isolate once spoken by the Giimbiyu people of northern Australia.
The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama–Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.
Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi, Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune. Kunwinjku is the dominant dialect, and also sometimes used to refer to the group. The spellings Bininj Gun-wok and Bininj Kun-Wok have also been used in the past, however Bininj Kunwok is the current standard orthography.
Yolŋu Matha, meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the Yolngu, the indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The ŋ in Yolŋu is pronounced as the ng in singing.
Dalabon is a Gunwinyguan language of Arnhem Land, Australia. It is a severely endangered language, with perhaps as few as three fluent speakers remaining as of 2018. Dalabon is also known as Dangbon, Ngalkbun, and Buwan.
Gurr-goni, also spelled Guragone, Gorogone, Gun-Guragone, Gunagoragone, Gungorogone, Gurrogone, Gutjertabia, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in Arnhem Land. There were about 60 speakers in 2011, all trilingual in Burarra or Kuninjku.
The Ndjébbana language, also spelt Djeebbana and Ndjebanna and also known as Kunibidji, is a Burarran language spoken by the Gunavidji (Ndjebbana) people of North-central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The Burarra language is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Burarra people of Arnhem Land. It has several dialects.
Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. As Kunwinjku is the most widely spoken dialect of Bininj Kunwok, 'Kunwinjku' is sometimes used to refer to Bininj Kunwok as a whole. Kunwinjku is spoken primarily in the west of the Bininj Kunwok speaking areas, including the town of Gunbalanya, as well as outstations such as Mamardawerre, Kumarrirnbang, Kudjekbinj and Manmoyi.
The Macro-Gunwinyguan languages, also called Arnhem or Gunwinyguan, are a family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken across eastern Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Their relationship has been demonstrated through shared morphology in their verbal inflections.
Bugurnidja is an Australian Aboriginal language of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Almost nothing is known of it; apparently Nicholas Evans collected some data from a single speaker, and this showed similarities to Ngomburr.
The Marrku–Wurrugu languages are a possible language family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land. They are the recently extinct Marrgu, and the extinct Wurrugu. They were once classified as distant relatives of the other Iwaidjan languages, until Nicholas Evans found the evidence for Marrgu's membership insufficient, concluding that similarities were due to borrowing.
The Nunggubuyu are an Aboriginal Australian people of eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The Warndarrang people, (waɳʈaraŋ), also spelt Warndarang, Wanderang, and other variants were a predominantly coastal Aboriginal Australian people of eastern Northern Territory. Though extinct as a distinct ethnolinguistic group, their descendants survive among the neighbouring Nunggubuyu.
The Dalabon or Dangbon are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory.
